About us > Approach

A “Community First” Social Entrepreneurship Approach

"SE Corps staff approaches their work with professionalism, broad-spectrum skill sets and a tenacious work ethic. Their grassroots knowledge coupled with their deep business background and willingness 'to get their hands dirty' is hard to come by."

Neil Blumenthal,
Former Director of Programs,
VisionSpring

The New Development Solutions Group (NDSG) believes that once the mission is clear, it is the approach that is at the heart of designing strategic and tactical elements. Keeping a “servant leadership” focus, the desired outcomes must always focus on addressing real and perceived community needs. Elegant solutions must be created that avoid the “Frankenstein Effect” -- the gluing of incompatible elements together that unfortunately so many projects become. We are confident that a social entrepreneurship approach is the optimal means of achieving sustainable impact and mitigating risks. This approach, which continuously inspires our design and execution, is in effect always searching for a “Nash Equilibrium.” This is loosely defined as the creation and implementation of a set of strategies and tactics such that no stakeholder (villagers, village leaders, entrepreneurs, trainers, leadership, product providers, etc.) has incentive to unilaterally change his or her action. There is no compelling reason to do so. Our efforts continually search for a state of equilibrium whereby a change in actions by any stakeholder would lead them to a suboptimal outcome. An approach that relentlessly seeks the proper balance of social and entrepreneurship leads us to this equilibrium.

Although there is no one universal definition of social entrepreneurship, there is broad agreement that it describes an approach rather than any specific development model. The approach guides model and organizational development and execution. It is “more related to leadership than to management” (Schwab Foundation) and thus is more about the “how” than the “what.” As a starting point, the metaphor “give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime” can help to demonstrate the evolutionary nature and impact of this approach.

“Giving fish” is what could traditionally be defined as relief assistance. The most challenging next step in supporting communities/individuals as they endeavor to either build or re-build their lives is development assistance. This is the “teach a man to fish.” Intelligent development assistance may be concurrent with, but more often directly follows, relief assistance and provides appropriate resources to communities and individuals at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way. The social entrepreneurship approach represents an evolution beyond traditional development assistance. As Bill Drayton of the Ashoka Foundation states, "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."

"CE Solutions has helped me develop both professionally and as a person. As a result, I have had the opportunity to work in different professional areas and grow as a person in ways I never thought possible."

Marta Lidia
Director of Homestay & Spanish Study
CE Solutions

The social entrepreneurship approach driving NDSG’s efforts attempts to create locally sustainable and globally replicable models that both create "fish” (access to appropriate healthcare, economic, educational solutions and the like) and "fishermen" (entrepreneurs) where there were none before. We also seek to identify, train and empower leaders and create sustainable infrastructures (social enterprises). As David Bornstein, author of “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas,” states, “social entrepreneurs identify resources where people only see problems. They view the villagers as the solution, not the passive beneficiary. They begin with the assumption of competence and unleash resources in the communities they're serving."

We seek to address a social ill through entrepreneurial means. We continuously aim to mobilize the competencies of our constituencies and empower them to pull both themselves and their communities step by step out of poverty. But it all starts with needs, and we must work our way backwards from this point of need in order to create solutions that offer compelling opportunities in the appropriate place, at the appropriate price, by the appropriate people and at the appropriate time.