What skills do you need to become a social entrepreneur?
Teaching the Key Skills of Successful Social Entrepreneurs by Scott Sherman
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http://ssir.org/articles/entry/teaching_the_key_skills_of_successful_social_entrepreneurs
‘For the past six years, the Transformative Action Institute (TAI) has been promoting a curriculum that teaches these skills. From in-depth studies of social innovators, we have identified seven important competencies that are essential for success: 1. Leadership. These people take initiative and action to solve problems (rather than complaining about what’s wrong). 2. Optimism. These people are confident that they can achieve a bold vision, even when many other people doubt them. They have a strong sense of self-efficacy and a belief that they have control to change their circumstances.
3. Grit. This is a combination of perseverance, passion, and hard work—the relentless drive to achieve goals, complete commitment to achieving their task.
4. Resilience in the face of adversities, obstacles, challenges, and failures. When things fall apart, these people rise to the occasion. They thrive in the most ferocious storms. They see failures as valuable feedback.
5. Creativity and innovation. These people see new possibilities and think in unconventional ways. They see connections and patterns where few other people would imagine.
6. Empathy. These people are able to put themselves in the shoes of others, and imagine perspectives other than their own; this is one of the most valuable qualities for understanding the needs of others whom they serve.
7. Emotional and social intelligence. These people are excellent at connecting with others and building strong relationships.’
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B) Pilgrim Projects - Social Entrepreneurship
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http://www.pilgrimprojects.co.uk/clients/apu/wise/wise4.pdf This presentation goes through the comparisons between commerical entrepreneaurs and social entrepreneurs, and then goes on to list the skill set needed to become a successful social entrepreneur on a separate page.
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Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation - ‘Skills for social enterprise’ course
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https://www.gmcvo.org.uk/skills-social-enterprise This is technically trying to sell courses on social entrepreneurship and related items to you, however the parts about how you need to ‘understand financial statements’ and how you need to be a good project manager, are all interesting and relevant.
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‘ESSENTIAL SOCIAL ENTERPRISE SKILLS: For running a business and improving your impact the day-to-day running of an enterprise requires a range of practical skills and knowledge of key approaches in order for your business to be sustainable or to grow, and to have the vital social impact that is central to your goals. To make sure your budgets and finances are in order and that you can resource your work and plan for the future we offer Understanding Financial Statementsand Introduction to Budgeting – both are development programmes designed to give you the key skills to take away and put into practice. As a legally registered business, Data Protection compliance is essential. In order to plan and deliver your organisation’s core activities effectively, Project Management skills will be an essential part of your team’s day-to-day work, helping you reduce spend, beat deadlines and take a pro-active approach to problem solving. A more in-depth look at the Monitoring and Evaluation involved in delivering and developing high quality projects will help you to assess and improve your work, evidence your impact and make decisions for planning and development. Our Strategic Planning and Practice course is designed to help you remain true to your organisation’s purpose and ambitions in the face of constant challenge and change from the outside world and take your organisation in the direction you want it to go.’
!! !! 5 Skills Every Successful Entrepreneur Must Master - Jason Demers ! ! https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236128
This isn’t strictly about social entrepreneurs, however is focused on commercial entrepreneurs. I do, however, feel that this is still relevant and these skills are completely necessary for a successful social entrepreneurship.
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‘1. Communication. When you’re a solopreneur, you may think communication is less of an issue, since you don’t have staff to interact with. But you’ve still got to maintain clear lines of communication with your customers via email and phone, as well as ensure that the message you send through your website and social-media profiles is the one you want.
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2. Branding (personal and business). Whether you’re striving to brand your business or looking to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, knowing how to do so online is essential to your success.
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3. Sales. You may not identify with salespeople, but the fact is, if you run a business, you’re involved in sales. You might have a sales team that handles all of your company’s sales, but every time you deliver your elevator pitch about your business, negotiate with a vendor, or even just persuade anyone to do anything, you’re tapping into sales skills.
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4. Strategy. It’s easy to think about the “right-now” aspect of your business, because the results are easy to see. But what about the bigger picture, long-term challenges and goals? How often are you thinking about those?
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5. Finance. While you don’t need to be a CPA to run a successful business, you should still have a decent understanding of your finances, profit margins, cash flow and funding. The more comfortable you are with all of these numbers, the more confident you’ll be, and the better decisions you’ll make.’
!! E) Scwab Foundation for social entrepreneurship - what is a social entrepreneur? ! http://www.schwabfound.org/content/what-social-entrepreneur
‘Social entrepreneurs share some come common traits including: ■
An unwavering belief in the innate capacity of all people to contribute meaningfully to economic and social development
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A driving passion to make that happen.
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A practical but innovative stance to a social problem, often using market principles and forces, coupled with dogged determination, that allows them to break away from constraints imposed by ideology or field of discipline, and pushes them to take risks that others wouldn't dare.
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A zeal to measure and monitor their impact. Entrepreneurs have high standards, particularly in relation to their own organization’s efforts and in response to the communities with which they engage. Data, both quantitative and qualitative, are their key tools, guiding continuous feedback and improvement.
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A healthy impatience. Social Entrepreneurs cannot sit back and wait for change to happen – they are the change drivers.’
! FabJob Guide to become a social entrepreneur ! !
http://fabjob.com/sample/SocialEntrepreneur-toc.pdf
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