Welcome back to the MOOC

on social entrepreneurship. In last week's optional case assignment, we asked you

to think through a number
of social problems, social issues, and to come up with ideas for solutions
in the form of social enterprises. What we'll do first is to listen into some
of our students talk about these cases, and how to identify an opportunity for
each. And then I will present to you how
different social entrepreneurs have actually addressed these opportunities.
Hopefully, this will help you identify how
you can very systematically approach your own social problem and look at so
called antagonistic assets and how you can turn them into an opportunity. As
always, we have guest speakers who
will talk about their own experiences. Johanna Mair the editor of the Stanford
Social Innovation Review will talk about a volunteering organization
in India that started out with certain ideas of how it wanted
to address the problem of poverty and exclusion and which over time has
changed its approach quite dramatically. This illustrates that often you
start out with one specific idea of trying to solve your problem and
you evolve and change over time. So don't feel bad if you find
over the next couple of weeks that your own startup idea
still keeps changing. After listening to Johanna Mair, you will meet another
colleague of mine
from the Copenhagen Business School. Christian Espesen will ask you to
begin rating the ideas which have been coming in on our discussion forums. Please
pay attention to the process
that Christian outlines today. If you have great ideas and you haven't uploaded
them yet,
you're still welcome to do so. But at any rate, look for the ideas
that your colleagues have uploaded on the discussion forum and try to like the
ones that you think are particularly good. This will help in the group
formation process, as we'll be seeing over
the next couple of weeks. But now, let's go and
listen in on the CBS students and what they have to tell us about
opportunity identification. >> I've recently discovered
that it's two-thirds of blind people in the market are unemployed. So it begs the
question,
what are some opportunities for people with seeing disabilities that
emphasize their other sorts of talents. There have to be some good solutions for
this. >> I think the whole point of social
entrepreneurship is to see something not only as a challenge but as an opportunity
for changing the situation of a person. So if you think that blind people
are disabled, you don't get very far. But if you think of them as people
having different skills, for example, they have a great sense of touch
because they don't have eyesight. For example, there is this program
that is employing them in performing mammography and breast cancer tests and they
are actually better than the average
doctor and they're cost efficient. So it doesn't only solve the problem
of blind people in employment but also breast cancer is the most
frequent cause of death for women, it s solves the health sector problems. So it's
a holistic solution for
many social problems. So you really have to see
the opportunity in the challenge. >> Absolutely,
I've even seen some other sorts of ideas such as that they can
work as customer service representatives on the phone because
they're so attuned to listening to people. >> Exactly. >> They're very sensitized
to those
on the other end of the line. Or even,
I've come across these restaurants, really innovative idea, where you're
served everything entirely in the dark. >> In the dark.
>> Yes. [CROSSTALK]
>> And people who are serving you are sometimes blind, but they're way more in tune
with
navigating around in this environment. >> [CROSSTALK] Of course,
it's natural for them. >> As well as the taste
of the food itself. >> Mm-hm. >> So some opportunities
that could be highlighted. >> Exactly. >> But what about in some other
circumstances, such as those for young boys in environments where they're
considered minorities and are experiencing
some rebellion that pushes them away from succeeding within their school
environment or a new business environment? What are some opportunities for
boys like this? >> I guess it's the same
thing with the blind people. You have to consider
different problems at a time. If you can tackle urban violence with communities,
and discrimination,
and unemployment at the same time. For example,
you could launch a program to build business skills among those
young ethnic minorities. I think one way you can do
that is by showing them people that actually succeeded and
those people come back. People like them from the same background,
same educational background, same community, same urban center, and showing
them that this success is possible. And that you can actually have peer
recognition through other ways than or violence and
we can call them coaches, can teach them business skills that they can
use to empower themselves and to have their own business as well. And creating
better communities and
reducing unemployment because it's difficult sometimes with
the discrimination, etc, to be employed. >> I've come across this excellent
organization called Weed and Seed that operates in some
cities in the United States. The point of the organization
is mainly focused around using abandoned plots of land and
developing them into community gardens. But the left hand of the program is that
they bring in schools and they teach the kids how to use the different fruits
and vegetables to cook for themselves. And then they have a chef training
program attached to that. The neatest thing about it is that
the kids were able to feel pride, both in what they were growing and what they
were creating from what they were growing. And they saw this positive feedback,
not only from the community, but also from their own families, that
their parents were really proud of them. I think that really Drew even more kids
into the program when they saw their
elder peers doing so well with it. >> Which city was this? >> I saw it in Buffalo,
New York. >> Buffalo, that's great. >> Unfortunately,
terribly economically depressed. >> I heard about a similar initiative
