Ashoka and the art of social entrepreneurship

by Matthew Rock - Wednesday, 27th August 2008 - (1) comment - Business comment

We strongly recommend this interview with Bill Drayton, founder of the Ashoka organisation that brings together the world's finest social enterprises.

On last night's Global Business, the BBC's Peter Day talked to one of the world's pioneering social entrepreneurs, Bill Drayton, in a fascinating consideration of the rise of social entrepreneurship.

Among many thoughtful points, Drayton argued that business has dramatically outperformed civic society in productivity and finding solutions to social problems. While government has remained fundamentally monopolistic (ie, there are no competitors for its services), business has used entrepreneurial and competitive principles to make maximum social impact. This performance gap between the business and social sectors has existed for the past 300 years, argues Drayton, but is now being closed through the energetic collaboration of social entrepreneurs across the world.

This bit is, of course, a plug for Ashoka (named after Ashoka, the 3rd century BC Indian leader who unified the Indian subcontinent, renouncing violence and dedicating his life to social welfare and economic development), which brings together more than 2,000 social entrepreneurs across the world.

His big point is, however, powerful and one that Real Business has been arguing over the past few years: that entrepreneurialism has the power to change; directed at social issues within which they can see a business return, entrepreneurs tend to deliver powerful, usually positive, results.

Rather than watch Dragons' Den this week, why not download the Global Business podcast here? Your time will be better spent...

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1 Comments

August 27, 2008 12:02pm
Dan Martin, BusinessZone.co.uk Says:

I couldn't agree more and thanks Matthew for alerting us to the podcast; I'll definitely have a listen. I too believe that entrepreneurs are so much better equipped to solve society's ills than traditional public sector methods. Although it has its critics, I think Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire demonstrates how the effectiveness of a business approach to overcoming community problems. Last night's episode in which marketing millionaire Carl Hopkins visited Jimmy Egan's urban farm in the former mining town of Easington was a perfect example. Using his own money Egan purchased a piece of land and has transformed it into a place for local teenagers to learn about agriculture rather than spending time on the streets causing trouble.