Social Enterprise - Are These Our Strengths and Weaknesses?

Two days ago, Deborah Alvarez-Rodriguez, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties, along with ZeroDivide President and CEO Tessie Guillermo, and Robert Wexler, Principal at Adler & Colvin, spoke on a panel about the future of social enterprise organized by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Social Enterprise Alliance. 

Among the questions posed by moderator Jason Trimiew, Director of Fund and Business Development at REDF, were for the panelists to discuss what they perceive as some of the strengths and weaknesses in the field of social enterprise.  Diversity and risk-taking were emphasized as being key strengths in social entrepreneurship, but Debbie asked, "Are we really a sector?" and said that blended and hybrid models can create blurred boundaries.  Instead of debating the definition of 'social enterprise', she prefers to look toward how to define performance and value creation. 

Tessie said that social enterprises have been in operation for many years, but we just didn't use that terminology then.  She noted ZeroDivide's investment in the social enterprise work of institutions versus individuals and the importance of providing an ecosystem of support to these enterprises.  Rob emphasized that 'creativity' is a key positive in the field of social enterprise but said the negative is that we don't yet know how to measure success.  He also noted that social enterprise tends to focus on particular areas (i.e. job training) and could be much broader.  There was also consensus that certain social enterprises, given the nature of what they do, will find it difficult to be sustainable without some type of subsidy.

SEA board member Paul Lamb, a former ZeroDivide Fellow, wondered where we will find the next generation of youth leaders in the field of social enterprise, and noted that attendee Amy Wilson, Director of Ashoka's San Francisco/Bay Area Youth Venture, is working to develop these young leaders.