Changing the world through social entrepreneurship: Willemijn Verloop at TEDxUtrecht

Summary

In this inspiring talk, Helena Bowen advocates for the importance of being 'unreasonable' to drive progress and social change. She highlights the role of social entrepreneurship in addressing global challenges, citing examples like WarChild, Microfinance, and initiatives by Text To Change and Specialisterren. Bowen emphasizes the need for systemic change and urges everyone to support social enterprises, suggesting a transformation in capitalism where success is measured by social impact.

Takeaways

• 🚀 The speaker advocates for being 'unreasonable' to drive progress and innovation, challenging the Western cultural norm of being 'reasonable'.
• 🌟 Progress, according to George Bernard Shaw, relies on those who are unreasonable, as they are the ones who challenge the status quo.
• 🌐 Unreasonable ideas often lead to significant innovations, such as the moon landing and the creation of the Internet.
• 🌱 The speaker's own experience with WarChild illustrates that unreasonable dreams can indeed come true and have a real impact.
• 💡 Muhammad Yunus' concept of microfinance, providing unsecured loans to the world's poorest, is highlighted as a successful unreasonable idea.
• 🌍 The world faces major challenges like depletion of resources, HIV/AIDS, poverty, and wealth disparity, which require new, unreasonable solutions.
• 💼 Social entrepreneurship is presented as a key driver for creating change and progress, especially when combined with unreasonable thinking.
• 🔑 Four characteristics of social entrepreneurs are identified: having a theory of change, focusing on impact, using market-based solutions, and aiming for systemic change.
• 📱 Text To Change's use of SMS for education and healthcare in remote areas is an example of an unreasonable idea that has made a significant impact.
• 🧠 Specialisterren, a company that employs autistic individuals, challenges perceptions and demonstrates the potential of focusing on abilities rather than disabilities.
• 📱 Fairphone's creation challenges the electronics industry by addressing conflict minerals and promoting ethical manufacturing practices.
• 🌱 Social entrepreneurs aim to scale their impact by sharing their models, not just by growing their own enterprises.

Q & A

Why does the speaker believe we need more unreasonable people?

The speaker believes that unreasonable people are essential for progress because they challenge the status quo and push boundaries, driving innovation and change in society.

How does George Bernard Shaw define unreasonable people, according to the speaker?

George Bernard Shaw defines unreasonable people as those who try to adapt the world to themselves rather than adapting to the world. Shaw believes that progress depends on such unreasonable individuals.

What personal example does the speaker give of being considered unreasonable?

The speaker shares that when she started WarChild at 24 years old, many people called her unreasonable because she had no experience in war zones, aid organizations, or fundraising. Despite this, WarChild now supports a million children annually.

Who is one of the speaker’s unreasonable heroes, and what did he accomplish?

One of the speaker's unreasonable heroes is Muhammad Yunus, who created the concept of microfinance, providing unsecured loans to the poorest people, especially women. His Grameen Bank has now provided billions in loans to help people escape poverty.

What are the four characteristics of a social enterprise according to the speaker?

The four characteristics are: 1) A theory of change aiming to solve a societal issue, 2) A viable business model based on market solutions, 3) A focus on impact and sustainability, and 4) The ambition for systemic change.

What example does the speaker give of a social enterprise using mobile technology?

The speaker mentions Text To Change, a social enterprise that uses mobile phones to send SMS messages to promote healthcare and education in remote areas, such as using an HIV/AIDS quiz in Uganda to encourage people to get tested.

How does Specialisterren, a social enterprise mentioned by the speaker, employ an unconventional workforce?

Specialisterren is a software testing company that only employs people with autism, recognizing their exceptional abilities in concentration and detail, and creating job opportunities for people who are often excluded from traditional employment.

What is Fairphone, and what systemic change is it attempting to bring?

Fairphone is a company aiming to create ethical smartphones by ensuring that the materials used are sourced responsibly, workers are treated fairly, and the phones are sustainable. The company is challenging the electronics industry to be more transparent and ethical.

What is the share economy movement, and how does the speaker view its potential?