in I think it was Detroit. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Most difficult the problem is it's tricky to find a solution. For example, with
clean water. How do you provide clean water to
communities that have no energy, that have no ways to repair that
systems that you provide them? What could you think? >> Yeah, there has been
a circumstance where a nonprofit organization has developed a tool called
the Life Straw that doesn't depend on any sort of electricity and
it's easily assembled with simple parts. I believe costs about $1 US to produce, so
very cheap in that and
this could be a solution. But it brings up the challenge of how
to distribute it to the communities and how to make them feel as if this
is a good solution for them. >> Yeah, I feel like When you tackle
basic needs in very needy communities, you have this double challenge that
the system has to be self-sufficient. And it has to have community ownership. >>
Yeah. So for the last straw it's
really self-sufficient, you don't really need anything. You just need the last
straw. But then you don't really
have ownership over that because people might perceive it
as just a straw, might not use it. Or yeah, so the ownership part, the
community ownership is really important. >> To getting that spread out there. >>
Yeah, so that's really a challenge,
clean water. >> Yeah, and
even in the longer term, I see that it's not just about the distribution
of tools that are solutions. But also to harbor a sort
of community feeling that we can make a difference with
the political system an empowerment issue. Because often the case is that
there is clean water available in the community, but
there's no method for harvesting it and ensuring that
it's distributed equally to people. >> Yeah, have this great story that
I was told by a person that I met and he invented this system that very cheaply
cleans water and installed it
in different places in an African village. And it's simply, it was very cheap, but
simply didn't work because he
ignored the local culture. Simple facts like that, the time that the
women have to get water from the river, even if it's unclean, is the only time
that they have to actually meet and talk about their issues,
their problems, their lives. So the fact that he
installed the system so close to their house, completely
disrupted this social connection. And so people continued to go to
the unclean river, get their water, and completely ignore the very fancy
technological system there. >> So, what other messages. Yeah.
>> Is that you really have to-
>> Think about this. >> Look at where it's happening, and what's important to them
in order for
it to work. >> Yeah,
might be the best system in the world, but if it's not adapted to the needs of
the people there, it will not be used. >> So in terms of needs of
the people in different communities, what about scenarios where
you have handicraft but no access to equipment that could
do this more efficiently or cheaply necessarily through electricity? So what are
the opportunities for
craftsmakers like this? >> Well, I think now you have this
very high demand for quality items for handmade items. I mean, it's basic luxury.
Just handmade is
the foundation of the luxury. So you can target high-end
consumers to that. It might be a solution to just,
don't present it as people who don't have electricity, but as people who do
really quality goods with their hands, and creating a brand around that. I don't
know, using local materials,
or what do you think? >> Well if there's going to be
a social mission and you're going to sell it from the perspective of
that it's very high quality and made with local materials or
has that unique aspect to it. Then how can you also ensure that
these are products that are benefiting people who were creating them because
they don't have access to other options? Rather than,
more sort of artistic super stars in already well to do areas. If I'm looking at a
shelf in a store
that specializes in handmade products, it becomes really difficult for
me to differentiate between well, which is a product that is going to have
some sort of large social benefit for somebody who couldn't make
a product another way? Versus, a product that somebody made
because it's hip to make things by hand. So this becomes a conundrum for
me as a consumer. >> So between the needy and
those who are just in that trend. >> Exactly. >> Well, I think that's
the responsibility of the brand. To just expose the situation of
the producers in the producing country. So also to create a brand around
that country, I don't know. For example I think about Bangladesh. You can think
about it as a place that will not be chosen by
luxury brands to produce their goods. But if you think that there is some
local knowledge there and they have this really high quality materials and
people do beautiful things with it, you just have to create this
desire from the consumer side. And you can even create links between
the consumer and the producer. I feel that's from Bangladesh, is that? >> It's from
Cambodia. >> Cambodia. >> But it's, at the least, the external
part is made from recycled rice bags. >> Yeah, for example, using materials
that they have there locally available. >> But part of what I liked about this
product, and what drew me to it is, and I see this is part of the opportunity for
handicraft. Is not only is it a matter
of kind of going back to old fashioned, foot pedal operated sewing
machines or something like that. But this is even better done collectively. So that
if you're able to find other
artists who are interested in doing that that you can share the machinery. And not
only that, but
you can share the sense of where you want your business to go, maybe have
a well-formulated business plan, and get access to other sorts of markets
where you can sell this message. Including riding on the wave of it being
fashionable to have handmade products. >> So in this exact sense you could
image the kind of collaboration between those people who have knowledge in,
for example, some famous artist or famous designers and
just build something around it. >> It's beautiful. >> Last week I've introduced the
terms
complementary and antagonistic assets. Specialisterne is a good example of
