How to create a successful social enterprise | Marquis Cabrera | TEDxTeachersCollege

Summary

The speaker shares their personal journey from a troubled childhood in foster care to becoming a social entrepreneur. They founded Foster Skills, a social enterprise aimed at helping foster kids overcome challenges and achieve success. The talk introduces the B.I.D. methodology—Business, Impact, and Brand—as a guide for aspiring social entrepreneurs to transform ideas into impactful ventures. The speaker emphasizes the importance of passion, credible support, and the desire to solve societal issues, inspiring others to take action and create meaningful change.

Takeaways

• 🏆 The speaker is recognized as a social entrepreneur with numerous awards but considers themselves an ordinary person.
• 🕷 Despite being afraid of spiders, the speaker has founded a social enterprise to help children achieve the American dream.
• 📩 The speaker receives many requests for advice on starting social ventures and aims to empower others through sharing their own experience.
• 💡 The speaker introduces the 'B.I.D. Methodology' as a framework for taking an idea from concept to reality in social entrepreneurship.
• 👶 The speaker's personal story involves overcoming a challenging childhood, including time in foster care, which inspired their mission.
• 🎓 The speaker's experiences in high school and Junior ROTC taught them the importance of caring for the success of others.
• 🏆 The speaker's success in social entrepreneurship was influenced by studying other successful ventures and identifying patterns in their approaches.
• 🌐 The 'B.I.D. Methodology' stands for Business, Impact, and Brand, emphasizing the importance of a clear purpose, measurable outcomes, and credibility.
• 🤝 Building a strong brand involves forming relationships with credible supporters who can endorse and amplify the social venture's mission.
• 🌟 The speaker shares examples of their own nonprofit, Foster Skills, and how they applied the B.I.D. Methodology to gain traction and make an impact.
• 💼 The script encourages the audience to use the B.I.D. Methodology to sell potential supporters on their ideas and to build successful social enterprises.

Q & A

What is the speaker's view on being referred to as a 'superhero' in their field?

The speaker finds the term 'superhero' ridiculous because they consider themselves an ordinary person, just like the audience, despite their success in social entrepreneurship.

What is the 'bid methodology' mentioned by the speaker?

The 'bid methodology' stands for Business, Impact, and Brand. It is a framework the speaker created to help social entrepreneurs take an idea from concept to reality, gain traction, and effect change in the world.

Can you explain the speaker's background before they started their social enterprise?

The speaker had a challenging childhood, including foster care and witnessing neglect and abuse. They were adopted by a caring foster family and excelled in high school, particularly in math and technology. They joined Junior ROTC, which influenced their view on success and teamwork.

What motivated the speaker to start their social enterprise, Foster Skills?

The speaker was motivated by their personal experiences in the foster care system and the shocking statistics about the outcomes for children in foster care. They wanted to help these kids beat the odds and become productive citizens.

What is the definition of a 'social enterprise' according to the speaker?

A social enterprise is a for-purpose company, which could be a non-profit or for-profit, that uses entrepreneurship to tackle social, environmental, or human justice issues in the world.

How did the speaker's experiences at the Massachusetts Supreme Court and mentoring a foster child influence their career path?

Witnessing cases in the juvenile court and mentoring a foster child who improved academically inspired the speaker to learn more about the foster care system and motivated them to transform it through their social enterprise.

What is the importance of 'impact' in the context of the bid methodology?

Impact is about creating value for others and demonstrating how the social enterprise is solving problems to make the world a better place. It's essential to show effectiveness, benefits, scalability, and the willingness to put oneself out of business once the goal is achieved.

How did the speaker build their brand for Foster Skills?

The speaker built their brand by gaining support from credible individuals and organizations, such as city councilors, Microsoft, and the Case Foundation, who believed in their mission to give every child a chance.

What is the significance of the speaker's story about their foster parents and how it relates to their social enterprise?

The speaker's personal story of being adopted and nurtured by foster parents who believed in them despite their troubled past is a testament to the potential of foster children. This personal connection fuels their passion for their social enterprise, Foster Skills.

Can you provide an example of how the speaker used the bid methodology in their own social enterprise?

The speaker applied the bid methodology by defining the business of helping foster kids beat the odds, creating impact through education and advocacy, and building a brand with credible supporters to gain traction and funding.

What advice does the speaker give to aspiring social entrepreneurs who contact them for advice?

The speaker advises them to use the bid methodology to sell potential supporters on their business, impact, and brand, and to focus on solving problems that matter to them, becoming obsessed with making a difference.