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The fact that more than 1,000 people showed up at Suntec
City on a Sunday at 9am for a Forum on Social Entrepreneurship
probably attests to how much "entrepreneurship"
has become a buzzword.
Thanks to the Government, suddenly everyone wants to be an
entrepreneur.
There were several interesting speakers in the forum with
simple, clear and common-sense messages:
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Social entrepreneurs - besides having that
"fire in the belly" - must have clarity of purpose,
strategic vision and tenacity and must exhibit team-building
skills and determination to take necessary risks. |
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Entrepreneurship is not about exceptional or egoistic
leadership, but about conviction and commitment, strategic
engagement and skilful management. |
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Leadership is not about making yourself indispensable.
It is not about always putting yourself in the forefront
of the challenge, but about providing the support from
behind and empowering and equipping the people around
you to confront the challenges themselves. |
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For social entrepreneurship to flourish, there must
be an enabling environment where there is no hierarchy
and people feel a sense of community and solidarity.
Social entrepreneurship does not have a universally-accepted
definition, but put simply, it involves venturing into
an enterprise with a social mission or objective using
a business-like approach (i.e. applying business procedures
and discipline). |
The goal of a social entrepreneur in setting up a social
enterprise is the delivery of social service or goods which
would lead to an "improvement" in society.
So, what does it really take to be a social entrepreneur?
Most of the speakers at the forum agreed that such an entrepreneur
must be able to communicate a clear vision in order to motivate
staff, partners and volunteers.
He must have the capacity to convince and empower others
to help them transform this vision into reality and he must
be able to network to establish credibility and to rally support.
In short, he must be extremely collaborative with the skill
to develop networks of relationships and contacts.
Entrepreneurship does not occur in a vacuum. The environment
plays an important role.
The Government has now realised that changes are necessary
to encourage social entrepreneurship. They are looking into
how the regulatory, tax and funding networks can be made more
transparent to encourage the growth of social enterprises.
A Social Enterprise Fund has also been established to help
link up partners, individuals or organisations seeking to
start up or scale up social enterprises.
However, judging from the questions at the forum and the relative
lack of enthusiasm and understanding, I think Singapore has
a long way to go.
Several factors continue to inhibit the development of social
entrepreneurship among us.
One of these is how we view leadership and society. The elitist
nature of our society confined us to look at leadership from
a hierarchical and authoritative point of view rather than
looking at leadership as ability at consensus and coalition-building.
We "look up" to leaders expecting them to have
"answers" and "solutions" to "questions"
and "problems". Such a hierarchical and elitist
view of leadership and society does not encourage experimentation
and bottom-up initiatives.
Another factor is how we perceive "charity" and
philanthropic activities.
Singaporeans are a generous lot, judging from the amount
of donations given to charity even in hard times. Images of
"suffering" individuals, whether victims of disease
or disaster, often result in a generous pouring in of money
and donations.
However, Singaporeans are not good at dealing with social
causes at a more abstract level and find it hard to identify
with long-term social issues.
This in itself is not a bad thing, as it will force social
entrepreneurs to be more thoughtful and creative in articulating
their causes and to break down their vision and mission into
concrete deliverables and goals.
This inability to grasp the more abstract issues can lead
to an inefficient allocation of resources and constrain the
development of a more diverse group of social enterprises.
A third factor is the lack of a genuine sense of social community.
As pointed out by a speaker at the forum, we live a very sheltered
and compartmentalised existence. We cannot draw the connection
between our own well-being and that of the wider community.
Most of us do not see beyond our own career, family and friends.
This is very much related to the bo chap attitude which has
so often been discussed.
However, it was heartening to see students of the National
University of Singapore taking the initiative to organise
this very first social entrepreneurship forum targeting young
people.
As our political system opens up slowly and becomes more
people-centred and inclusive, and as our education system
starts to emphasise holistic education, teaching us not only
to be literate and job-competent but to be thinking and active
citizens, social enterprises will flourish.
Further, not only social entrepreneurship but entrepreneurship
in other arenas - such as the political and the intellectual
ones - will also blossom.
The writer is executive director and senior research fellow,
SIIA.
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