1. Social Entrepreneurship: An Asian Perspective
Prof. Marie Lisa M. Dacanay
Asian Institute of Management
Civil Society Forum, IMF-WB Annual Meeting
14 Sept 2006

2. Social Entrepreneurship (SE): An Asian Perspective
Context of presentation
A look at some SE initiatives in Asia
Understanding SE in Asia
Challenges and proposals for advancing SE in Asia
Harnessing SE for the MDGs in Asia

3. Context: AIM-CAFO Partnership in Social Entrepreneurship
Research (AIM/CAFO)
Cases on significant practices
Creating a Space in the Market (2004)
Education (AIM)
Degree and non-degree programs
Master in Entrepreneurship for Social and Development Entrepreneurs or MESODEV
Networking and Outreach (AIM/CAFO)
International Workshop on Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (July 6-8, 2006)

4. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia
KOOL-NE (Philippines)
Hagar (Cambodia)
PEKERTI (Indonesia)
Basix Group (India)
Partners for Health (Thailand)

5. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia: KOOL-NE (Philippines)
Total assets: US$110,000
Farmers’ equity: 10%;
Annual sales: about USD91,000
Started 2002
Joint venture between PRRM (NGO) & KALIKASAN (farmers)
Production, processing and marketing of organic rice
Second largest producer-distributor in Luzon island
Farmers: increased incomes from lower cost of inputs and premium pricing
Also contributes to environmental health and soil rehabilitation

6. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia:
Started as shelter for women by Pierre Tami in 1994
Mission: Prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration of rural women and children who migrate to cities in search of better life.
Now a social enterprise system with non-profit arm providing initial education and vocational training and commercial enterprises that provide employment and additional vocational training to enable women to have independent and productive lives
Commercial enterprises: Hagar Soya, Hagar Catering, Hagar Design
Working with other shelters to expand in Southeast Asia

7. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia: Partners for Health (Thailand)
Social enterprise system serving persons living with HIV-AIDS (PLWHA):
Health component with outreach care and psycho-social support: managed by Thai Business Coalition on Aids (TBCA)
Income generating component providing marketing and retail support for PLWHA-made textile and handicrafts: managed by Center for People’s Families Affected by Aids (CPA) Positive Marketing Co. Ltd. (PMCL)

8. A Look at Some SE Initiative: Partners for Health (Thailand)
Set up as public-private-community
partnership project in Nov 2003; cost USD117T
Partners: UNESCAP, Ministry of Public Health, Bangkok Metropolitan Authority, TBCA and the CPA
Objective: to increase outreach and effectiveness of gov’t HIV-AIDS programs
PMCL sales (2004) : USD203T, mainly serving events-based market; 35% of profits go to health component
Expected to be self-sustaining by 2008; By May 2005, deemed successful for replication & scaling up

9. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia: PEKERTI (Indonesia)
Yayasan Pekerti (1975): not-for-profit foundation set up by 5 NGO activists
Mission: increase standard of living of marginalized artisans & establish fair, democratic involvement
in their economic activities; part of IFAT
Pekerti Nusantara (1979): commercial arm for export market (assets: USD389T by 2002)
Pekerti Cooperative (2000):
working capital for
partners

10. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia: PEKERTI (Indonesia)
APIKRI
Partner of Pekerti composed of
200 artisans in Yogyakarta
: Pekerti helped set up
Apikri Foundation and Apikri Cooperative
w/c now conduct self-sustaining development and trading activities
Sales by 2003: USD277 thousand

11. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia: Basix Group (India)
Rural livelihood promotion institution founded in 1996 by NGO leaders
Bank and non-bank institutions providing livelihood financial services
Not-for-profit agency providing agriculture, business and institutional dev’t services
Clients: poor & employers of poor in agriculture, non-farm and allied sectors

12. A Look at Some SE Initiatives: Basix Group (India)
Targets large numbers of poor in economic subsectors with growth potential: dairy, cotton, rural retailing
Outreach (2003): 10,000 villages, 25 districts, 6 states
Microfinance outreach: 145,500
Livelihood promotion services outreach: 22,000
Assets- USD9.2 million (2003); loan portfolio- USD 13 million with 97% on-time recovery rate
Impact assessment (2001): 68% clients poor; 52% with increased incomes (control group-29%); 37% with increased employment (control group-26%)

