Social entrepreneurship is not so much about the cause as it is about the people who are capable of making a difference to the cause. The United Nations has a lot of reach because of how well-connected it is with global governments and the organization definitely targets major international issues, but social entrepreneurs are necessary for their ambition, drive, strategic approaches, resourcefulness, and ability to generate results with what they have.

The innovative ideas they come up with are capable of creating beneficial relationships for communities who require assistance in creating value with their organizations. The Arc Initiative connects with real people and creates results with each of their partnerships. Interactions between people with a shared goal is the best way to share information and teach each other from their own area of expertise.

As the number of social entrepreneurs grows, perhaps the United Nations could take advantage of a partnership with entrepreneurial organizations as these people are the greatest resource in creating social change. If they were to fund the activities of these agents, both parties would be able to reach their shared goal.

 

Shark’s Tank is the United States version of a reality television show that features a panel of venture capitalists offering to invest in business ideas brought forward by entrepreneurs.

Many young people draw inspiration from this show that appears to offer any innovative person the chance to gain financing quickly by offering up high stakes in their companies. What happens behind the scenes may be more relevant to the young entreprenuers among us who wish to recognize some realistic expectations.

There is a possibility that this programme may negatively impact those that attempt to base their business decisions on actions portrayed in the show. This article suggests that the main problems are that:

• the pitch is overvalued – emphasis is placed on the ability to make a slick pitch as a means to receive funding rather than really understanding the business and the entrepreneur
• decisions are “made” in a short timeline – when the panel agrees to fund they are actually pursuing their interest to learn more and create an investor relationship, not writing a cheque
• ideas are vauled over entrepreneurial ability – creative ideas over effective value propositions (the horror!)
• investors lack industry-specific expertise – investors should be key partners that have insight to offer
• unmeaningful valuations – many give up the majority of the business for funds to continue instead of to add value
• focus on consumer goods – revolves around products that the viewer may enjoy although these would generally employ crowdfunding instead of venture capitalists
• public exposure – those who are denied an investment must continue with a negative light

These pose as problems for both young entrepreneurs and investors so I would suggest to not take this show at face value (although similar presentation skills would still apply).

54% of Canadians are active Facebook users. However, our love of being able to easily connect with others does not overrule our need for privacy as demonstrated by issues raised by Sincere Cheong and Blessie Canete.

I agree with Sincere that agreeing to a website’s terms of service with a nonchalant click of a button makes it difficult to justify Facebook’s ability to perform consumer research on their users without their prior knowledge but with apparent consent. This has lead to the release of the Atlas digital marketing platform that Blessie is wary of, but it is also true that Facebook provides the value that we are looking for which is why, even with the knowledge that they are selling our information, we continue to use their service on a daily basis.

With the many companies that deal mostly with the web or with other forms of communication joining the world’s largest companies, it is easy to see why companies are eager to capitalize on digital marketing and gathering data from the information that potential customers release on the Internet. I can see this becoming the main form of market research because of the far-reaching information that is so readily available and is an accurate reflection of their current customer.