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Social Entrepreneurs in Asia
Hosted by Yvonne Li (July 2010)
Social Entrepreneurship - a growing movement in Asia Pacific
As a response to Social Edge’s provocative piece entitled “Are the only innovations in social entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon?”, Avantage Ventures would like to present eight case studies of sustainable social enterprises in the Asia Pacific region. These case studies provide evidence of innovative and progressive social enterprises in Asia and will present valuable opportunities for evaluating the state of social entrepreneurship in the East. The eight case studies will be presented over a period of four months to encourage dialogue and discussion.
As I attended the Skoll World Forum and other conferences on social entrepreneurship around the world over the past year, I noticed that Asians, with the exception of Indian entrepreneurs, were always a minority among those present. Even with the various SE networks, including that of Social Edge, there appeared to be few bloggers or comments coming from the Asian SE community.
So kudos to Rod Schwartz for starting the discussion, for his observation that there appears to be little participation in the social entrepreneurship community from the East is not unfounded. However, as a Chinese person and an integral part of the Asian SE community, I feel that I can offer some insight into why Asians are underrepresented – and therefore mistaken to be passive – in the social entrepreneurship scene. The key reasons are:
1. Language
English is the lingua franca of the global SE community; for many Asians, this presents a barrier to participation.
The Asia Pacific region is home to more than 3,500 spoken languages, about half the world’s total (UNESCO 2004). There are few common languages amongst the different Asian countries, with the exceptions of Mandarin Putonghua (spoken in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia), Malay (spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore) and Hindi (spoken among 40% of the Indian population).
In India, especially, we see further proof of the importance of language: due to the relative abundance of proficient English speakers amongst the Indian population, we see many Indian entrepreneurs contributing to the field and the discussions led by the West. Even the Asian SE summits that I have previously attended used English as the primary language of communication. Given that English is most likely a second or third language for most Asians, attending conferences such as the Skoll forum or participating in dialogue like those initiated on Social Edge is taxing and difficult.
2. Culture
Generally, Asians tend to be more reserved than Anglo-Saxons, which further poses a barrier to their connecting with the global SE community. The Asian mentality towards philanthropy and doing social good, while strong, is very much geared towards doing it quietly and less towards being vocal about one’s efforts and support.
3. Shorter history of social entrepreneurship in Asia
There is no doubt that the UK and the US are the thought leaders and innovators in the space of social enterprise and finance. Both countries have at least 20 years of experience in developing models specific to the social sector, and enough momentum within the wider community to propel social entrepreneurship into the mainstream.
In Asia, on the other hand, social entrepreneurship has had a much shorter history, most notably in the developing countries of South East Asia. The SE field mostly starts only after the collapse of wars and the toppling of ineffective political regimes, after relative stability is restored to the country.
Many Asian regions remains turbulent, and social entrepreneurship from the ground up can only prosper when citizens are no longer caught up in internecine conflict and have their basic needs accounted for.
These three factors, I believe, explain the seeming lack of activity in the SE industry from the East. Innovations in social entrepreneurship exist and flourish in Asia, as well as in the Anglo-Saxon world, as the following eight case studies will show; but less is known about them, for Asians face barriers to participation in the global SE community. Given this, I ask:
Questions:
- Are there differences in the nature of innovations in social enterprise between the Anglo-Saxon world and the Asian world?
- How should we encourage fairer representation in the global social entrepreneurship community?
Join Yvonne Li, founder of Avantage Ventures in Beijing and Hong Kong, in a conversation on the rise of Asia Pacific social entrepreneurs.
Social Entrepreneurs in Asia
Throughout my childhood and youth, I was surrounded by so many men and women who were involved as social entrepreneurship. Later, during my travels around the world, I met large majorities of social workers from Asia living overseas who stood as "concerned citizens" ... giving back to their motherland. But they prefered to keep a low profile, unlike the Anglo-Saxon social entrepreneurs who enter their respective fields as the "Saviors" and "missionaries".
My first job was with the Ford Foundation that entered the country, determined to control family planning with large funding from the USA. As I watched, I also agrued that understanding and respecting the cultural and social conditioning of the people was more important. Today, I discovered there is no real sign of family planning where families have 7-9 children in most poor villages. So much money was spent hiring Anglo-Saxon social entrepreneurs through the 60s-70s-80s and 90s where each expert applied his/her own cultural values and judgements on project enhancement.
I agree with Yvonne, that social entrepreneurship is a matter of language and involves cultural "giving" in Asia especially depending on religious factors and plays a very important role.
I agree that Asians tend to be more reserved, but their mentality towards philanthropy and doing social good is strong. I have had the opportunity of working with British and American non-profit organizations with public and private resources in developing models which they transported to "third world developing countires" which utterly failed because they were not willing to understand the social and cultural trends - and prefered to apply the Westernized models.
For example, major funding was available in family planning and health programs, but the Anglo-Saxon social entrepreneurs felt they were completely qualified with certain theories they had worked in their own communities - which were simply not applicable for Asia. It didn't matter, the money was sanctioned and had to be spent - So they worked in Asia to try and make a difference.
Social entrepreneurship has a long history in developing Asian countries but there were no major sanctions of financial aid as in the West. There were hundreds and thousands of social entrepreneurs working within their own communities helping in health and family planning programs, funded by private businesses and wealthy families. I eye-witnessed this throughout where men and women worked in different parts of towns and villages as unpaid social workers and did their bit in uplifting the lives of the poor.
To answer the questions Yvonne concludes with: There is really no differences in the nature of innovations in social enterprise between the Anglo-Saxon world and the Asian world. The numbers are there. For them to encourage fairer representation in the global social entrepreneurship community is a difficult task ... but can be done by joining hands and sharing the work load through direct contact. Most well-funded Anglo-Saxon projects like to control what they are doing in developing countries in Asia. A major AID/HIV organizer complained how Bill Gates allotted million dollar funds ... without really understanding where the real need for funding would be most appropriate.
Last Spring I worked for Dr. Surender M. Sehgal, Chairman & Founder of the Sehgal Family Foundation (SFF), from Des Moines, Iowa who endowed millions of dollars to the Institute of Rural Research & Development (IRRAD) that works in some 20 poorest of poor villages in Mewat district in Haryana State. When I tried getting more information on the Internet about his ten years in the field, there was so little available, except on his website.
Like him I know so many Asians who are quietly working as social entrepreneurs and do not need headlines ! They are investing their own funds and accomplishing a great deal in the field of social entrepreneurship.