Blog: Social Enterprise

Here a few inspiring social enterprise ideas discussed at the recent national Social Venture Network conference.  (Source: Forbes article by Devin Thorpe)

1. Be Political.  While 92% of Americans favor disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients in their food, objections from the powerful food industry are so strong that only through collective advocacy will this change.

2. Go Where Others Don’t. Whole Foods recently opened a store in downtown Detroit. Yes, Detroit, the last place many of us would think could support a Whole Foods outlet.  Where there hasn’t been a supermarket in 30 years.  Community support has been strong, and lessons learned will enable the company to open stories in other inner city communities.

3. Many Corporations Don’t Want to Harm the Environment.  They want  to acquire clean technology, which often times has positive long term financial impact, but don’t do so because investors demand short term results.  This would change if there were tax changes to allow for accelerated depreciation for green tech investments.

4. Unintended Classism [and Racism] Continues To Limit Economic Opportunity. Most managers lack sufficient perspective and understanding of people who come from working class and poor families to design policies that work for them. As a result, many hiring practices, including those intended to achieve diversity, often have the opposite result.

More of these insightful ideas can be found in the Forbes article here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2014/04/28/14-ideas-that-will-surprise-or-inspire-you/

Good luck!