Response(1)

The Meaning of “Social Entrepreneurship”, by J. Gregory Dees

Dees' glorified view of entrepreneurs as agents of change essential to the progress of society strikes contrast to my longstanding mis-belief that all entrepreneurs (often grouped with aggressive businessmen in my mind) are money hungry opportunists that exploit resources, systems and people for their own ends. The etymology of entrepreneur, originally describing 'one who undertakes', pulls the motive of the entrepreneur away from personal gain or profit and focuses the word on the ambition and not the outcome. Ambition is admirable, is an agent of change and is much more respectable than my notion of entrepreneurs as being manipulating opportunists. Something to keep in mind when we start taking about business models and price points.

Dees brings up the idea of social entrepreneurs 'increasing social value' a lot as analogous to business entrepreneurs 'increasing monetary value.' Monetary value is easy to observe, easy to quantify and easy to understand, social value is not. Come to think of it…

What is social value?

So...

In the months to come this blog will function as a space for documentation, exploration, research, process, pictures, ideas and feedback as I take Design for Social Entrepreneurship. Design for Social Entrepreneurship is an advanced studio in the Industrial Design Department at the Rhode Island School of Design that will investigate the power of products, systems and services to create positive social and environmental change. This semester, as a social entrepreneurial designer, I will have the opportunity to travel to and work with EARTH University in Costa Rica, hence the blog's name. EARTH is at the forefront of identifying, testing and sharing techniques for sustainable agriculture in the tropics. Students enrolled in this course will investigate new uses for agricultural wastes and natural materials and develop in-depth proposals for the creation of new products that will benefit EARTH and its local and global communities. Professor Patricia Gruits has begun a class blog at http://www.de-se2011.blogspot.com/ to share our collective progress, research and ideas with a larger community. I look forward to the opportunities and challenges that await me this semester and documenting them here. I'll keep you posted. Alex