The proof of a successful commercial business is the creation of a viable and growing enterprise with a specific focus on the benefits of a few individuals – the owners of the enterprise – through economic dividends.
The proof of a successful social enterprise is the transformation of social systems with a specific focus on the benefits of all individuals through the creation of additional social dividends and the elimination of barriers to empowerment and resilience.
In our dialogue at the Impact Forum in Singapore, we discussed many initiatives that employ entrepreneurial capacities to solve social problems. We found that in recent years, governments, aid agencies and private foundations have invested several million dollars to support innovative initiatives but all too often, the results have been disappointing both in terms of sustainability and in their ability to scale into sustainable social change.
This is often due to a linear design approach, targeting either upstream change and working with government partners on policy frameworks, or targeting down-stream change and working with grassroots partners on social frameworks. Addressing this issue, our discussions highlighted the multidimensionality of sustainable change and how the ‘capacity and ability to act’ is an important ingredient in the social innovation recipe.
Therefore, the vertical scale can be illustrated as the continuum between upstream policy and downstream social frameworks. The horizontal scale can be illustrated as the continuum between ‘social dividends’ and ‘economic dividends’. Combining these two scales illustrates the opportunities for social enterprise.
Therefore, if the vertical scale can be illustrated as the continuum between upstream policy and downstream social frameworks, the horizontal scale can be illustrated as the continuum between ‘social dividends’ and ‘economic dividends’. Combining these two scales illustrates the opportunities for social enterprise. Under this principle, the primary goal of all institutions, whether private or public, is now to create an inclusive environment that involves the proper economic, political and social frameworks to empower, inspire and motivate all ‘entrepreneurs’ to focus on both the social and economic dividends under the premise that ‘for profit’ and ‘for public good’ should not be mutually exclusive.
By: David Galipeau, UNDP