How to Turn a Societal Mission into a Competitive Business Strategy

Social entrepreneurship is not simple. Even at the concept level it causes confusion. Is it about social work or is it about business? Is it about spending or making money?

The metrics for fiscal responsibility are well defined and a social entrepreneur would do well to honor those. But a social mission, if positioned as just another operational issue in an underserved market, may not be convincing- rather, make it a strategic advantage as illustrated by the case studies: SCC got competitive advantage through a loyal, low-cost workforce by employing the unskilled “unemployable”; DE is able to scale 200% with no new investment in its core program by securing institutional partnerships and capital; VB’s at-risk-youth program works because of its innovative use of media technology.

One definition of social entrepreneurship is “the pursuit of the double bottom line” (3) referring to social and financial wealth as two metrics to track. It is a useful simplification but it does not highlight the strategic aspect of a socially motivated business. In the early stages, when there are significant operational differences between a traditional for-profit venture and a social enterprise, such simplification can mask complexities that must be managed. There are fundamental differences between the two in how the business gets started, progress is measured and employees are motivated. Once a social entrepreneur led business becomes self sustaining, it starts to look more like a regular business and at that point the double bottom line becomes a very practical definition.

A social mission that is also a successful business strategy has the following key characteristics:

• operates in an underserved area


• addresses an underserved market


• benefits the community by integrating into the social fabric


• business sustainability plans are put in place from the outset


• delivers value that is recognizable by the local community


• delivers value that is affordable by the local community

Key Operational Difference: Language of Leadership:

Hence creating a business around a social mission requires its leadership to be well versed in “business speak” (to attract capital and become self sustaining) as well as “social speak” (to manage operations).

At Southwest Creations Collaborative, Susan’s vision was of “women coming together under one roof as a community, where they would feel connected, not isolated.” This is the value proposition she gave her employees. To her investors, the value is new business creation. Mythili Sankaran, executive director of the Digital Equalizer program talks about the excitement she sees in the faces of the girls when they get to touch a computer keyboard. The teachers at Vamos Blogar encourage children to come back to the program to continue the dialog through video blogs by helping them feel successful in an educational environment. In other words, social entrepreneurs recognize that business rigor is essential in achieving sustainability, but the benefits are far greater than pure economic indicators can capture and the language of the leadership reflects the social as well as financial gain.

Key Success indicators: Motivation, Hopefulness, Aspirations