Entrepreneurship is at the heart of our societies, driving meaningful change and thoughtful leadership on a micro and macro scale. With many entrepreneurs promoting social change through each and every one of their business decisions, we bear a hopeful future in which corporate social responsibility works to support and uplift entrepreneurs.
But before we can jump into creating meaningful relationships between social entrepreneurs and corporations, we have a few barriers to address first. Here’s how today’s entrepreneurs are creating tomorrow’s social solutions, why you should care, and how you can get involved to create meaningful change, now.
Fostering innovation and creativity
Successful entrepreneurship doesn’t just start and end with a great idea. It provides some of today’s most innovative thinkers the opportunity to hone in on their research in the market, direct their motivation, and foster their creativity to create successful business endeavors for our world’s current needs. This pushes not only the boundaries of the existing market but opens up the realm of visionary solutioning that can be uniquely repurposed for other business and social action.
As corporations begin to re-evaluate their social and ethical responsibility, they look to entrepreneurs and young social activists for guidance on how to meaningfully make a difference. Time and time again we’ve proven that our current strategies of solution and impactful change are inadequate to our current most pressing social challenges.
It’s the responsibility of corporations to do better and demonstrate their dedication to dramatic and bold change, following in the footsteps of young entrepreneurs and social activists.
Driving social change
Each entrepreneurial business serves a unique purpose that can drive social change. Through honorable values, new technologies, and a small business structure, entrepreneurship has the capacity to make national and global impact through social change.
Beginning with the values and story behind a small business, to carefully selecting methods and systems of operation, to modernizing technologies for greater purposes, the power of entrepreneurship is invaluable to us all.
Honorable values
At the heart of entrepreneurial businesses are the common core values of vision, bravery, trust, honesty, respect for others, generosity, and fortitude. These are the values that drive real, substantial, positive change.
Often, corporations can be consumed by priorities of profit and competition. They either forget to attend to their social responsibility or only do so performatively. There is so much to learn from the honorable values of entrepreneurs that corporations can learn from, in order to foster the right kind of change that we need to see in our world, now.
Not only is this valuable to creating meaningful change, but it will also attract employees who believe in this purpose and are motivated by doing meaningful work and delivering remarkable results.
The power of Press Start
Canada’s new, digital-first insurance company, nowly, is on a mission to support entrepreneurs and young social activists to help them solve our current, most pressing social issues. nowly’s new, social give-back program, Press Start, works to not only support social-preneurs in the acceleration of their business, but to bring together youth activists with industry thought leaders and academics to collaborate on radically solving our current social challenges.
The first annual Press Start CoLab Program will be running this summer (Northern Hemisphere)* and will focus on arriving at a co-created, collaborative solution with empowered youth activists to help make this world a better place, one pressing social challenge at a time.
We’ll be challenging the existing models of solutioning by leveraging access to seed investment and mentorship through industry and academic experts. This year’s challenges, highlighted by next-generation leaders, are climate grief, cultural sensitivity in the mental health industry, and the spread of misinformation.
If you or someone you know** is interested in applying their entrepreneurial skills, ideas, or interests in social activism to collaborative change, learn more here.
* The CoLab program will take place over 7 weeks between July and August 2022.
** Applications are open to Canadians aged 18 to 29, excluding Quebec. Applications close June 13, 2022.
Laura’s blogs at nowly.ca focus on health, wellness and supporting communities through giving back. She ties in her passion for cultivating kindness and community with her background in psychology to spread positive and educational information. With the help of nowly’s insurance expert, Matt, she creates fun and accessible approaches to finance - starting with insurance.
