Question

Beyond the lemonade stand: Sustaining a new social venture

1. What is a calling and how do you find it?
2. How can you complement an intuitive response to social needs with a methodological
approach to social entrepreneurship?
3. How are new social ventures sustained?

In 2016, a young South African left her secure office job to pursue her passion for social entrepreneurship in the youth development field. She had been volunteering with street children, but she wanted to do more by drawing on her entrepreneurial experience from high school and university. She followed her passion, and experienced a number of challenges, but also early successes over her first four years of social entrepreneurship, including the formation of her social business, Beyond the Lemonade Stand. Business was steady but she struggled with getting the commitment needed in poor township schools to make the program a success. She began to question the core purpose of her organization and wondered if she would be better off pursuing opportunities offered by middle-class and private schools that wanted her services.

Anthony Wilson-Prangley is affiliated with University of Pretoria.

Learning Objective

The case is aimed at early-phase social entrepreneurs and those interested in the field. It is intended to be used in the opening few sessions of a course on social entrepreneurship at the undergraduate or graduate level. After completion of the case, students will have explored the following questions: What is a calling and how do you find it? How can you complement an intuitive response to social needs with a methodical approach to social entrepreneurship? How are new social ventures sustained?

Answer 1

Q.- What is a calling and how do you find it?

Ans- We all live in a society and observe a lot of social problems/issues on a daily basis issue of unemployment, illiteracy among the people, chronic poverty, decaying environmental standards, and many more such social issues. Sometimes, we also have the solution for some of these social challenges but we are reluctant to implement our solution considering the lack of experience, limited resources and lack of conducive environment/support from our family/society. When someone has this kind of intuitive feeling that he/she can solve a pressing social challenge, this gut feeling is called calling.

There are immense opportunities available for social entrepreneurship out there. But by doing proper and thorough research we can find the most suitable social issue which needs to be and can be solved by the person who intends to be a social entrepreneur. The social entrepreneur needs to find a niche market (most pressing social issues) for which he/she can create social value so that the local community can be benefited from it. Hence, by doing a lot of research, one can find the calling for social entrepreneurship.

Q. How can you complement an intuitive response to social needs with a methodical approach to social entrepreneurship?

Ans- Intuitive response to social needs is the most important step for social entrepreneurship but Intuitive response is not the end itself it is just a beginning that needs to be complemented with a methodological/scientific approach. Following steps can be taken to complement an intuitive response to social needs with a methodical approach to social entrepreneurship.

i. The first step in the direction to become a social entrepreneur is to have a crystal clear vision/mission for the organisation. The aspiring social entrepreneur should have a vision for his organisation which can be developed through proper research.

ii. The second step in the direction to become a social entrepreneur is to link the vision/mission of the organisation with desired result/output which is supposed to be achieved. There should not be any ambiguity in the relationship of vision/mission and the desired result/output.

iii. Then comes the stage to find the niche market i.e., any specific social issue which needs to be solved. There should be a proper research to find the niche market because it will be the very idea/sole of the organisation.

iv. Once, this has been identified. The social entrepreneur needs to start implementing his idea at a small scale initially. This implementation of idea at a small scale is also called incubation period. It is necessary to observe whether the idea is workable or not.

v. If all the above mentioned steps are successful, then it is the time to implement the solution at a large scale.

Hence, this is the way to complement an intuitive response to social needs with a methodical approach to social entrepreneurship.

Q.-How are new social ventures sustained?

The social venture or any organisation needs four things for its survival in the long term. They are to have a solid business plan, ample financial resources, a proper marketing strategy, a good team which can implement/deliver the result and a flexible management which can foresee the future and adapt its business strategy/organisation as per the requisite of the time. If a social venture has these things then it can survive in the long run