Alexis Ettinger on Social Entrepreneurship

Wednesday, 9 December 2009 | posted by Matt_BC
Global Youth Summit 2009, Social entrepreneurship

By Jason DC. Gavina

“A social entrepreneur doesn’t give man fish, nor teach him how to fish; he will not stop until he has revolutionized the fishing industry.” – Bill Drayton, Ashoka

With this, Alexis Ettinger has introduced the revolutionary concept of social entrepreneurship to the Global Changemakers.

During her talk at the Global Youth Summit, she distinguished the social entrepreneur to other change agents using a simple equation. Combine Mother Teresa’s good will and Bill Gates’ entrepreneurial and creative skills and you get Muhammad Yunus, a social entrepreneur.

Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank, was one of the first people to lend money to the poor. Commercial banks wouldn’t consider the poor credit-worthy but the model of the Grameen bank worked. Considered the father of Microfinance, his work has uplifted the economic well-being of many people especially women and their families in Bangladesh. Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

While social entrepreneurship is a relatively new concept, social entrepreneurs have been around for years. One of her examples is Maria Montessori, who revolutionized the old methods of teaching. Her new idea, which viewed teachers as social engineers and children as competent beings, has created a new pedagogy of education that reaches millions of children who learn through the Montessori system.

Orri Vigfusson, whose idea of commercial fishing rights and leaving the waters be, has stabilized the salmon population in the Atlantic. This international effort has not only restored the wild Atlantic Salmon but has improved economic health of rural communities.

Wendy Kopp, who established Teach for America is transforming educational opportunities for low-income students while creating a cohort of highly skilled educators for tomorrow.

Aside from sharing inspiring examples, Alexis also challenged us to think like social entrepreneurs. Here are her five tips.

• Think Creatively.
• Aim for Big Impact.
• Be entrepreneurial.
• Ensure sustainability.
• Have a Vision of the Future.

You may also want to check out these organizations prominent in the field: Youth Venture, Unreasonable Institute, Youth Social Enterprise Initiative (YSEI), UnLtd, Starting Bloc, and www.socialedge.org.

As Global Changemakers, we face common challenges such as looking for funding resources, engaging more partners, sustainability in our organization, and we are eternally concerned to creating as much impact on our world.

I believe that social entrepreneurship is one of the most effective, sustainable and coolest way to create positive change.

Also see this short interview that Scott held with Alexis during the Global Youth Summit.

*Alexis Ettinger works for the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University. You can download Alexis’ presentation to the Global Changemakers here.