The share economy movement encourages people to share resources, such as cars, instead of owning them individually. The speaker believes this movement has the potential to create significant societal changes by promoting sustainability and social cohesion.

How does the speaker suggest individuals can support social entrepreneurship?

The speaker encourages people to support social entrepreneurship by choosing socially responsible products, services, and platforms, such as hiring from Specialisterren, using car-sharing services like SnappCar, or purchasing Fairphones and ethically sourced products.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Unreasonable People Drive Progress

The speaker, Helena Bowen, encourages the audience to embrace unreasonable thinking to drive progress. She challenges the Western cultural norm of being reasonable, arguing that it's the unreasonable individuals who create change. Helena cites George Bernard Shaw's quote to emphasize that progress relies on those who challenge the status quo. She gives examples of how being unreasonable led to the moon landing and the creation of the Internet. Helena also shares her personal experience founding WarChild, which was initially deemed unreasonable but now helps a million children annually. She introduces Muhammad Yunus and his Microfinance model as another example of unreasonable success, highlighting the correlation between unreasonable ideas and societal advancement.

05:07

🌟 Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs

Helena outlines the traits of social entrepreneurs, who are driven by impact and aim to create change through sustainable, market-based solutions. These entrepreneurs are not dependent on subsidies and are focused on scalable solutions that can lead to systemic change. She introduces several Dutch social enterprises: Text To Change, which uses SMS for education and healthcare in remote areas; Specialisterren, a software testing company employing autistic individuals; and Fairphone, aiming to create ethical smartphones. Helena also mentions the sharing economy, like SnappCar, as a movement towards system change. She emphasizes that social entrepreneurs are ordinary people who are frustrated with societal issues and seek to create change, and that everyone has the potential to be a part of this movement.

10:11

🌱 Fostering an Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurs

In the final paragraph, Helena discusses her role in fostering an ecosystem for social enterprises to thrive. She founded Social Enterprises NL and Social Impact Ventures to support these ventures. Helena calls on the audience, which includes entrepreneurs, investors, teachers, and consumers, to support social entrepreneurship. She envisions a transformation of capitalism where success is measured by social impact. Helena encourages the audience to choose ethical products and services, such as those offered by Specialisterren, SnappCar, and Fairphone, to contribute to positive change. She concludes by applauding the potential of everyone to make a difference by being slightly more unreasonable.

Keywords

💡Unreasonable

The term 'unreasonable' refers to individuals or ideas that challenge conventional thinking or societal norms. In the video, the speaker argues that being unreasonable is necessary for innovation and progress. Examples include the first people to propose landing on the moon or developing the Internet, both deemed unreasonable at the time. The speaker encourages the audience to embrace being unreasonable as a means to drive change.

💡Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is the practice of using entrepreneurial principles to create social change. The speaker highlights the role of social entrepreneurs in addressing global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation. Examples from the script include businesses like Fairphone and Specialisterren, which aim to make a positive societal impact while operating sustainable business models.

💡Progress

Progress refers to the advancement of society through innovation and improvement. In the context of the video, progress is driven by those who dare to be unreasonable and challenge the status quo. The speaker gives examples like WarChild, which helps children in war-torn countries, and Muhammad Yunus' microfinance initiative, which helped millions escape poverty. The underlying message is that progress stems from pushing boundaries and finding new solutions to entrenched problems.

💡Systemic Change

Systemic change involves transforming the fundamental structures or systems within society. In the video, the speaker discusses how social enterprises aim for systemic change by not just addressing symptoms of problems, but by reshaping the entire system, such as Fairphone's efforts to revolutionize the electronics industry by promoting ethically sourced materials. The concept emphasizes creating long-lasting and widespread impact beyond the scale of individual organizations.

💡Impact

Impact refers to the measurable positive change that a social entrepreneur or enterprise seeks to create. For the speaker, impact is the primary motivator behind social entrepreneurship, with businesses aiming to solve social or environmental problems in a sustainable manner. The speaker notes that social entrepreneurs prioritize impact over profit, and they focus on addressing pressing global issues, such as poverty and inequality.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability in this context refers to creating long-term solutions that do not rely on temporary measures like donations or government grants. Social entrepreneurs aim to build market-based models that can grow and scale over time. The speaker mentions how sustainable business practices, such as those employed by Specialisterren and Text To Change, can help create jobs and provide essential services in a way that is financially viable and socially responsible.

