Xu Yongguang: The social enterprise movement has a raging momentum
Time：2011-01-13
Since the 1980s, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement, which has been increasingly emerging and developing in the international community, has demanded that corporations should assume social responsibility while making profits, and that the development of corporations should be in line with social ethics in order to ultimately achieve sustainable development. Not coincidentally, in the United Kingdom, the United States and some developing countries, the third sector of society, that is, non-government, non-profit public welfare organizations, also began to draw on the operation of commercial institutions, innovative thinking and methods to improve social development issues such as environmental protection, health care, education, employment, community development, etc., which rely mainly on service revenue rather than relying purely on donations and government subsidies to solve social problems, called the "Social Enterprise Movement". Both the CSR and social enterprise movements focus on social innovation, and those who lead social innovation are called "social entrepreneurs". Dr. Yunus, the "banker of the poor" in Bangladesh, is an iconic figure of social entrepreneurship.
Social Entrepreneurship The concepts of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship have only been in China for a short time, but in the past two to three years they have rapidly gained momentum, with Chinese grassroots NGOs almost always referring to themselves as social enterprises. However, there is still a wide range of opinions on the definitions of social enterprises and social entrepreneurs, the relationship between CSR and social enterprises, and the choice of development models for social enterprises. Even in Hong Kong, where the practice of social enterprises is more than a decade ahead of the Mainland, this is also the case. in early 2010, the Hong Kong SAR Government appointed a group of social figures to serve as members of the "Social Enterprises Advisory Committee", and in the first plenary meeting of the Committee, the Chairman of the Committee, the Secretary for Home Affairs of Hong Kong, Mr. Tsang Tak-sing, said in the first sentence of his speech that: "Today we can talk about everything except the definition of social enterprise." Why? Perhaps for fear that disagreement over the definition of social enterprise would interfere with the allocation of the Hong Kong Government's Social Enterprise Development Fund of hundreds of millions of dollars.In view of this, the author needs to make some brief introduction to the new trend of CSR development in the world, the basic situation of social enterprise movement, and also a little prediction and outlook of the development of social entrepreneurship in China in 2011.
Social Entrepreneurship in China In the corporate CSR movement, many international brands are shifting from traditional commercial branding to innovative thinking that emphasizes social value-driven initiatives. For example, Unilever has partnered with charitable organizations to start social enterprises for community poverty alleviation and food nutrition; P&G has developed a water purification social enterprise to address the international water pollution problem; and banks such as Citi and Deutsche have provided microfinance funds to help alleviate poverty. Banks such as Citi and Deutsche Bank provide microfinance funds to help alleviate poverty and expand business for consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. In China, Lenovo Group has taken the lead in setting up a public welfare venture capital fund, and has launched the Youth Public Welfare Idea Contest for several years, receiving more than 10,000 public welfare project proposals, with the winners receiving financial support from the public welfare venture capital fund; and Master Kong's "Water Idea Contest" has invested funds in public participation. The "Water Idea Competition" of Master Kong Group invests funds in water protection and public welfare projects with high public participation and sustainable operation. ...... This innovative mode of "strategic public welfare" has surpassed the previous mode of CSR, which focuses on win-win and harmony between enterprises and stakeholders, and on giving back to the society through charitable donations, and has become the most important mode in the world. This innovative model of "strategic philanthropy" has gone beyond the previous model of CSR, which focused on win-win harmony between the company and its stakeholders, and on giving back to society through charitable donations. What's more, a group of business elites have come directly to the shore to explore and innovate the support model for social enterprises with NGOs, with the most prominent being the public interest venture capital model that provides financial support. For example, the SellAVenture Fund in the United Kingdom brings together social enterprises looking for growth capital with aspiring individuals who are keen on micro-investment. Through the use of intensive financing techniques and the use of Internet social networks to establish a link between investors and social enterprises and to enhance mutual understanding and trust. Because of their success in the UK, they are looking to expand to other countries. UnLtd, with an endowment of £109 million and 61 full-time staff, is the UK's provider of personalized cash grants, practical support and networking for social entrepreneurs, with awards ranging from £1,000-£60,000 for innovative ideas and start-ups for social enterprises proposed by UK citizens over the age of 16; Triodos Bank, set up in Triodos Bank in Scotland is a bank specializing in providing investment for social and environmental enterprises, the bank's capital comes from investors who focus on social returns, in the world financial crisis, the outstanding performance of this "charity bank" to attract more investors. In addition to the above organizations, the author visited the "public interest venture capital", there are the Catalyst (meaning "catalyst") Fund in the United Kingdom, the Power Trust and the "Roots" Fund in the United States. Apart from the organizations mentioned above, there are also the Catalyst (meaning "catalyst") Fund in the United Kingdom, the Momentum Trust in the United States and the Roots Fund in the United States. In Hong Kong, there is the Social Enterprise Investment Council (SEIC), where investors contribute both money and effort to evaluate social