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June 22, 2007
The Emergence of Social Entrepreneurship: Social Impact as a Performance Criteria
Waya Quiviger, Director of Special Projects, Social Impact Management
Invited Speakers: Pamela Hartigan, Managing Partner, Schwab Foundation, Switzerland; Mel Young, Founder, Homeless World Cup, Scotland
On Monday 11 June, Dr. Pamela Hartigan, Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Mel Young, Founder of the Homeless World Cup shared their passion and commitment to social entrepreneurship with the International MBA class.
Pamela began by giving a definition of what a social entrepreneur is. According to her, social entrepreneurs possess the following characteristics: motivation, creativity, the capacity for direct action, courage and fortitude. These unique individuals address social problems with creative, entrepreneurial solutions. Social entrepreneurs are NOT philanthropists, lobbyists, volunteers or charities. They lead productive enterprises whose end goal is lasting social impact. To illustrate her argument, Pamela defined a social entrepreneur as a cross between Richard Branson and Mother Teresa. Social entrepreneurs can run non-profit , for profit or hybrid enterprises.
What Pamela does at the Schwab Foundation is promote social entrepreneurship worldwide and build a global community of entrepreneurs by identifying them and putting them in touch with the World Economic Forum’s vast corporate network, all potential partners and investors.
Mel Young is a social entrepreneur, founder of the Homeless World Cup, a global sports event that targets disenfranchised homeless men and women and gives them a sense of purpose and pride. The statistics are there to prove the success of his endeavour: after the World Cup, 92% have a new motivation for life; 35% have found regular employment; 44% have improved their housing situation; 39% have pursued education; 72 % continue to play football after the HWC.
Students seemed quite impressed with Pamela and Mel’s testimonies. Indeed, Social Entrepreneurship is a rapidly expanding space that is attracting more and more entrepreneurs year after year -- committed individuals who want to make lasting transformational change. Let’s hope this session inspired a few IMBA students to take the leap!
Posted on 22 June 2007 in Social Entrepreneurship
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