In my humble opinion, the true spirit of entrepreneurship lies in the desire to make meaning, and a company that exemplifies this, is Participant Media, a leading provider of entertainment that inspires and compels social change. Their films raise awareness about important social issues, educating audiences and inspiring them to take action.

Building further on its commitment to inspire and compel social change, the company has gone beyond producing and financing film, TV and home video content., and also established a social action network™ called TakePart, where people interested in making a difference can have access to the information they need on a variety of issues, with the ability to interact with, learn from and inform other like-minded individuals and non-profits from all over the world.

TakePart.com is a social action network™ where you connect actions to entertainment to make change. When you join TakePart you can:

• Get inspired by entertainment: films, television, music, books and online media.
• Connect relevant social actions to the entertainment you love.
• Add your own user generated content and actions to the mix.
• Create your personal action dashboard and challenge yourself and others to make change.

Content is categorized around popular issues, making social actions easier to identify, organize and search. The themes are:

• Heal your world, personal and public health, global health.
• Lead in society, corporate and political responsibility, social responsibility.
• Learn for change, education, culture and communication, education for all.
• Renew your environment, green the world, sustainability, renewable resources.
• Respect your fellow man, human rights and tolerance, equality for all.
• Share our wealth, economic and social equity, social entrepreneurialism.
• Unite all nations, conflict resolution, one world, one people, one love.

Visit TakePart at www.takepart.com and find out how they make a difference and how you too can make a difference through their social action resource and platform.

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There are numerous social networks to be found on the Internet, and most of us already have a number of different profiles on the web. There are, however, very few with the aim to promote positive change, and even less where both individuals and companies come together to find ways to change the world. Well, if the desire to change the world is part of your make-up, and you’d like to collaborate with individuals and companies to give expression to your desire, JustMeans is the place to be.

JustMeans is a social media platform for social responsibility founded by CEO Martin Smith, Ashoka Affiliate and founder of StartingBloc. JustMeans is led by COO Kevin Long, an Ashoka Fellow and is supported by 9 other Ashoka organizations. In essence JustMeans promotes and encourages social responsibility among individuals and companies. Their mission is to equip individuals with networks, news, and jobs needed to create positive change in order to contribute to creating a world where every individual has the opportunity to create positive change through their work.

Go check out what they do… I did… liked what I saw… and signed up! 

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Kiva, a US-based company, initiated an innovative bussiness model that applies Internet technology to bring financial services to the poor. It’s creation of an online marketplace for lenders and borrowers has led to explosive growth of over 30% per month since the websites founding in 2005.

In essence Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world - empowering them to lift themselves out of povery.

Their platform enables ’peer-to-peer’ lending through which Kiva.org puts potential ’social investors’ in touch with small businesses in the developing world. Kiva lets lenders connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, people can ’sponsor a business’ and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), the lender can receive email journal updates from the business he/she has sponsored. As loans are repaid, the lender gets his/her loan money back.

Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, they gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Their partners are experts in choosing qualified borrowers; however usually short on funds. Through Kiva.org, these partners upload their borrower profiles directly to the site so lenders can lend to them.

The process involves 4 very simple steps:

Step 1: Choose a business - The businesses on their site are always changing. They are being uploaded by their microfinance partners around the world. One can find a new business on the home page or on the Businesses ‘In Need’ page.

Step 2: Make a loan - When one has selected a business, he/she can make a loan using his/her credit card (via PayPal). A loan can be as little as $25 at a time. Checking out is easy and safe because of PayPal.

Step 3: Receive journals and payments - Periodically, the lender will hear back from the business he/she sponsors. Partner representatives (often loan officers) write directly to the website to keep one informed on the progress of the business. If one chooses, he/she can receive these via email.

Step 4: Withdraw or re-loan - When a lender’s Kiva loan is repaid, he/she can choose to withdraw his/her funds or re-loan to a new business.

Due to incredible press attention (The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC’s Today Show, and President Clinton’s book “Giving”) Kiva’s new service is experiencing record traffic and they are working overtime to add new businesses from all over the world everyday.

Visit their site at www.kiva.org and be inspired on what is possible if you think “out of the box.”

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Popular press  abounds with stories of entrepreneurs who achieved great feats and the same time positively impacted the world with innovative products or services. To a lesser extent we hear about the social entrepreneurs, who in similar fashion, change the world with innovative arrangements of resources to improve the quality of lives of the disadvantaged. Those individuals who, with tenacity and creativity, pursue ventures to address some of societies most pressing challenges, such as poverty, health and education. They measure their success not by monetary profit, but rather by the magnitude of the change in improving the quality of life of disadvantaged communities.

Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry - Bill Drayton, CEO, chair and founder of Ashoka

Social Entrepreneurs are truly the unsung heroes of our day. With visions that transcends personal or financial achievement for the greater good of mankind, they challenge the status quo (Latin for “the mess we’re in”) of societal dilemmas, and create sustainable life-changing value through similar application of the principles and entrepreneurial process inherent to business entrepreneurs.

An example of such a person is Muhammad Yunus who has translated vision into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus, through Grameen Bank, has developed micro-credit into an important instrument in the struggle against poverty.

Social entrepreneurs identify opportunities where others only see problems. They view the disadvantaged community as the solution, not the passive beneficiary. They begin with the assumption of empowerment and unlocking resources in the communities they serve. They give true meaning to the phrase “make meaning.”

For more on social entrepreneurship visit the following organisations’ websites:

• The Skoll Foundation
• Schwab Foundation
• Ashoka
• Social Enterprise Alliance

To all the social entrepreneurs out there… We salute you! Thank you for making the world a better place.

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I enjoy spreading the news of people who change the world…

One such person is Shai Agassi… Agassi, a former SAP executive, has launched a company that focuses on one of the 21st century’s biggest challenges - developing a sustainable, environmental solution for converting country-wide transportation systems toward electricity and away from fossil fuel.

Agassi’s company, Project Better Place has $200 Million Backing to transform countries from Oil-based transportation to electric vehicles through electric recharge grid infrastructure.

The planet is running out of natural resources and mankind is running out of time - Project Better Place has the vision, plan, investors and the partners to make scalable electric transportation a reality on a global scale and reduce the world’s dependency on oil. They to make the world a better place - one electric car at a time.

An eye-opening fact is a statement by Agassi on his blog that the cost of the average used car in Europe is now cheaper than the cost of gasoline to drive it for a year!

In terms of its business model, the Project Better Place Fact Sheet states:

The business model for the electric cars will be similar to that used by mobile phone operators. In the same way that wireless operators deploy a network of cell towers to provide an area of mobile phone coverage, Project Better Place will establish a network of charging spots and battery exchange stations to provide ubiquitous access to electricity to power electric vehicles. The company will partner with car makers and source batteries so that consumers who subscribe to the network can get subsidized vehicles which are cheaper to buy and operate than today’s fuel-based cars. Consumers will still own their cars and will have multiple car models to choose from.

Kudos to Shai Agassi! A visionary entrepreneur with an intent to change the world and create a better future. Go check out Project Better Place and Shai’s blog… inspirational and though provoking stuff. O yes, the video of Shai’s presentation at the launch of Project Better Place is also a must-see.

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The growing interest in the use of corporate entrepreneurship as a process for companies to enhance the innovative abilities of their employees and increase corporate success can be ascribed to factors such as intensifying global competition, corporate downsizing and de-layering, and rapid technological progress that heightens the need for compaies to become more entrepreneurial in order to survive and prosper.

Subsequently many large companies are seeking ways of reinventing or revitalising their entrepreneurial roots, and fostering intrapreneurial behaviours and practices has taken priority in the strategies of many companies where innovation is perceived as an important means of establishing and maintaining competitive advantage.

The ultimate objective is to gain competitive advantage by encouraging innovation at all levels in the organisation, and refers not only to creation of new business ventures, but also to other innovative activities and orientations such as development of new products, services, technologies, administrative techniques, strategies and competitive postures.

Research identifies 5 Dimensions of Corporate Entrepreneurship, namely Innovativeness, Risk-taking, Proactiveness, Competitive Aggressiveness, and Autonomy. Collectively these dimensions permeate the decision-making styles and practices of a company’s employees and work together to enhance entrepreneurial performance.

1. Innovativeness: A willingness to introduce newness and novelty through experimentation and creative processes aimed at developing new products and services, as well as new processes.
2. Risk-taking: Making decisions and taking action without certain knowledge of probable outcomes; some undertakings may also involve making substantial resource commitments in the process of venturing forward.
3. Proactiveness: A forward-looking perspective characteristic of a marketplace leader that has the foresight to seize opportunities in anticipation of future demand.
4. Competitive aggressiveness: An intense effort to outperform industry rivals. It is characterised by a combative posture or an aggressive response aimed at improving position or overcoming a threat in a competitive marketplace.
5. Autonomy: Independent action by an individual or team aimed at bringing forth a business concept or vision and carrying it through to completion.

