The Road to Sustainable Enterprise Empire

• Posted by Drew Tulchin
• On September 02, 2008


• Interests: Sustainable Business

Welcome to my inaugural blog for JustMeans.  I look forward to sharing cutting edge topics in the nascent field of social enterprise and the triple bottom line.  Each entry will focus on an industry observation, as well as provide a resource of interest for further exploration.  I welcome your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, and recommendations.  The aspiration is to spotlight valuable organizations doing important work and draw attention to important considerations in this growing market-place. 

What is social enterprise? Social enterprise does not appear to have ONE definition.  It means different things to different people.  This is a benefit and a curse – allowing many to be under the tent, but perhaps meaning nothing. 

Terminology is a valuable place to start to provide a foundation.  I recommend the Stanford Social Innovation Review article Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition, by Roger L. Martin & Sally Osberg from Spring, ’07. It shares a range of perspectives on conceptualizing the term, has some good quotes from entrepreneurs and encouraged me to consider what some of these words actually mean.   

I also like Nobel Laureate and Grameen Bank founder Professor Mohammad Yunus’s thinking on social enterprises, some of which are captured at:  http://muhammadyunus.org/content/view/56/83/lang,en/), but don’t myself want to restrict the terms to only those businesses recycling all profits back to mission efforts.  (In the spirit of disclosure, I used to work for Grameen Foundation, a U.S. affiliate of Grameen Bank; Yunus serves on the Board). 

Social enterprise is no longer novel.  It is a viable means for non-profits to earn money to finance their operations, operate business activities with mission driven purpose, and considers how for-profit businesses ensure their activities have community /social / environmental contributions.  And, it is growing in need, prevalence, and success stories. 

In the U.S. , the market with which I am most familiar, social enterprise is not new, despite the ‘surprise’ so many people register when they hear about it. Salvation Army has had second hand stores for generations.  The store 10,000 Villages is more than 50 years old.  And, Goodwill Industries generates more than $3 BILLION a year in revenue. 

Since it is here to stay, more important questions include:

• Should your organization do it?
• What are the steps to start?

• How does one go about it effectively?

Topics we’ll explore together. 

Andrew (Drew) Tulchin is Managing Partner of Social Enterprise Associates, a triple bottom line consulting firm with headquarters in the U.S. and working world-wide.  He can be reached at drew@socialenteprise.net.  More information is available online at www.socialenterprise.net.

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