Gaia: Starship Social Enterprise - What is Starship Social Enterprise?

Re: What is Social Entrepreneurship?

http://sufolla.gaia.com — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:05:32 GMT

Will a clearer definition of social entrepreneurship aid the development of the field?

Re: Enter, zPod:Starship Social Enterprise!

http://my-head.gaia.com — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 11:59:56 GMT

Bravo and well done !

My comment on Create Peace and Support Democracy in Nepal puts into context where I am coming from and I am happy to be aboard the Starship Social Enterprise hopefully on our way to galactica.net

Enter, Starship Social Enterprise!

http://coolmel.gaia.com — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:49:29 GMT

(Crossposted from ~C4Chaos's Blog)

“It's not to give people fish;
It's not to teach them how to fish;
It's to build a new and better fishing industry.”

Source: Bill Drayton on Ashoka's Social Entrepreneurship Series video.

As some of you may have noticed, I've recently taken interest in Social Enterprise. I believe that this fast growing citizen sector will have (is already having) a crucial role on making a positive impact on the world around us. This is the main reason why I started zPod:Starship Social Enterprise! (note: i just added the word Starship to make it sound hip and cool.).

Starship Social Enterprise

This is a pod devoted to discussions about Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship in general. Facts, hyperlink to facts and research, enlightened and intelligent conversations about social enterprise will be the main contents of this pod instead of ZERO-SUM debates.

The purpose of this group/pod is to be the most passionately informed and compassionately inspired discussion group/pod on the topic of Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship to raise the awareness of not only the general public but of our own awareness as well, so we can be the positive change we want to see in the world around us.

I invite everyone to JOIN so we can collectively learn together! For those who are new to the terms Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurs, check out this podcast interview with David Bornstein over at Globeshakers. It's very fluffy :)

Globeshakers: David Bornstein

In his book How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, author David Bornstein profiles several social entrepreneurs from around the world.

After extensive travels in Bangladesh, India, Brazil, North America and Eastern Europe, David Bornstein has emerged as a leading expert in the global rise of “social entrepreneurism.” In this program, host Tim Zak asks how we would even know a social entrepreneur if we saw one on the street. More important, why should we care? Who invests in social enterprise and what is at stake for our world if we don't?

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

http://coolmel.gaia.com — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:17:08 GMT

(via PBS.org: The New Heroes)

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

A social entrepreneur identifies and solves social problems on a large scale. Just as business entrepreneurs create and transform whole industries, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss in order to improve systems, invent and disseminate new approaches and advance sustainable solutions that create social value.

Unlike traditional business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs primarily seek to generate "social value" rather than profits. And unlike the majority of non-profit organizations, their work is targeted not only towards immediate, small-scale effects, but sweeping, long-term change.

The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.

Identifying and solving large-scale social problems requires a committed person with a vision and determination to persist in the face of daunting odds. Ultimately, social entrepreneurs are driven to produce measurable impact by opening up new pathways for the marginalized and disadvantaged, and unlocking society's full potential to effect social change.

The past two decades have seen an explosion of entrepreneurship and a healthy competition in the social sector, which has discovered what the business sector learned from the railroad, the stock market and the digital revolution: Nothing is as powerful as a big new idea if it is in the hands of a first class entrepreneur.

This revolution is fundamentally changing the way society organizes itself and the way we approach social problems.

The stories featured in The New Heroes showcase the work of social entrepreneurs whose innovations are bringing electricity, water, medicine and other life-changing tools and resources to people in the developing world. Each story illustrates the results possible when an innovative idea is coupled with a strategy for action and an entrepreneur's indomitable will.

What is a Social Entrepreneur?

http://coolmel.gaia.com — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:07:37 GMT

(via Ashoka.org)

What is a Social Entrepreneur?

Ashoka Fellows prove every day that the most powerful force for change in the world is a new idea in the hands of a leading social entrepreneur.

The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.

Identifying and solving large-scale social problems requires a social entrepreneur because only the entrepreneur has the committed vision and inexhaustible determination to persist until they have transformed an entire system. The scholar comes to rest when he expresses an idea. The professional succeeds when she solves a client's problem. The manager calls it quits when he has enabled his organization to succeed. Social entrepreneurs go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities, societies, the world.

Ashoka Fellow Veronica Khosa was frustrated with the system of health care in South Africa. A nurse by trade she saw sick people getting sicker, elderly people unable to get to a doctor and hospitals with empty beds that would not admit patients with HIV. So Veronica started Tateni Home Care Nursing Services and instituted the concept of "home care" in her country. Beginning with practically nothing, her team took to the streets providing care to people in a way they had never received it — in the comfort and security of their homes. Just years later, the government had adopted her plan and through the recognition of leading health organizations the idea is spreading beyond South Africa. Social entrepreneurs like Veronica redefine their field and go on to solve systemic social problems on a larger scale.

The past two decades have seen an extraordinary explosion of entrepreneurship and competition in the social sector. The social sector has discovered what the business sector learned from the railroad, the stock market and todayýs digital revolution: That nothing is as powerful as a big new idea — if it is in the hands of a first class entrepreneur.

In country after country the number of citizen organizations is up hundreds, often thousands-fold. Tiny Slovakia had a handful of such organizations in 1989 and now boasts more than 10,000. Of the approximately 2 million citizen sector organizations working in the United States, 70 percent of them were established in the last 30 years. Eastern Europe has seen more than 100,000 such organizations established in the seven years following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The revolution — led by leaders like Veronica — is fundamentally changing the way society organizes itself and the way we approach social problems. These leaders are certainly doing more than giving a fish. They are teaching the world to swim.

What is Starship Social Enterprise?

http://coolmel.gaia.com — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:04:25 GMT

Starship Social Enterprise is a pod devoted to discussions about Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship in general. Facts, hyperlink to facts and research, enlightened and intelligent conversations about social enterprise will be the main contents of this pod instead of ZERO-SUM debates.

Gaia: Starship Social Enterprise - What is Starship Social Enterprise?

Re: What is Social Entrepreneurship?

Re: Enter, zPod:Starship Social Enterprise!

Enter, Starship Social Enterprise!

Starship Social Enterprise

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

What is a Social Entrepreneur?

What is a Social Entrepreneur?

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What is Starship Social Enterprise?