As you come to the end of the BZSE course, what have you discovered about yourself? How would this affect what you would like to do with your life?

I have discovered that my desire in social enterprising burns deeper then ever. There is so much more that can be done to change the world. There is so much more to do, even in Singapore. If we as BZSE students do it, who will?

However, I really feel that we, as BZSE students, really lack necessary skills to make a social enterprise works. We still need much more exposure, much more skills, and much more motivation to create a successful social enterprise. If I were to start a SE now, I am sure that I would make many many mistakes. Mistakes can be expensive. Mistakes costs time, costs money, among other things.

I would definitely set up a social enterprise in the future, but my goal now is to gain more experience in other fields of work. My plan is to spend 3 years doing other things to gain the capital, the experience, and the network to run a social enterprise.

Many people laugh when I tell them, hey, someday I will set up something that will change the world. However, someday, I will show them.

I believe that I already have the passion and drive to make a change. However, because of the lack of other skills, I may not be able to accomplish that right now. Thankfully, all of that can be learnt. I hope to learn all of that someday.

Reflection 5

Most of the social enterprises that we have visited are very effective models of social enterprises. However, there was one that stood out as the "black sheep". The social enterprise that I am referring to is Chinatown Social Enterprise.

Chinatown Social Enterprise is set up by Kreta Ayer- Kim Seng CCC to help the elderly in the area generate income and allow them to do something productive instead not knowing what to do in the last lap of their lives. They also collaborate with various other organizations to help sell their products.

The concept of CSE is extremely good. Many people, including me, think that this social enterprise is absolutely brimming with potential to be very successful. However, there are many pitfalls that makes this social enterprise somewhat obsolete. As we walked past the street looking for the store, we noticed that there wasn't even a proper signboard for the shop. When we asked the shopkeeper on duty, he pointed out that there is in fact a signboard. The 'signboard' was nothing but a printed cardboard balanced at the window of the shop. Indeed, there was nothing eye catching about the shop at all and I would expect that many people walk past it without even realizing the existence of it, which is quite sad.

The location of the shop was also questionable. I feel that the the CCC didn't even consider this initiative to be important, so they just dumped them in an unwanted corner by the road. With a proper, eye catching signboard, the dubious location of this SE can be resolved slightly, but without one, it is just another run down shophouse in Chinatown.

The target market of this SE are tourists, apparently. However, I fail to see how tourists will be attracted to a dinghy shophouse, let alone buy the products. While the person we spoke to claim that the business is profitable, I feel that if this place was to stand out more, so much more income could be garnered. They should probably market this place to everybody. Chinatown is somewhat of a prime location, and with proper signages and advertising, I am confident that the shop will be brimming with shoppers coming in to buy the excellent products they provide.

The BZSE diploma would definitely be helpful in helping this budding SE scale to greater heights. With fresh idea, and the skills that we have, much more can be done for this SE.

Evaluate the practicality and effectiveness of using academic models, such as the RISE Rubric, SWOT and PEST, to assess a social enterprise

What is SWOT analysis?

• Strengths: characteristics of the business or team that give it an advantage over others in the industry.
• Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others.
• Opportunities: external chances to make greater sales or profits in the environment.
• Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business

SWOT analysis is one that identify the various internal and external factors that affects the business achieving it's objective. While it is extremely effective to use for businesses who are striving to maximizes their profits, the SWOT analysis doesn't take into consideration the various aspects and measures of achieving social change that a SE looks to.

For the PEST analysis, it is very similar to SWOT other then the fact that it takes into consideration long- term external strategies instead of both internal and external. However, it has the same pitfalls as SWOT analysis, which is that it is unable to measure the social impact that a social enterprise hopes to achieve.

The RISE Rubrics, however, is a model that is made to assess and evaluate a social enterprise.

It consists of 10 different rubrics to analyze a social enterprise, with 5 pertaining to financial and 5 towards social. It is an extremely good checklist that allows social entrepreneur to keep check on whether they are doing things right. However, we must always remember that rubrics like these are not set in stone. One must properly adjust the rubrics depending on the business they are running, because a SE is dynamic and everchanging to suit the society's needs.

My first video.

This is the first video I've ever made in BZSE. :)

What are the factors in deriving an effective strategy and revenue model that keep a social enterprise sustainable while achieving its social caus

Since social enterprises operate like a normal business, I believe that whatever factors that a commercial business needs to keep itself profitable and sustainable, social enterprises need all of them too. However, the key to the success of a SE is how to balance these factors.

How do you want to keep a business profitable and sustainable?

In no particular order of priority:

Innovation

Without innovation, you are just another business out there. With innovation, you are something special, and people will have more reason to buy products or service from you.

Branding

Distinguishing your product or service from all the thousand others in the market. With good branding, you can charge more, earn more, and create more.

Duplication

How do successful companies become successful? What are their success factors? I believe that every business should take time to research on how the successful companies in their industry makes it to the top, and duplicate those factors

Social Cause

Marketing your social cause hard and fast. Studies have shown that people would rather buy from a company with good CSR if all other factors are the same. This is especially important for a SE, because the social cause that they are championing is the core of their business.

What is a "social enterprise?"

What is a social enterprise? Throughout the course, we have answered this question SO many times, but for me, it never gets old. But of course, to prevent myself from being repetitive, I will keep this short.

"Business with a heart."

"Doing charity by doing trade."

Simply put, a social enterprise's main objective is to put itself out of business. Why?

Because when a social enterprise is out of job, it means that the social issue that it is resolving, has been resolved.

I hope that I can be part of a SE that does that one day.

What makes a “social entrepreneur”?

The day after I joined BZSE, I told myself.

"SOCIAL ENTERPRISE!!! I AM A SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR FOR SURE!"

Right now, I tell myself.

"Social Enterprise. It is something I want to work TOWARDS!"

What is the difference?

On the day after I am included in the BZSE family, I was brimming with hope. Brimming with passion, with drive, with motivation that I am a born social entrepreneur, and if I want to, I can even set something up right now.

However, after nearly 3 years in this course, I realized that there is so much more to being a social entrepreneur then just passion itself. Of course, passion is the most important part of being an SE. Without passion, you will gradually lose track of what you are fighting for, of what you are striving for, and soon, it will all be for naught. But is pure passion enough? What really makes a social entrepreneur?

I'm very sure the the concept of being a SE is strong in many people around the world, but if so, why is it that there aren't THAT many SEs springing up everywhere? I believe that many people have the passion, have the drive, and have the motivation, but most of them lack the necessary SKILLS.

I'm pretty sure that every lecturer in BZSE knows that as well, because the job of imparting all these skills belongs to them. Skills are so important, even though many of us don't take it seriously. Sure you may say, if I have the passion, I will definitely be innovative enough to come up with this amazing amazing business idea that will change the world. If I have the passion, I will be resourceful enough to come up with the funding that the SE needs to start up. But after all that is said and done, now what? Do YOU know how to RUN the SE? Do you have the ability to manage your HR, your PR, your FINANCES, your employees?

Skills. Skills are definitely a much neglected part of what makes a social entrepreneur that people forget about. If WE want to be a social entrepreneur, we better equip ourselves with the knowledge of how to go about doing it. Not just doing it, of course, but how to do it EFFICIENTLY.

To end it all off, I would say that passion and the ability to run a SE is what makes a social entrepreneur.