Sarah Smith Orr, Interim Executive Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute, was the energetic and enthusiastic Lead Conference Organizer along with Conference Co-Chairs Jack Edwards of Ashoka and Ron Riggio, Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute. Pamela B. Gann, President of Claremont McKenna College, opened the conference which was made up of six panels. The conversational tone of the sessions encouraged interaction with the audience and provided an intimacy and focus within the elegant ballroom.

 

Who are social and environmental entrepreneurs? They are individuals who tackle problems with a clear mission fueled by inspiration, courage, and fortitude. They are leaders able to utilize a broad range of leadership skills and styles as they acquire the resources necessary to achieve their mission crossing traditional sector boundaries. Among the main takeaway points of this conference was to note the change from a non-profit model of social justice to recognition that the market is actually a powerful engine for sustainable development. The adoption of an entrepreneurial business model that mixes revenue streams with making the world a better place is indeed applicable to the social sector.

The first session, Social Entrepreneurs—Architects for New Markets in a Globalized World, included Pamela Hartigan, Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University in conversation with Paul Rice, President & CEO of TransFairUSA. Hartigan stated that ventures are usually thought of as non-profit (always looking for grants or contributions) or for-profit. Yet, a model of self-sustaining socially-minded organizations can be driven by opportunity and still emphasize the ideal rather than the deal. The social entrepreneur can create necessary systems changes to create a more equitable world. Rice demonstrated how fair trade, using the market to connect farmers with the global market and cut out the middle man, yields a ten-fold increase in what the farmer makes while the farmer’s pride keeps the quality of the product high. This can “turn a cup of coffee into an act of grace,” empowering a better world.

 

The second session was a demonstration of meaningful social entrepreneurship because it included two former winners of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership. Moderator Kim Jonker, Director of the Kravis Prize in Leadership and consultant to Nonprofits and Foundations, encouraged Christiana Thorpe, founding Chair/Former CEO of FAWE Sierra Leone to describe her inroads into providing education for a culture of peace in Africa. Roy Prosterman, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Rural Development Institute, explained how seeking land rights for those who live with less than $2.00 a day in Africa broadened into applying skills the Institute learned in one region for later use in China and India.

 

 

 

What are the ways government can enhance -- or impede – social enterprise? This was the subject of a session moderated by Rick Wartzman, Director of the Drucker Institute.

Raymond Jetson, Pastor of the Star Hill Church in Baton Rouge, lamented some of the governmental obstacles post-Katrina, exemplified by, “We can’t do that.” He told the story of the government spending two hundred million dollars to retrofit trailers for the disabled when it would have been better to spend the two hundred million on outfitting permanent housing for the disabled. This was a case of rules blocking innovation. Government often proves risk averse. Panelist Colleen Gross Ebinger, Director of Public Innovators Root Cause, pointed out the opportunity for partnering across sectors. Find a corporation or philanthropy to fund the risky innovations. Once proven, the government can take the cue. As a result of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana now has an Office of Social Entrepreneurship, and its Director, Nadiyah Morris Coleman addressed this issue. She stressed that when a government agency does provide social innovation it is vital to stay in touch with the local community so that the rules you make will actually serve the citizens. Robert Lang, CEO of the Mannweiler Foundation as well as CEO of L3C Advisors, explained that there are three ways to support your social enterprise. You can work with 100% donations, a mix of donations and earnings, or solely with earnings. The latter is subject to fewer governmental rules and regulations and allows more entrepreneurial flexibility. He suggests we make the same advantages (such as tax incentives) available for social enterprise as for commercial enterprise and perform socially beneficial activities on a profitable basis. L3C is a new legal structure designed to incorporate socially beneficial activities under a for profit umbrella.

 

Henry Kravis, CMC ’67, who is an entrepreneur extraordinaire, major philanthropist, and founder of the Kravis Prize, addressed both Res Publica Society members and conference participants as our after luncheon speaker. Noting that we live in a time of very great need, he stated that “philanthropists are called into action.” He believes that philanthropy, in proportional measure, should be part of everyone’s life whether in the form of money, time, or all forms of volunteerism, and that charitable giving should be directed “so it actually changes the lives of everyone it touches.”

 

Mr. Kravis and his wife, economist Marie-Jossée Kravis, have developed their philosophy of giving based upon the same components as a successful business model, which include accountability, involvement, and impact. Effectiveness is gauged not merely as measured input but as measured output.

 

Following a beautiful luncheon, Ira Jackson, Dean of the Peter F. Drucker/Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at CGU, kicked off the afternoon conference sessions with a quote from Peter Drucker. “Every social and global problem of our day is a business opportunity.” Peter Thum, Founder of Ethos Water and Giving Water, describes a social enterprise as a non profit hybrid and explained the difference between an entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur as follows: the social entrepreneur begins with an experience that he or she feels they have to do something about. Panelist Rick Aubry, President of Rubicon Programs who also lectures at Stanford, likens the motivation to having a pebble in your shoe and feeling you have to do something about it. He recommends leveraging all sorts of resources; pro bono, philanthropic, former CEO’s in an “encore” career mode, in order to create new value beyond just giving away money. Jeff Mendelsohn, President and CEO of New Leaf Paper, suggests designing an improved product based on one’s own values and the sustainability of the enterprise and then marrying that concept up and down the supply chain.

 

 

Jack Edwards joined Ashoka: Innovators for the Public for what he terms his encore career after many years at Cummins Engine. He moderated the next panel “Launching and Managing Social Entrepreneurial Ventures” by asking, “How do you really make it happen?” “How do you go from determination or a pilot project to social change?” David Green, MacArthur and Ashoka Fellow and social entrepreneur described his foray into medical technology and healthcare pricing by figuring out how to manufacture intraocular lenses and selling them in underdeveloped parts of the world for $4 instead of the $350 others were charging! Beverly Schwartz, Vice President of Global Marketing for Ashoka, discussed The Freedom to Innovate, a networking model to decrease risk for drug companies by developing a separate distribution system. Faye Washington, CEO of the YWCA of Los Angeles discussed using sustainable income to grow other programs, mixing streams of revenue such as grants, foundation money, grass roots enthusiasm and leveraging all of that with determination.

 

The conference closed with a session called “The Complex Tapestry of Social Entrepreneurship: Weaving it Together.” Conference Lead Sarah Smith Orr and Joel Fleishman of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society at Duke University led a dialogue “through a leadership lens” about the characteristics, qualities, and repertoire of skills required to be an effective social entrepreneur. They concluded that social entrepreneurship is a state of mind. Ask yourself what is standing in the way of fixing a particular social problem. Understand what the problem is. Then think carefully about what you are going to do about it. Conduct due diligence so your effort will bear fruit. The goal may be audacious. Accept that you are working to solve a big and complex problem, but solve it incrementally and then scale up.

 

 

Takeaway Points from the Conference: