We are living in a Start-Up world. As on March 2022, we are the 3rd largest ecosystem for start-ups globally with over 66,359 DPIIT recognized start-ups across 642 districts of the country. Unicorn is a mythical animal resembling a horse or a goat with a single horn on its forehead and is extremely rare to find. As rare is also another Unicorn that is a privately held start-up company valued at over $1 billion. Today we have 90 of them.
We rank second in innovation quality with top positions in the scientific publications and in our universities among middle-income economies. Our innovation is not just limited to a few sectors. Our start-ups solve problems in 56 diverse industrial sectors with 13% from IT services, 9% healthcare and life sciences, 7% education, 5% professional and commercial services, 5% agriculture and 5% food & beverages. That is Start-Up India for you.
What is a Start-Up? It is a company in the first stages of operations. It is found by one or more entrepreneurs who want to develop a product or service for which they believe there is demand. Start-Ups generally start with high costs and limited revenue, which is why they need capital from a variety of sources such as venture capitalists.
In the old days, entrepreneurs had ideas, had business plans, started companies and made money. They generated funds from loans, worked hard, made profits for themselves and their investors. Today, entrepreneurs have other objectives for starting a business, just as consumers have different motivations to buy. Some believe in social responsibility, like doing good to people and the world. This is social entrepreneurship.
Should Start-ups only make money for themselves? There are those that promote social causes besides making money and are social entrepreneurs. They may be for profit or not for profit. The US Chamber of Commerce describes social entrepreneurship, where individuals, start-ups and entrepreneurs develop and fund solutions that directly address social causes. A social entrepreneur, hence, is one who promotes business opportunities that impact communities positively.
TOMS a popular Shoe brand, one of the best in the market is a social entrepreneur. They give away to children in need, a pair of shoes for every pair of shoes they sell. TOMS has given over 95 million shoes to people in need, and has expanded their social model to include access safe drinking water, eye surgery, prevention of bullying and safe births.
Warby Parker, an American online retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, too does something similar. They also sell through physical retail stores across U.S. and Canada. Their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program, resulted in the company donating over five million pairs of glasses to people in need as of 2019 besides providing free vision screenings, eye exams and glasses to school children in New York City.
What can our Start-Ups and entrepreneurs do for a social cause? Probably some of them can source and provide clean water to hotels, restaurants, and catering businesses. 100% of net profits earned could be donated towards providing clean water solutions to underserved areas and communities. A multimedia company could experiment by storytelling to make Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field fun and engaging for young women, who are underrepresented and underserved in the industry. Yet another could commit to removing one kg of trash from our lakes for every kg of goods sold rendering our lakes clean. Our manufacturers of speakers and headphones may think of giving a share of their proceeds towards giving free hearing aids to people in need or they may even tie up with Hearing aid Foundations.
A Socially aware entrepreneur must drive his passion. A lot of food is wasted in our hotels and is spoilt before it reaches the intended. Can a service be thought of that is fast enough to reach the intended? Can such ideas be also monetized? Karthik dropped out of Rutgers University, New Jersey and started his own startup ‘Redcode Informatics’. A couple of years into it, he read about a family struggling to find blood for transfusion for their four-year old daughter suffering thalassemia, which made him start a new venture called ‘social blood’ which helped the needful connect with blood donors through Facebook. They helped over 300,000 people. Similarly, Ria, a student of Leeds College of Arts, UK, who came to India to make a documentary on acid victims, as a part of her final year project, founded ‘Make love not scars’, a crowd funded organization that supports victims of acid attacks in all ways possible.
There are any number of Social Entrepreneurship Ideas that one can think and work with. However, finding adequate funds can be difficult. Crowdfunding is one of the ways, for businesses to raise money for a cause. Equitable and socially conscious organizations, where profit is not an objective, and some MSME’s can launch crowdfunding ventures and donate money or partner with agencies that help a social cause. ‘Baking for a cause’ is another valuable fundraiser campaign where young entrepreneurs hoping to start their first charitable experience could explore. Even ‘Conflict-free’ or ‘fair-trade goods methods’ could be explored. A microlending business could help those who cannot secure loans from other sources.
Our universities must promote social entrepreneurship. They could conduct sales mentorship programs with aspiring entrepreneurs. Educational travel that allows hands-on learning experiences besides helping understand different world views must be promoted. For social entrepreneurship, it is necessary to understand various environmental, economic, and social perspectives, so one can understand the pain points. They must teach the value of “Conscious Capitalism”. The Civil and architectural programs must focus on environmentally friendly practices and promote use of materials for homes that are earth-friendly and safe to use.
The government must promote a cooperative marketplace that sells products manufactured in a socially conscious and ethical manner. They should dissuade fast fashion, unethical working conditions, or environmentalism.
Is everything good about social entrepreneurship? Tina Dacin, Professor of Smith School of Business, says social enterprises can be driven by ulterior motives or private gain rather than social good and have little or no impact on the societal problems they’re attempting to address. They offer governments an excuse not to act and undermine traditional charities. Whatever that be, in the age of heightened competition, social responsibility can be a differentiating factor between businesses.