Perhaps, in your own context, the time has come to seriously consider corporate entrepreneurship as a means of enhancing your competitiveness. Many leaders today acknowledge that corporate entrepreneurship is not an oxymoron, but rather an antidote to large company staleness, lack of innovation, stagnated top-line growth, and the inertia that often overtakes the large, mature companies of the world.

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Social Entreprneur Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty. Grameen Bank has been a source of ideas and models for the many institutions in the field of micro-credit that have sprung up around the world.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.

Every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life. Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.

Micro-credit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions. Economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male.

Yunus’s long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision can not be realised by means of micro-credit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to achieve it, micro-credit must play a major part.

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On June 27, 2007 BusinessWeek published an article, “The Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time.”

They acknowledge that a lifetime could be spent compiling a list without ever agreeing on who deserves a mention, as there are far too many figures to choose from to give anyone the final say. In other words, they acknowledge their list’s inherent subjectivity. To compile it, they consulted with professors, authors, and BusinessWeek staffers. Their criteria for entrepreneurs to be considered among the greatest was simple: If they had the vision to create new markets or tap into underserved markets, changing the way people lived in the process, then they were candidates for the list.

They eventually came up with a list of 30 players. I think the value of the list of 30 lies in the key learning points we can take from it. Here is BusinessWeek’s list of Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time, with a key learning we can take away from each of these:

1. Admiral Zheng He (b. around 1371, d. 1433): He’s journeys matched the risks taken by the boldest entrepreneurs - and the payoff set a high bar for six centuries of risk takers to follow.
2. Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706, d. 1790): Franklin’s idea that people can improve their lives through their own hard work and enterprise, as he did, continues to encourage the American Dream.
3. Mayer Amschel Rothschild (b. 1744, d. 1812): In an era of nation-states that were just beginning to industrialize, Rothschild created the world’s first multinational. Because his company crossed borders, it was not beholden to any one ruler.
4. John Jacob Astor (b. 1763, d. 1848): Astor built on one successful enterprise by investing the profits into another.
5. Andrew Carnegie (b. 1835, d. 1919): Recognizing the innovations that will catalyze an industry means the difference between shutting down the competition and getting shut down.
6. John D. Rockefeller (b. 1839, d. 1937): Rockefeller used economies of scale and vertical integration to modernize an industry.
7. Thomas Edison (b. 1847, d. 1931): Innovation is crucial, but new ideas alone will not make a business successful. Ideas need to be focused into products that customers will value.
8. Milton Hershey (b. 1857, d. 1945): Hershey created an iconic product at a price that let millions enjoy what once had been reserved for the wealthy. Selling “low-cost luxury” became a viable business model.
9. W.K. Kellogg (b. 1860, d. 1951): Kellogg’s accidental discovery, promoted with savvy marketing, transformed the way Americans ate breakfast.
10. Joseph Horn (b. 1861, d. 1941) and Frank Hardart (b. 1850, d. 1918): Horn and Hardart saw a change in the way people worked and delivered a product that fit that new lifestyle.
11. Henry Ford (b. 1863, d. 1947): Ford made a product once considered a luxury available to a mass market by transforming the manufacturing process.
12. Ray Kroc (b. 1902, d. 1984): Taking the long view rewarded Kroc, even though he might have made more money earlier by milking his franchisees. Entrepreneurs who invest in the long-term growth of their businesses at the cost of short-term profits can look to him as an example.
13. Madam C.J. Walker (b. 1867, d. 1919): The era’s ingrained racism left a huge part of the population underserved by the market. Walker profited by making them her customers.
14. Estée Lauder (b. 1907, d. 2004): Lauder became a giant in the nascent beauty industry by making sure the quality of her products exceeded the expectations of her target market, namely wealthy society women.
15. Ernest Gallo (b. 1909, d. 2007): Gallo took what had been an exclusive product and aggressively sold it to a mass market.
16. Thomas Watson Sr. (b. 1874, d. 1956) and Thomas Watson Jr. (b. 1914, d. 1993): Watson Sr. built up a global corporation from nothing by investing in his employees and research. His son built on that success to develop and market a technology that transformed the world.
17. Sam Walton (b. 1918, d. 1992): Walton never wavered from his strategy even as other discounters broke into midmarket products, and low prices won out in the end.
18. Earl Graves (b. 1935): The civil rights movement aimed to achieve equality under the law, but the struggle for equal economic opportunity goes on today. It’s a fight Graves continues to lead.
19. Andy Grove (b. 1936): Innovation, adaptation, and being in the right place at the right time allowed Grove and Intel to transform the way information is delivered to consumers.
20. Ralph Lauren (b. 1939): Lauren imagined a market for men’s fashion as large as that for women.
21. Muhammad Yunus (b. 1940): Yunus imagined what would happen if a bank extended credit to those people who would never traditionally receive it. In the process, he created a system that empowered the poor by helping them become entrepreneurs.
22. Martha Stewart (b. 1941): Stewart profited by making her name into an attractive lifestyle brand.
23. Azim Premji (b. 1945): Premji built a leading IT company as the industry was growing and he expanded into the global market by adhering to rigorous standards.
24. Richard Branson (b. 1950): Branson is aggressive in pushing his companies into new industries - an approach that has made the Virgin brand bigger than any one of his individual holdings ever could be.
25. Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954): Oprah combined charisma and business savvy to become one of the most powerful people in media.
26. Steve Jobs (b. 1955): Jobs recognized that style and ease of use are as important as substance for a certain type of customer. No one had built a computer for that buyer until he did.
27. Bill Gates (b. 1955): Once Gates began to transform the PC industry, he developed a two-prong strategy of expanding the market while maintaining a stranglehold on competitors.
28. Jeff Bezos (b. 1964): At a time when the Internet was still new to most Americans, Bezos realized how quickly it would change the way the world does business and seized the opportunity.
29. Michael Dell (b. 1965): Cutting out the retail middleman and custom-building computers to suit buyers’ needs put Dell at the front of the class of PC makers.
30. Pierre Omidyar (b. 1967): Omidyar created the infrastructure of e-commerce for individuals.

