Global and Social Entrepreneurship

Global Entrepreneurship: Neo-Nationalism

The disillusionment with the political establishment is palpable with the increasing nationalist sentiments across the EU and North America. More responsible EU politics includes the citizens of EU’s participating countries having a say in who governs them and how the governance process will work. While the EU has made great strides in uniting both international and native communities across Europe, the perception is that the EU is imposes its globalization standards and values on local communities within its member states. The citizens in Europe’s numerous and diverse native communities lament the enforcement of legislation that citizens do not directly contribute towards, legislation that unelected EU bureaucrats craft and impose. Consequently, an inclusive and responsible globalization would be subjecting significant legislative, judicial and executive decisions by the EU to the constituents of the bloc’s various member states. 

In order to foster globalization, lifelong civic education is imperative. Civic education on the benefits and how to participate in globalization can bridge key gaps in the perception of the socioeconomic outcomes of globalization. The centralization and standardization of administrative and representative structures within the EU system has had the benefits of diminishing borders to formalities, stimulating trade, movement and therefore participation in the EU system. However, the disillusionment with the EU among a growing number of citizens whose countries make up the EU arises from increasing consolidation of power with the European Union. Specifically, the EU is run by unelected bureaucrats that a growing number of Europeans feel do not have their interests at heart. In particular, the poor economic performance of various EU member states such as Greece and Italy are a result of globalization’s redistributive effects, illustrate the attests to the impact unelected legislators have individuals and communities across the EU member countries.  

Lifelong civic participation is an important constituent in maintaining the integration of globalization into Europe’s diverse communities. Globalization has over the previous century accelerated the integration of individuals from across the world. It has also reduced the homogeneity that characterized the world in the period prior to 19^th century. The highlighting of inclusive social values in grade school, as well sensitization of the importance of diversity in the public, familial and economic spaces is important in the realization of the EU’s integration of its various communities. Inclusive egalitarian social values ensure that everyone, native and immigrant Europeans alike, get to contribute and participate in their governance. Invariably, equal participation is important to ensure the actual unification of Europe’s diverse communities. Encouraging more interaction among diverse communities through exchange programs, access to the internet, equalizing access to social benefits such as employment placement and health are measures towards responsible globalization. 

For everybody to share in the benefits of globalization, it is important to include everyone in managing how a centralist entity like the EU administers affairs for Europe’s diverse communities. Presently, liberal progressives dominate the EU, and the inclusive model they advocate for is democratic globalization. Globalization is necessary a concentration of power while democracy decentralizes power to the citizenry, with Switzerland’s referendum system being an excellent example of where citizens directly contribute to their governance. Consequently, the adoption of a direct participation system by the EU can ensure the vision of globalization remains intact while mitigating the perception of the loss of sovereignty that many leavers feel they are losing to the EU.  

Social Entrepreneurship: Social Innovation

According to experts, the actualization of an idea into a practicable solution underpins and therefore defines innovation. To transform ideas into gainful and sustainable solutions, the supportive capacities have to be in place. For instance, most enterprises fail to reconcile what they are ready to invest into realizing a solution with what they actually invest. Specifically, investments in launching and improving products have to originate with the market and not with the producer of the good or service. For an enterprise to implement systemic transformation, it is important for them to evolve products, services, technologies and ideally, all three variables simultaneously, in a way that disrupts an existing system. For a revolutionary or disruptive idea to maturate, it is imperative that enterprises focus on relevant questions, or just one question and build in the solutions from there. Embracing input from employees in particular, and identifying the patterns of ideas from a participative feedback, is important in managing the integration of local socioeconomic systems into the global ecology.

In the global market place, innovative creativity, invention and entrepreneurship embraces the twin objective of solutions and communities. Specifically, entrepreneurs that thrive in the emerging global marketplace that those that recognize gaps in society that they can fill either to meet profit or charitable ends. Invariably, the products and services they introduce have to not only solve a persistent social problem, but that the solution has to be accessible, affordable and readily adoptable with the target demographics. Addressing poverty is one of the areas that global entrepreneurs are demonstrating successes in managing. For example, while helping a group of women in Rwanda turn their charitable entity into a for-profit enterprise, social venture capitalist Jacqueline Novogratz not only learned to listen to the local market, but to also be patient. The rationale was adapting what are clearly western investment and capacity management solutions in a place with different linguistic and socio-economic values. The lessons Novogratz derived from Rwanda she latter applied to entities in Kenya, with eventual success. 

References

https://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_betts_why_brexit_happened_and_what_to_do_next https://tinyurl.com/z6lfpu8 

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/09/innovation-new-global-context/

http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/#/21145115511