On 27 October, the School of Business, hosted a forum jointly organised by the Ministry of Community Development and Sports. Some 160 staff and students from local universities, Junior Colleges and Polytechnics attended the forum, convened to examine the ways in which enterprises and entrepreneurship can be harnessed for social good: social entrepreneurship.
Professor David B Montgomery, Dean, School of Business, SMU believes that managers have a responsibility to pay back to society. “We have to see that social entrepreneurship is about lining up economic and social interests,” said Prof Montgomery. “I believe in the involvement of management students and faculty in the pursuit of social good.”
The forum featured two speakers who are internationally recognised social entrepreneurs. According to Dr Mechai Viravaidya, the only road out of poverty is through business enterprise. “The solution to reducing poverty is to assist the poor in doing business and to locate sources of loan funds guided by companies,” said Dr Mechai, who is chairman and founder of Thailand’s Population and Community Development Association.
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Dr Rick Aubry, Executive Director of Rubicon Programs, Inc pointed out that social enterprises are not good ideas with poor managers, as is mistakenly thought by some in business schools. “Rather, they are important missions with extremely creative managers who do much with little resources. They need an underlying strategy to create sustainability,” said Dr Aubry. The Rubicon Programs, Inc is a non-profit agency providing services through businesses that employ low income, disabled and formerly homeless people.
The speakers shared numerous instances from around the world where poverty has been alleviated through social entrepreneurship and enterprises, and engaged the participants in a lively and interactive panel discussion that concluded the forum.
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