Where Creative Disruption Falls Short
Social entrepreneurship can do better. Here is how one organization is leading the way.
Today’s era of social-good entrepreneurship is dominated by a spirit of “creative disruption.” There is a sense that it is through violent upset of an existing order that one finds fertile ground for progress. The rhetoric of radical thinkers, the stories of entrepreneurs who leap into fervent action and consequently find astronomical success — these concepts abound, pervading every aspect of how we believe “making a difference” ought to look. And, to some extent, there is truth to be found in this rhetoric. These narratives do, in fact, exist, and change of this radical sort is possible.
But this rhetoric also paints an incomplete picture of social entrepreneurship. It vastly oversimplifies the true nature of the problem-solution arc. Put most directly, it trivializes the importance of problem-identification in favor of heroic tales of solution-finding. It creates a societal norm in which people look at solutions before duly considering the problem in its entirety. It creates a generation of entrepreneurs who believe that running in to a situation “guns blazing” with a cursory understanding of the problem to be solved is acceptable. In the case of social entrepreneurship in particular, we cannot allow this to be the case.
It is time we stop trivializing the importance of problem-identification in favor of heroic tales of solution-finding
It is not enough for would-be entrepreneurs to operate on reductionist understandings of the problems they are aiming to solve. It is not enough for these same people to believe they know what is best when they do not even know what is wrong. Social entrepreneurs cannot ignore or overlook reality. The people they are serving deserve better. One organization is leading the way.
Archimedes Project, a startup studio, knows that people do not lack access to clean water or sanitation simply because they are poor. They see the complexity inherent to water and sanitation problems, and they require any of their potential entrepreneurs to deeply understand this as well before they begin ideating solutions. How exactly does this emphasis on true understanding manifest in Archimedes Project?
One example is the Frontier Social Entrepreneur Fellowship. This Fellowship is a research-based exploration of the factors underpinning lack of access to water or sanitation in the Fellow’s target country. In total, it lasts between 16 and 20 weeks and is not an entrepreneurial venture. It is a time almost exclusively devoted to understanding both the needs of the low-income households they intend to serve and why previous or existing efforts at addressing these needs have either failed or been insufficient. To explain the Fellowship fully, I will consider it in three parts — before, during, and after.
PREPARATION
The “before” phase refers to the pre-fellowship period. During this 4- to 8-week period, Fellows develop a fellowship plan. This entails building up a repository of local contacts, as well as using guidance from those initial contacts to orient themselves in the water, sanitation, and social enterprise ecosystems of the target country. It includes using the aforementioned efforts to set up meetings for the fellowship period.
EXPLORATION
The “during” phase refers to the bulk of the Fellowship and consists of a 12-week in-country research period. This period looks to answer the most pressing questions regarding the water and sanitation climate in the country by making use of the pre-fellowship period contacts and information, as well as new contacts developed during this phase. During the Fellowship, Fellows seek to identify (1) which actors currently supply water and sanitation products or services, (2) the challenges faced by those actors (both systemically and within their business models), and (3) the needs and wants of potential customers, as well as how those wants and needs are currently being met. When taken together, this information serves as fertile ground for a preliminary inquiry into how (and if) a social venture could overcome or avoid the pitfalls faced by existing actors, as well as some concept of what such a social enterprise might look like.
ANALYSIS
The “after” phase refers to the time after the Fellowship. At this point, the Fellow has created a body of research that answers many pressing questions regarding water and sanitation in the target country. The Fellow can now step into a more entrepreneurial role, using this information to begin developing a solution to the problems identified. With in-country contacts in place to help implement any such plan, the Fellow is now in a prime position to develop and test a social enterprise business model.
When looking at these phases as a whole, it is not difficult to see how they contribute to a better entrepreneurial process. In this fellowship, there is a sense of slowing down, of drawing out an otherwise hastily-done research process. There is a deep focus on understanding every part of the target country’s water and sanitation climate. And the implications of this approach cannot be overstated.
Customer needs and wants truly drive any future venture
This approach means that the people the enterprise intends to serve are being heard. It means that their needs and wants truly drive any future venture. It means the venture itself is designed with ample knowledge of its context so that it does not do unintentional harm. It is through an emphasis on problem-identification that social entrepreneurs do their best work. It is one way that we can do better. It is one way that we should do better.
Amanda Orbuch is summer 2018 intern at the Archimedes Project. She is a rising junior at Stanford University. Majoring in Philosophy with a minor in English, she spends much of her time working on applied ethics. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing and weightlifting. She considers access to potable water one of the most pressing issues of the present and future and is deeply committed to expanding access to this crucial resource.
