” If the United Nations was fully funded, why would we need the Arc or social enterprise?”
The question is a fair one. It reminds us that although well-intentioned entrepreneurs are sprouting everywhere in the world, one can’t forget that the United Nations exists as well. So, if we already have a globally recognized institution with limitless resources supervising the world, why are social entrepreneurs still relevant?
The first thing I’ll say is that, well, the UN isn’t helping that much. Don’t get me wrong, the UN is a critical institution where nations convene together to solve pressing issues, like civil wars and human rights abuses. But the UN alone is too large and bureaucratic of an organization to fix the problems in our world today. I know this quite well because I’ve been an avid Model UN competitor for years and I study international relations passionately. I learned that diplomats and politicians are far too removed from the pains of normal society to tackle specific issues directly, mostly because their knowledge of any particular issue is fairly shallow. In addition, the politics of the organization makes problem-solving impossibly inefficient. To me, the UN is a place full of bickering and single-sided solutions, thanks to the fact that it must ultimately act as a single entity despite having a heavily divided interior.
Often in the UN, tasks cannot be accomplished until one committee sends a decision to another committee which can enact UN decisions, which often requires the approval and collaboration of other committees. TL;DR? Bureaucracy. Cartoon by Clay Bennett.
While politicians can talk smoothly about issues, entrepreneurs actually address them. Entrepreneurs work directly with affected people, experiencing problems first-hand and gaining genuine motivation to fight them. Sidestepping bureaucracy, these people allow the broader community to join in on solving issues; exchanging ideas and equipping stakeholders with techniques encourages contribution from the people. Having the UN solve problems alone prevents the actual people affected to have a say in the matter. Social entrepreneurship also allows people to specialize and focus on specific issues, diving deep enough to fix them effectively. Involving multiple entrepreneurs means that different businessmen will target specific issues that they care about most, leaving other entrepreneurs to deal with other issues. As a result, social entrepreneurship offers a flexible, efficient, and directly motivated effort to find solutions to social problems.