Facilitating social entrepreneurs can do wonders

LAHORE: There is a need to facilitate social entrepreneurs in Pakistan that have made a difference world over, from financial inclusion through mobile banking in Bangladesh, to low cost healthcare in Nepal, and solar power for poor in Dir.

As the governments in most of the developing countries lack resources, the gaps in delivery of social services like education, health, pure drinking water, and finance are provided by purely commercial private sector entrepreneurs or by the social sector entrepreneurs. The commercial services offered by the private sector are often unaffordable for the poor, while social entrepreneurs provide services either free or at nominal rates.

Social entrepreneurs however are unable to perform according to their potential for various reasons that include availability of funds, retention of talent or the inability of the persons leading the social sector to groom a successor.

Raising funds is the most challenging aspect for a social entrepreneur. There is no surety in this respect particularly at an early stage. The other challenge is to find and keep talent even when the social enterprise succeeds in securing funds. The talent gap in fact gets tougher as the social enterprise grows. Talent as we all know is scarce and expensive.

Pakistani entrepreneurs should take cue from highly successful global social enterprises. They must realise that there is not much difference between managing a commercial enterprise or a social sector enterprise. Both have to anticipate consumer trends and product development. They need to keep their human resource better than competitors. 

Creditable global research has shown that the philanthropic priorities social sector would be at risk if the organisations lack leadership teams with the capabilities to fulfil emerging missions effectively. Social sector funders like foundations, trusts, individuals, government and businesses could play an important role in addressing the leadership gaps in this sector.

There are thousands of non-profit organisations operating in Pakistan that are making efforts to address the issues of literacy, environment, health, digital awareness and workforce development. However, their impact is not as pronounced as it should have been.

Dir and Chitral are remote localities of Pakistan where a dedicated approach has eased the miseries of the poor. The literacy rate in these regions is the highest in Pakistan. They have access to pure drinking water and the health facilities are better than in other areas of the country, and all this has been achieved through the well planned strategy of social entrepreneurs. Government funding is as scarce in the area as it is in other regions.

The leaders evolved through in house training and also through skilled training provided by many public and private sector organisations. These leaders have four attributes of which the first is to both innovate and implement. They are facilitated in their work by talented teams. These leaders had taken along the entire stakeholders involved in the projects of the enterprise, and despite their ability to take all stakeholders on board, they never compromised on the quality of the project.

A similar approach is needed in other poor regions of the country in rural areas of Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. Our poor need access to education particularly to girls, a strong and dedicated health force, and building the capacities of the teachers to advance childhood literacy.