Jessamyn Lau received an MBA from BYU and focused her MBA studies on Social Entrepreneurship. She currently lives in California, and works at the Peery Foundation which finds and funds social entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and globally. She was kind enough to let SSE ask her a few fundamental questions about social entrepreneurship.
Q: In your words, what is social entrepreneurship?
A: The coolest thing a student could learn about(!). Social Entrepreneurship (SE) is a growing field. It is partly driven by, the Gen Y’s demand to not only excel in professional and educational accomplishments, but also to contribute to our communities. We want our careers to make the world in general, a better place. My technical definition of SE is very similar to the Skoll foundation’s definition, found on the Skoll website.
Q: Why do you think social entrepreneurship is important today?
A: It is absolutely necessary for us to make progress on solving social problems that exist in the world. SE is important because it is such a powerful tool. It’s a tool that answers problems business alone can’t answer, that governments alone can’t answer, and that traditional non-profit and charity can’t answer. SE takes many of the existing most effective methods of change, influence and organisations, and combines them together to create solutions that are not only scalable and measurable, but also sometimes profitable.
Q: Why is it important for students to be involved in social entrepreneurship?
A: Students who understand how to apply their skills and specialized knowledge creatively, in a way that benefits people rather than only bottom lines, will increasingly have the advantage. The more interesting, influential, prestigious recruiters and companies are increasingly looking for people who can be innovative. And it is starting to become an expectation for companies to look at their models and say, “Is our model bettering the community? Let’s look up and down the supply chain that we are operating, and see how our model is creating fair value for all of the people along that supply chain?” You can see this beginning to happen with Wal-Mart, which has started to realize its huge responsibility and influence for tipping the way the business is done. Wal-Mart is slowly becoming more consicous of it’s huge potentially positive impact for improving society, and we’re beginning to see other companies realize that to keep up they need to improve their business models in this way too. It is starting to become a norm in business to think with the lens of SE.
Q: What would you suggest for students to do now to get involved in SE?
A: First of all become an expert in something. You need your major, whether it’s engineering, or business, or arts, or law, you do need to be an expert in something. And secondly, hone your creativity. Get involved in and seek out real life opportunities to practice creatively applying your expertise to solving social problems. On top of that, if you want to get directly into the field of SE then you need to understand the space inside out. That requires a voracious appetite and an attitude of being a continual learner. The nice thing about SE is that most of the fields leaders are HUGE on social media and new technology. The information is already there and people are talking on nearly every major social media platform about SE. The thought leaders are out there having open dialogues, so anyone anywhere can listen and learn from the conversation
Q: How can being involved in SE benefit a student’s future career?
A: Companies want students that take initiative. SE is one of the strongest ways to demonstrate that you are innovative and that you can take initiative. Using a lens of social innovation in a project demonstrates that you can not only use your knowledge to achieve the company goals, but do it in a way that creates more than only monetary value. And besides, who doesn’t want a job where they are not only challenged in their field but are making a strong contribution to society too.
