Bryan Lawlor
Friday, February 6, 2009
Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurs start a business with the mindset of giving back to their communities. A great example of social entrepreneurship is the recent trend with companies like Tesla. This is a company that is hoping for a profit while blazing the path in the electric car industry. Not only are they building a car that is great for the environment, but they are accomplishing this great achievement without sacrificing performance or design. The company began in Silicon Valley with the backing of venture capitalists and today they have two showrooms in California and are planning their expansion to the east coast. You can visit them at www.telsamotors.com.
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You may also want to check out the many foundations and nonprofits that are getting into the social entrepreneur field. Groups like Kiva (kiva.org) and the Calvert Foundation invest (mainly through microfinancing) in individuals and communities around the world that have great products -- from agricultural goods to clothing and more -- but no way of getting them to local markets let alone exporting them to the global north.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Tesla Motors before you mentioned it to me, and it sounds great. I am always happy to hear that people are truly trying to do something about the environment and our energy crisis. I feel that too many people nowadays push that idea out of their mind and think that they will just worry about it another time. Unfortunately it may be too late if people don't try to do something now. I am glad to hear that there are some entrepreneurs who are trying to create change as well. I am also very interested in Product (Red). I am a big fan of that charity. It involves a portion of proceeds from sales of various different products going to fight AIDS in Africa.
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