The social entrepreneur…

The social entrepreneur…

150 150 eriks

I had a chat yesterday about an entry I wrote some weeks ago about a nightly walk down by the beach. She told me that the lyrics of the song (Fix You by Coldplay), made a big impression of one of her friends. That got me thinking of the text some more.

I am currently taking part in a fellowship program – Reuters Digital Vision Program- which brings together a group of experienced social entrepreneurs from the world corners. But what is a social entrepreneur really? I remember an explanation made by a student in the beginning of the program: A social entrepreneur is a person that both values a positive balance in the checking account and social impact of his/her work. Of course there is a discussion whether the social impact is the more important part, and today an article is illustrating that discussion, where there is an interview of the founder of Ebay and the Omidyar foundation, Pierre Omidyar, where he discuss the nature of social entrepreneurship. This is an ongoing discussion that probably will continue for sometime now.

Personally, I believe that social entrepreneurship is about trying… trying to make difference… trying to help somebody without asking for something in return. The movie "Pass It Forward" defines it so well. We should help people that needs that extra hand, and give pieces of ourselves.

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
And I will try to fix you

… because I will definately try.

eriks

Erik is currently an Innovation Coach at the AT&T Foundry. Erik was the CTO of Spot.us, a global platform for community-funded local reporting (winner of the Knight News Challenge). Previously, Erik co-founded Allvoices.com, where he served as the VP of Social Media and User Interface. Allvoices.com is a global community that shares news, videos, images and opinions. At the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford University between 2005-2006, he created the website inthefieldONLINE.net, which drew widespread recognition from major global media including PBS, CNN and BBC, and was featured on Discovery International’s Rewind 2006 as one of the 25 highlights of the Year.

All stories by:eriks
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eriks

Erik is currently an Innovation Coach at the AT&T Foundry. Erik was the CTO of Spot.us, a global platform for community-funded local reporting (winner of the Knight News Challenge). Previously, Erik co-founded Allvoices.com, where he served as the VP of Social Media and User Interface. Allvoices.com is a global community that shares news, videos, images and opinions. At the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford University between 2005-2006, he created the website inthefieldONLINE.net, which drew widespread recognition from major global media including PBS, CNN and BBC, and was featured on Discovery International’s Rewind 2006 as one of the 25 highlights of the Year.

All stories by:eriks