View the full article at: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2007/sb20070627_564139.htm

View the slideshow of the 30 players at: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/06/0628_greatest_entp/index_01.htm

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What do we mean by “innovation”? Innovation is both the creating and bringing into profitable use of new technologies, new products, new services, new marketing ideas, new systems, and new ways of operating

Intrapreneurship, the term coined by Gifford Pinchot that refers to entrepreneurship within an existing organisation, is the key driver to innovation and growth.

Indeed, innovative talent is the hallmark of the entrepreneur. Given the rapid changes in contemporary markets, a successful organisation is marked by a continuum of “start-over points” at which the venture is “recast” in form or function to master the challenges and opportunities. As a consequence, business owners can never outgrow their entrepreneurial beginnings, and managers must learn how to perpetually perform as entrepreneurs. Each must be able to continuously identify opportunity, organise talents, assume risks and make ready decisions to profitably create value for the marketplace. Because of entrepreneurial innovation - by its owner and its managers - a firm will be ever-able to exploit new, different and more relevant resources, techniques, processes and product or service configurations.

Unfortunately, bureaucracy in organisations stifles the entrepreneurial spirit. When the freedom to think, reason and act entrepreneurially is not forthcoming, frustration can cause people to become less productive or even leave the organisation - even going into competition with the organisation.

The future belongs to those that recognise the importance of developing entrepreneurial leadership within their organisations. Far too many highly trained and experienced employees merely think and act as hired hands. Professional complacency, lack of innovation and avoidance of ownership can no longer be allowed to be as rife as it is in business today.

The message is clear: Those organisations that do not move with agility will fall over themselves. The leaders who do not develop others will have no followers. The executive who does not think like an entrepreneurs will lose.

If, then, the future demands more entrepreneurial groundbreaking organisations, then future leaders must ensure that they develop and instill the entrepreneurial spirit in others and create an intrapreneurial climate in their organisations.

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• Invention - is the creation of new products, processes, and technologies not previously known to exist.
• Innovation - is the transformation of creative ideas into useful applications by combining resources in new or unusual ways to provide value to society for or improved products, technology, or services.

• Analytical planning - to identify: product design, market strategy, financial need.
• Organising resources - to obtain: materials, technology, human resources, capital.
• Implementation - to accomplish: organisation, product design, manufacturing, services.
• Commercial application - to provide: value to customers, reward of employees, revenues for investors, satisfaction for founders.

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