💡Inequality

Inequality is the unequal distribution of wealth, opportunities, and resources, which is highlighted as a major global issue in the video. The speaker references statistics, such as the fact that 85 of the world’s richest people own more wealth than half the world’s population, to emphasize the urgency of addressing inequality. Social enterprises are presented as a potential solution to this growing divide by providing opportunities and resources to underserved populations.

💡Microfinance

Microfinance is the provision of small, unsecured loans to individuals who do not have access to traditional banking services, particularly in impoverished areas. The speaker highlights Muhammad Yunus' groundbreaking work in microfinance through his company Grameen, which has provided billions in loans to help individuals, especially women, escape poverty. This example illustrates how an 'unreasonable' idea can lead to widespread progress and systemic change.

💡Poverty

Poverty refers to the state of having insufficient financial resources to meet basic living needs. The speaker underscores the prevalence of poverty worldwide, noting that one billion children are growing up in poverty and that poverty exists even in developed nations like the Netherlands. Social entrepreneurship is framed as a key approach to alleviating poverty by creating economic opportunities for marginalized populations.

💡Sharing Economy

The sharing economy is a system in which individuals share access to goods and services, often through digital platforms, rather than owning them. The speaker mentions platforms like SnappCar, which allows people to share cars, as an example of how social enterprises can promote sustainability and reduce material consumption. This movement aims to foster social cohesion and reduce the environmental impact of overconsumption.

Highlights

The speaker advocates for being 'unreasonable' to drive progress and change.

Being unreasonable is defined as acting irrationally and persisting in trying to change the world to fit one's vision.

George Bernard Shaw's quote emphasizes that progress relies on those who challenge the status quo.

Innovations like the Moon landing and the Internet were once considered unreasonable ideas.

The speaker's own experience with founding WarChild was met with skepticism due to her lack of experience.

WarChild now supports a million children annually in 13 war-torn countries.

Muhammad Yunus' concept of microfinance was initially deemed unreasonable but is now a global model.

The importance of social entrepreneurship in driving progress is highlighted.

Despite economic growth, major global challenges such as poverty and inequality persist.

Social entrepreneurs focus on creating sustainable, market-based solutions rather than relying on subsidies.

Social enterprises aim for systemic change beyond their own business impact.

Text To Change uses mobile technology to deliver education and healthcare in remote areas.

Specialisterren is a software testing company that exclusively employs autistic individuals.

Fairphone challenges the electronics industry by creating a conflict-mineral-free phone.

The share economy movement, such as SnappCar, promotes sharing over ownership to create social cohesion.

Social entrepreneurs are ordinary people driven by frustration with societal issues and a desire to create change.

The speaker encourages the audience to support social enterprises and consider their impact when making choices.

Social enterprises represent a transformation in capitalism where success is measured by social impact.

Transcripts

Transcriber: Peter van de Ven Reviewer: Helena Bowen

I believe we need more unreasonable people.

Actually, I'm hoping that after this talk,

90% of this audience will want to become more of an unreasonable person.

I can see some of you frowning here in the first row,

which is understandable,

because we were raised in the Western culture,

and especially us Dutchies, to become reasonable people.

Reason gives us better careers, better lives.

I'm hoping to make you more unreasonable.

So what is unreasonable?

I have a slide and we don't need to read this all,

but it means irrational, not having the faculty of reason.

I got this from the free Wikipedia online.

I found other synonyms like silly, senseless, foolish.

So I'm not convincing you to be unreasonable yet, I realize,

but the reason I think it's important

I'm going to show you with this next quote by George Bernard Shaw,

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;

the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.

Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

George Bernard Shaw believed

that the only way to create progress is to be unreasonable.

If we want to move forward in this world, create a just and sustainable society,

we need people that are willing to break through the status quo,

and I fully support his view.