enterprise projects and make investment decisions. In China, financial support models for social enterprises have also emerged. The social enterprise skills training program run by the Youcheng Entrepreneurs Poverty Alleviation Foundation, the Nandu Public Welfare Foundation and the British Council has trained nearly 400 social enterprise entrepreneurs over the past two years, and dozens of organizations have received funding from special funds. I believe that in 2011, a "public interest venture capital fund" to support the development of social enterprises in the form of microfinance is likely to be launched in China. While China's 30 years of reform and opening up have created a world economic miracle, the country's NGO development is still in its infancy, and the social enterprise movement seems to be on the rise. At this year's Summer Davos Forum, several world-class Chinese social entrepreneurs made a surprise appearance, one of them being Zheng Weining, the founder of Shenzhen Canyou Group.In 1997, Zheng Weining, who suffered from severe hemophilia, took out the 300,000 yuan of life-saving money left to him by his father and his parents, and created Canyou with five Canyou in Shenzhen, starting from a typing workshop with only one computer, without any external funding to rely on. Starting from a small typing workshop with only one computer, without any external financial assistance to rely on, the company has become a social enterprise group with a charitable foundation, 4 non-profit organizations, 22 high-tech enterprises, and 1,400 Canyou in stable employment. The Canyou Entrepreneurship Platform enables people with disabilities to become high-quality human resources in the new knowledge-based economy by relying on the work model of "computer + human brain". As the world's largest high-tech social enterprise for people with disabilities, Canyou Group has the world's unrivaled core competitiveness, and now the Group has entered Shanghai and Beijing. Some local governments have invited Mr. Zheng Weining to replicate the Canyou model to solve the employment problems of local Canyou.
Zheng Weining is unique in China, but Canyou' path to social enterprise development will not be unprecedented. In the fields of education, science and technology, culture, healthcare, the elderly, children, women, the disabled, environmental protection, rural development, employment, community services, etc., there are thousands of social enterprises active in the exploration and practice of social innovation. Chinese grassroots NGOs have long faced the dilemma of legitimacy, which is difficult to register, and the dilemma of resources, which is supported by a lack of local resources. These two dilemmas have forced many organizations to opt for industrial and commercial registration, and to choose the path of financial sustainability, which does not depend on donations and relies entirely on market services. The rise of social enterprises is directly related to the realities of the system and policy shackles of China's NGO development, which is a "blessing in disguise".
The choice of social enterprise development model is a real issue in front of every entrepreneur. In the "Civil Social Enterprise Summit" held in Hong Kong recently, the author made a speech entitled "The Difficulty of Choosing the Development Model of Social Enterprises in Mainland China", which analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the market expansion ability of social enterprises with different investment models, and analyzed the many domestic and foreign theses that "profits gained by social enterprises are re-invested into the enterprises". The author analyzes the weak market expansion ability of different investment modes, and disputes the viewpoint of many domestic and international discussions that "the profits gained by social enterprises are re-invested into enterprises". In the author's view, social enterprises can be classified into four types: NPO (non-profit) charitable, NPO enterprise, mixed investment and private investment in the commercialization of social objectives. In terms of market expansion power, the NPO philanthropic type is the weakest, the NPO enterprise type is the next weakest, the hybrid investment type is stronger, and the private investment type is the strongest. All four types of social enterprises can be tried and all have their unique social value.
According to the analysis of the current situation of social enterprise development around the world, non-profit (NPO)-type social enterprises are generally difficult to grow big, but their moral impact and cultural advocacy value cannot be measured in terms of money and market share. Society needs enterprises that fly the flag of morality, especially in China, where morality is lacking. The ideal model of social enterprise development is one that allows founders to align their social ideals with their needs for personal development (including financial gain) on the premise that social gain comes first. The ideal of social enterprise should not only be the goal chosen by a few "saints", but should also become the pursuit of many ordinary people who have social ideals and the ability to pursue them, and only in this way will it be possible to form a real social enterprise movement. This requires society to give social entrepreneurs more space.
In 2011, I believe that Zheng Weining, a world-class social entrepreneur who can be described as "Prof. Yunus' first and Zheng Weining's second", will enter the Chinese public's field of vision, and will let people know what "social enterprise" means and what "social entrepreneurship" means. "Zheng Weining's achievements and the spirit of social entrepreneurship he leads will also inspire a new generation of social enterprise entrepreneurs, allowing them to see the direction and increase their confidence. The term "social enterprise" has not yet entered the mainstream discourse within the system, let alone policy support. I hope that in 2011, some local governments will accept this new term and gradually understand and recognize its value. Mr. Tse Ka Kui, a renowned expert in social enterprise research and practice in Hong Kong, recently commented on the author's "brick-throwing" in Hong Kong. In his article "The Dilemma and Dream of Choosing the Development Model of Social Enterprises", he asserted that "social enterprise is the most important social innovation in the 20th century, and in the 21st century, we will see its great role in changing the world's customs and habits". The author deeply approves of it.