In the Business of Change

Innovate or Bust

Disruptive. Innovative. Creative. An increasing number of social entrepreneurs have come to realize that moving from ideation to success often requires going beyond the usual, the traditional, the expected. They need to shake things up, turn ideas upside down and infuse their solutions to challenges with a creative twist, new technology and/or a bold re-think.

Of course, innovation is not an approach unique to social entrepreneurs. It's a popular tool for any entrepreneur who wants to rise above the fray and differentiate themselves from their competition. And to be innovative doesn't necessitate brand-spanking new ideas or re-inventing the wheel. Leveraging what already exists and adopting new ideas into the mix can prove effective - and profitable.

But, as we'll see in this chapter, for social entrepreneurs it's more than being disruptive for the sake of competitive advantage. It's about finding new ways to tackle social and environmental challenges because the old ways are simply not working - or not scaling at a pace that makes long-term change feasible. It's about looking for new, creative answers to old, seemingly unchangeable problems.

For Komal Ahmad, the old problems came in the form of food security and its sister challenge, food waste. Her inspiration? A homeless man with whom she generously shared her lunch one day who shared his story: he had recently completed a second tour in Iraq and was waiting for his VA benefits to kick in and was struggling to make ends meet. That someone who dedicated his life to the same country that was now failing to feed him seemed incredulous to Ahmad. That they were eating across the street from the Berkley campus she attended, where food was often thrown out from the cafeteria, only reinforced the paradox.

"It was emblematic of much larger problem, that every day in the US over 365 million pounds of perfectly edible food is wasted, while one of out every six don't know where their food is

Introduction

Chapter 1: Sustain This: The Rise of Social Entrepreneurship
Chapter 2: Innovate or Bust
Chapter 3: From Crisis to Opportunity
Chapter 4: The Power of Partnerships
Chapter 5: Community Engagement
Chapter 6: Perchance to Scale
Chapter 7: Toward Financial Sustainability
Chapter 8: Storytelling
Chapter 9: Measuring Social Impact
Chapter 10: Support Systems

Conclusion
Resources
Index
About the Author
A Note about the Publisher

Elisa Birnbaum is the publisher and editor-in-chief of SEE Change Magazine, a digital publication of social entrepreneurship and social change. A journalist and television producer for over 15 years, she's a regular contributor on social entrepreneurship for the National Post and has been published in a variety of publications including the Globe & Mail, Profit, and Lifestyles Magazine. She holds degrees in political science and law and lives in Toronto, Ontario.