a social enterprise that has succeeded in turning a potentially antagonistic
asset into a competitive advantage by identifying an opportunity for
a profitable social enterprise working with people
with autism spectrum disorder. But can this process be replicated? Actually, 4
mechanisms exist that
allow to identify opportunities for social enterprises. You can firstly identify
hidden complementarities. Secondly, you can develop
new complementarities. Or, you eliminate the need for
complementarities. The fourth and last part is to create
demand for Antagonistic Assets. The approach taken by Specialisterne
is actually an example of the first type of opportunity. Thorkil Sonne has found
that previously hidden complementarity
that people with ASD have. They possess specialist skills which give them a unique
advantage in software testing. The same logic is exploited
by Telehandelshuset, a Danish telemarketing house which
employs blind people exclusively. Telehandelshuset stresses that its
staff's visual impairment Results and they're having unique listening skills and
verbalization abilities. The unique abilities of their staff
give Telehandelshuset an advantage over competing telemarketing operators. Their
employees are better able to sense
emotions in their inter-locuteurs. However, not all beneficiaries
possess hidden complementarities, as in the cases of specialistana and
telehandelshuset. A second mechanism for identifying opportunity is
the creation of new complementarities. A good example is Mind Your Own Business, a
social entrepreneurial project
aimed at boys aged between 11 and 18 years, all of whom have
ethnic minority backgrounds. In order to help these boys breakout of
the vicious cycle of under achievement at school unemployment and
crime, Mind Your Own Business motivates them to jointly
start a micro business. Past business projects include a car wash,
a t-shirt brand and a charity run. Mind Your Own Business reports that the
boys experience greater self confidence and vision, and often better school
grades as a result of this intervention. In other words, Mind Your Own Business
creates new complementaries that allow to unlock the latent potential
concealed in this target group. A very similar approach has been
selected by the melting pot foundation. A Danish social entrepreneurial
project run by Klaus Meyer. Klaus Meyer is a celebrity chef and co-owner of Noma,
one of the best restaurants in the world. Through the melting pot foundation he
aims to improve the future prospects of marginalized indigenous youth in Peru. The
Melting Pot foundation
has launched a cooking school which teaches food craftsmanship as a way of
instilling a spirit of
entrepreneurship in its beneficiaries. In 2013, Gusto, the restaurant
linked to the cooking school was actually selected as
Latin America's best restaurant. The third mechanism is actually one
of trying to eliminate the need for complimentary assets. How can we do that? A
good example for this process is the
Danish company called Vesterbrad Francine. This company does not focus on costly
and
complex water treatment and distribution systems that would
required the presence of essential complimentary assets instead
the firm has designed, LifeStraw. A point of views water treatment approach. The
LifeStraw is basically a hollow
straw with a filter system inside, thus reducing the risk of water-borne
diseases arising from re-contamination during collection, transport,
and use of water in the home. The elimination of complementarities is part of
Vestergaard Frandsen's
product design strategy. This is what they state. We only developed products
that are long-lasting, do not have any spare parts and
do not require electricity to function. This distinguishes us from other producers
who often take existing products and try to adapt them to
a developing world context. The forth and
final way of trying to identify an opportunity is to create demand for
antagonistic assets. How can we do that? The social enterprise Kono
is a spin off of the so called Cafe Retro,
a non-profit cafe run by volunteers. The cafe donates its proceeds for humanitarian
projects in
developing countries. Cafe Retro supports projects
in Sierra Leone and India. In 2009 wishing to do more than just
fund-rasing Annie Lynskar together with other volunteers at Cafe Retro
decided to launch a subsidiary. Kono business is a fair trade
hybrid which imports and sells a range of textiles
produced in Sierra Leone and designed exclusively for
Kono by young Danish designers. A second example is Bangura Bags,
which also began as a pure earned income strategy for the Masanga Hospital
located in the jungle of Sierra Leone. Looking for income sources Masanga
reached out to a local tailor Alfred Bangura who since has started
a tailor shop adjacent to the hospital. Bangura Bags are laptop sleeves made of
old bicycle tubes collected in the area. As electricity is highly unreliable, all
products are handmade by a staff of four. Kono and Bangura both acquire clients and
create loyalty not in spite but
because of their antagonistic assets. They celebrate the hand made
aspect of their products, made on old Singer sewing machines. Apart from being
independent from the need
for electricity these foot pedal machines are also an essential part of
the story telling Kono and Bangura use to develop
their own brand appeal. For example,
each Bangura bag is hand signed in on the Bagura bag's label by
the employee who sewed it. One hopeful Bagura bag's employee even
includes his mobile phone number, just in case one of his Danish clients ever
comes to Sierra Leone and wants to visit. To sum up, there are actually four
mechanisms that
you might use to identify opportunities. The first of these mechanisms
is actually the identification of hidden complementarities. Secondly, you can
develop
new complementarities. Thirdly, eliminate the need for
complementarity assets. And, fourthly create demand for
your antagonistic assets. As you will now start to
upload your own ideas for a social enterprise on our forum,
try to use one or several of these mechanisms to identify the opportunity for
your social enterprise.