Noble Endeavors

In today’s chaotic times, many new entrepreneurs seek to make a difference without focusing on making a profit. Entrepreneurship is not always about generating shareholder wealth. Sometimes that happens, but entrepreneurship is mostly about developing and building sustainable new enterprises around creative ideas and innovative business models. And if the principles apply to the for-profit sector why not apply them to the not-for-profit sector? The need is great; the opportunities are large; and the returns, potentially very impactful. “Social entrepreneurship,” the application of entrepreneurial practices in the not-for-profit sector, continues to grow rapidly in the United States and around the world because it works. The best way to help people rise above the poverty line, improve their health care, or upgrade their educational experience is not solely to give money to charitable institutions, but instead to provide the time and expertise so that they can help themselves. For example, we see this with organizations such as the Acumen Fund, a venture capital fund that supports entrepreneurs in the developing world by providing funding and managerial expertise to early stage companies in the housing, health care, water, agriculture, and energy industries, and often taking an ownership stake in the fledgling companies. As with any venture capital fund, Acumen wants to generate acceptable rates of return, but it measures that return not only on a dollar basis, but also on a social impact basis.