The first man on the Moon,

the people who thought about that were deemed totally unreasonable.

The first people that wanted to create the Internet were deemed unreasonable.

Most innovation comes from unreasonable people.

And personally, on a very small scale,

I was called unreasonable when I started WarChild.

People felt that I was a 24-year-old girl when I started,

I had no knowledge of war zones

and no knowledge of aid organizations or psycho-social projects,

so where would I find the funds?

Today WarChild supports a million children each year, in 13 war-torn countries.

So I have found--

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause)

For me it's obvious that unreasonable dreams can come true,

and that they can create progress.

One of my unreasonable heroes is Muhammad Yunus,

some of you will know him.

His very unreasonable idea was that you could provide unsecured loans

to the poorest people in the world, namely women.

Totally contrary to any banking system.

It took him 17 years

to prove that you could build a business and provide loans to these poor people,

but today his model is copied all over the world and it's called Microfinance.

His own social enterprise Grameen has already provided

five billion dollars to five million people

helping them, giving them the chance to free themselves from the poverty trap.

That is progress.

So I believe there is a strong correlation between unreasonable people and progress,

especially if it is combined with entrepreneurship,

with social entrepreneurship.

Why do we need progress?

To me that's very obvious, but I will touch on it

because I think it's important.

The last 40 years we've had growth, we've had huge accumulation of wealth,

but we haven't really been able to solve

any of the major challenges our world is faced with.

I can just name a few.

We're depleting our natural resources and raw materials

at a totally unprecedented pace.

There's 25 million people in Africa that have HIV/AIDS.

A million of them die every year.

We have one billion children growing up in poverty.

There's two billion kids in the world, so every second child grows up in poverty.

In 80% of the countries the divide between rich and poor is growing

and Oxfam just published a report

where they claim the 85 richest people in this world own more wealth

than the three and a half billion poorest, which is half of the world's population.

Just think about it.

Poverty is closer than we think because in the Netherlands,

we have one million people living below the poverty line.

Another two million people are lonely

which I personally perceive as a form of poverty.

There are hundreds of thousands of people

that we put outside of our society because they have a disability.

And I could go on and on, and I hope you agree with me

that this situation is totally unacceptable and also unsustainable.

We urgently need to find new solutions to these challenges.

I believe that these unreasonable people,

these social entrepreneurs,

play a key role in creating that change, creating that progress.

Because entrepreneurs choose to see opportunities

where other people see intangible problems.

They choose to swim against the stream, to be unreasonable,

to try new business models, to create innovation.

There are actually four characteristics for a social enterprise I want to share.

The first is every social entrepreneur has a theory of change,

something they want to change in this world.

Impact is their major driver. Impact is what starts it all.

They want to create that change through a viable business model,

through a market-based solution, which means they don't want

to be dependent on subsidies, and grants, or on the government.

They want to build a market-based solution, which also means

that they can scale that solution if they make their business grow,

and it means the solution is sustainable.

The most ambitious ones want systemic change,

want that change to be much bigger than their own enterprise.

So let's look at the Netherlands.

Do we have social entrepreneurs in the Netherlands? Yes, we do.

Quite a few very impressive ones, and I'll tell you about a few of them.

I want to start with Text To Change.

Text To Change is a social enterprise started in 2007 by Bas and Hajo,

and they wanted to use mobile technology, SMS messaging,

to reach the unreachable people in the outskirts of the world,

to bring development, health care, education.

It was deemed totally unreasonable.

First of all, you don't combine mobile phones and healthcare

and secondly, these people in the outskirts of Africa

would never be able to access mobile phones - this was 2007.

Today, 700 million people in Africa have a mobile phone,

which is almost 60% of the continent,

and people are expecting that next year it's already going to be 85%.

Text To Change has done 70 projects in 16 countries,

also in South America and Asia,

and they have already sent 32 million text messages this year,

and we're only in April.

So what do these text messages do?

To give you one example,

in Uganda they made an SMS quiz about HIV/AIDS.

For prevention, to prevent transmission and for people to raise awareness.

