Wednesday, 10 April 2019

Problems Encountered By A Social Entrepreneur

By James Watson


Entrepreneurship is of many types depending on the major objective of the investor. The social entrepreneur is a very important person in the development of the society as a whole in general terms. They are the drivers of innovation and progress. In the realm of business, they are seen as the initiators of growth which in turn brings about a variety of innovations and opportunity to cause economic advancement within their communities and even beyond.

Funding has, without a doubt, been a major problem. Even though they may be intended to run as non-profit organizations, they still need funds to meet their day to day needs. To keep themselves in business, some are able to generate some income from the sale of socially valuable goods and services. Other sources of income may include corporate investments, donations and government funding. As these entrepreneurs soon find out, it is not always easy to approach investors as many fear that they may not recoup their investments being that these enterprises mainly focus societal value rather than profit generation.

Many people who decide to get into entrepreneurship often venture into new areas with the intention of making profits. However, those who chose the path of social enterprises are socially responsible, and are obliged to contribute to the well-being of the society in which they operate. They usually make it a primary goal to ensure they impact the society positively and the profit making part is always secondary.

These types enterprises are often faced with the problem of identification of a long term strategy. Many of them may opt for multiple goals in the hope of bringing about multiple societal benefits. In many instances, however, it is these multiple goals that are a source of confusion for the organization.

Entrepreneurs also engage in the process of continuous innovations, adaptations and learning. In this manner, the society is at the advantage of benefiting from such innovations. The main limitation may be the fact the room for innovation is a bit restricted due to limited funding. Innovation is at times risky and may culminate in losses. This makes it difficult for a good number of social enterprises to exploit their full potential.

The entrepreneur also needs to have more passion for what they do rather than a mere interest in making profits. Just as happens when running any other business venture, one should use business techniques to ensure operational efficiency. Combining the passion and the appropriate business techniques will keep the venture alive even in the most challenging of circumstances.

The structure of these kind of ventures is such that it does not promote innovation and risk taking. More specifically, this form of investment is likely to suffer from financial constraints thus many prospective investors find themselves with limited room for risk taking. As is the case for every other sector, there is a need to encourage experimentation and risk taking without which the likelihood of failure is increased many times over.

Therefore, the entrepreneur puts together commerce and social issues, in such a way that this combination has the capability of improving the lives of the people that are connected to the venture. Their success is not only measured in terms of the profits they have made, but it is hugely based on the ability to improve the lives of people. It involves the identification and attempts to solve a variety of societal problems.




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