13. A Look at Some SE Initiatives in Asia: Basix Group (India)
SARVODAYA NANO FINANCE LTD
Non-bank financial institution set up by Basix to service self-help groups (SHGs) of poor women
July 2001: devolved ownership to community-based mutual benefit trusts of 5,000 SHGs of poor women in Tamil Nadu
3-year agreement for Basix to provide management services

14. Understanding SE in Asia
Defining ‘social entrepreneur’
Social enterprise
vs traditional business enterprise
Social enterprise development strategies
Micro and macro perspectives
Differing macro contexts

15. Defining ‘social entrepreneur’
Development change agent working in the market as an arena
Innovative, opportunity-seeking, resourceful person, group or institution
Leads creation of enterprises, enterprise systems or enterprise development programs demonstrating positive development impact

16. Social enterprise vs traditional business enterprise
Stockholders or proprietors
Primary stakeholders/
beneficiaries
Marginalized sectors
Bottom line: profit
Primary objectives
Double or triple bottom line
Accumulative
Enterprise philosophy
Distributive

17. Social enterprise vs traditional business enterprise
Stockholders or proprietors: individuals, families who own capital and invest such in the enterprise
Primary stakeholders/
beneficiaries
A sector, community or group, usually involving the marginalized sectors of society who may or may not own/control the enterprise

18. Social enterprise vs traditional business enterprise
Bottom line: profit
Primary objectives
Double or triple bottom line: financial viability; improve quality of life of marginalized sector; environmental sustainability

19. Social enterprise vs traditional business enterprise
Accumulative: minimize costs, maximize profits to enrich individuals;
social and environmental costs externalized
Enterprise philosophy
Distributive: economic benefits distributed to a broader segment of society;
generate social and environmental benefits to society

20. Social Enterprise Development Strategies
Resource Mobilization Strategies
Social Inclusion Strategies
Intermediation Strategies
Empowerment Strategies

21. Social Enterprise Development Strategies: Resource Mobilization Strategies
Primary concern: generate income from sale of products or services to finance development agency’s operations
or core program
Exemplified in part by Partners
for Health
Another example: Bina Swadaya
Tours plus 8 other subsidiary companies provide 90% of Bina Swadaya’s annual budget of USD5million (Indonesia)

22. Social Enterprise Development Strategies: Social Inclusion Strategies
Address need for disadvantaged or excluded groups to regain their dignified place in society
Exemplified by Hagar and Partners for Health

23. Social Enterprise Development Strategies: Intermediation Strategies
Provides primary stakeholders access to economic or social services
Two types: functional intermediation and progressive intermediation
Variations of progressive intermediation exemplified by Pekerti and Basix
Example of functional intermediation: most MFIs

24. Social Enterprise Development Strategies: Empowerment Strategies
Address need for poor or marginalized to reap maximum benefits from owning and controlling social enterprise themselves
Two types: direct empowerment and devolutionary empowerment
Direct:
exemplified by cooperatives
Devolutionary:
exemplified by KOOL-NE

25. Social entrepreneurship: micro and macro perspectives
Micro perspective: art of wealth creation with multiple bottom lines
Macro perspective: strategy to democratize market economies
Participation by the poor and marginalized sectors as owners, decision makers and stakeholders (social dimension)
Protection and rehabilitation of society’s life support system (environmental dimension)

26. Differing Macro Contexts of SE in Asia
Developing market economies: POVERTY
Socialist countries in transition to market economies: humane market economies or ‘MINDFUL MARKETS’
Developed/affluent market economies: SOCIAL INCLUSION ++
assisting efforts at poverty reduction and building ‘mindful markets’ in other countries

27. Challenges in Advancing SE in Asia
Social marketing: Lack of understanding by development sector of market as arena for change
Capacity building: Low capacity for building and scaling up social enterprises among civil society actors
Scaling up and mainstreaming
Lack of access to financial capital for scaling up
Limited involvement of the business sector
Absence of supportive policy environment

28. Concrete Proposals to Advance SE in Asia
Regional center for social entrepreneurship in Asia to support country level initiatives in response to challenges
Social enterprise capital fund (s)

29. Harnessing SE for the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in Asia
MDBs may want to consider harnessing social entrepreneurship to improve performance vis a vis the MDGs in Asia, home to 2/3 of the world’s poorest.
Proposal: Invest in a Social Enterprise Capital Fund to support innovative tri-sectoral partnerships and scale up existing initiatives directly responding to the MDGs.

30. Thank You!