PGD Session 1-2
Session Theme: Multidimensional Analysis: In-depth Discussion on Resolving Poverty with Diverse Models of Social Entrepreneurship in Asia.
Session Time: 16:30~18:30, Nov. 29
Social Enterprise as Social Innovator: Change Makers Dreaming of Social Innovation
Social entrepreneurs throughout the Asian continent are successfully providing solutions to poverty issues in their own definitions. One enterprise gives greater access to the poor of a certain product, by drastically dropping the production cost, through their own advanced technology. Another enterprise, without a specific innovative technology, but with passion and ideas, makes effort to provide local communality as a solution to poverty issues. And so, Asian Social Entrepreneurs with various innovative ideas in technology, creative business models, and networking, came together on November 29th, at the Asian Social Entrepreneurs Summit 2010, sponsored by Work Together Foundation.
These participants, during their session on “Social Enterprise as a Social Innovator”, attested to the importance of innovative ideas as an essential requirement for social enterprises to maintain their sustainable development.
Joel Sadler, CEO of Re:Motion Designs, was the winner of the Global Social Venture Competition 2010 for his idea and successful implementation of providing high-performance prostheses for the developing world. He presented the “JaipurKnee”, a low-cost prosthetic knee joint for above-knee amputees, as an example of social innovation. Sadler holds that, “Social enterprise, in order to solve complicated social issues, should be able to provide what people need as the basic, and must come up with a creative and affordable way to provide this”.
His JaipurKnee was recognized in several prestigious publications like Time, CNN, Businessweek, and Fast Company, as the important technological innovation of 2009. Today, about 1,300 patients are the current experimental users of the JaipurKnee.
He also added, “Our company’s philosophy: “contemplation on design”, will be a good example for many social entrepreneurs in search of creative solutions to complicated problems.”
Deepak Gadhia, known as a leader in the bio-energy industry, stated that “the successful development and operation of a biogas factory model portrayed the possibility of making profits without creating any negative influence over the environment.” He added that, “social entrepreneurs may well be called social innovators, for they run activities and projects that help people [get] beyond a stereotype.”
The next presentation was by Byung-Eun Ahn, CEO of WooriDongne Inc. Ahn is a professional psychiatrist and a social entrepreneur who promotes the idea of living together, working together, and sharing together in a hopeful local community of the mentally-ill. He pointed out the significance of helping the mentally disabled to share more social values beyond simply providing jobs for them.
Dureen Shanaz of Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX), a social stock exchange allowing Asian social enterprises to raise growth capital, said that “it is premature to afford the capital demand among Asian social enterprises, due to the small amount of capital being maneuvered by the social venture capital industry in Asia.” She portrayed her enterprise’s vision by stating that “the goal of IIX is to become the first center of social stock exchange in Asia by providing the effective mechanism of capital-supply and the foundation of trade for all for-profit and not-for-profit social enterprises in Asia that deal with various social issues”.