40% of the people that took the quiz had themselves tested at a local clinic.

That is progress.

Another unreasonable entrepreneur, who is actually from Utrecht,

is called Sjoerd van der Maaden from Specialisterren.

His unreasonable idea was he was going to to build a business

where he'd only employ autistic people.

He believes autistic people have enormous capacity

if you look at what they can do instead of look at what they can't do.

There are 26,000 people with a form of autism

that are highly skilled that sit at home without jobs.

So he built a software testing company because he knows, he has an autistic son,

that people with this form of autism are extremely good

in concentration and details, and have concrete focus.

He has already proven that his staff, his team, is better in testing software

than any other software testers around.

This is a successful business creating huge impact,

giving people that were formerly unemployed

a chance to be part of our society and build their own lives.

As you can see these social enterprises are very different

than commercial enterprises, or charities, or public institutions.

They form a thriving new sector, a sector that has continued to grow.

Some of them are very ambitious; they really want to change the system.

System change is not just about scale,

system change is about changing the hearts and minds of people.

One of those potential system changers from the Netherlands is Fairphone,

by Bas van Abel, who actually also lives in Utrecht.

(Cheering)

Bas wanted to change the phones we are using.

He was totally frustrated by the fact that they are filled

with raw materials from conflict areas, mined often by children.

They're being produced in shady factories in Asia,

they're totally customer unfriendly because we can't customize them,

we can't even change the batteries anymore

and they end up in e-waste dumps in Africa.

So what do you do?

You can protest against it and be an activist,

or you can show that it can be done differently.

They created the first Fairphone.

The system change is in the fact

that consumers are willing to buy this phone.

The fact that the consumers, that we are willing to look

at the different way their products are made.

Fairphone could potentially be a revolution in the electronics industry.

Of course, Bas was deemed very unreasonable

when he started this venture.

Another movement that you must have all seen,

and is a potential system changer, is the share economy movement.

The ventures that are trying to help us understand

that we should, instead of own things, share things, create social cohesion

instead of more material wealth for ourselves.

Think of SnappCar, a car sharing platform, trying to explain

why should we all own our own car

if it stands in front of our door 90% of the time doing nothing?

Why not share it with our neighbors?

Last year 5,000 people in the Netherlands were willing to share a car.

This year 50,000 people in the Netherlands were willing to share a car.

This is a movement that could really, really take off

and create a system change.

And the interesting thing is

that sharing is a very basic principle of all the social entrepreneurs,

because they want to share their models and create impact.

So, it's not about creating the biggest enterprise for themselves,

it's about finding as many other enterprises and people as they can

to scale that impact, to spread it like a virus.

That is what inspires me so about these entrepreneurs

and I hope it does you.

I could tell you many more stories, but there is no time.

The interesting thing is these social entrepreneurs,

whether they want to change locally, nationally, or internationally,

are not professors in social impact or all business school graduates,

they're people like you and me.

They're people that are frustrated by what they see in their direct environment

and they want to make a change.

So everyone here could be a social entrepreneur

or could support creating social enterprises.

That's what I do.

I founded Social Enterprises NL

and another venture called Social Impact Ventures,

both aimed at creating an ecosystem

where social enterprises can thrive, where they can grow,

where they can create more and more impact.

I'm hoping more people are willing to support that movement.

There's a lot of entrepreneurs in this room, I'm quite sure,

but there are also investors, teachers, consumers.

We all have the power to make a change.

This is also the start of a transformation of capitalism,

where success will be measured by the social impact we create.

So please, if you go from here, and tomorrow you need a software tester,

think about calling Specialisterren or AutiTalent

or one of the ventures that creates impact.

And if you consider buying a new car, don't.

Go to SnappCar, MyWheels, WeGo, or look at Peerby,

all these sharing platforms.

If you pass by a shop and look at what you see in front of you,

please think of who suffered to create these absurdly low prices

that you see on the products.

And choose Tony's Chocolonely chocolate, choose Moyi Cofee, choose the Fairphone,

because I really think everyone here can contribute

if we just dare to be a bit more unreasonable.

Thanks.

(Applause)