Wouldn’t it be great to have all videos on social entrepreneurship right at your fingertips. As part of our commitment to help you find only what matters, we decided to sort through YouTube and choose the videos that we think are worse your time. You do not have to waste your time anymore, at least on this.

Movers and Shakers

Bill Drayton at the Clinton Global Initiative: In this video you will learn about Bill Drayton’s approach to helping change-makers in all of us succeed.

Valeria Budinich on the Full Economic Citizenship Initiative - Vice President of Ashoka and director of the Full Economic Citizenship Initiative (FEC) talks about support Ashoka provides to social entrepreneurs.

2007 Skoll World Forum - Jeff Skoll at the 2007 Skoll Awards - Watch the opening speech of Jeff Skoll, the Founder of Skoll Foundation.

Davos Annual Meeting 2003 - Queen of Jordan - “Peace, opportunity and tolerance - the fuel that is needed right now for save free and prosperous world,” argues Queen Rania in her speech.

Davos Annual Meeting 2008 - Bill Gates - Learn what is a New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century.

Richard Gere on Universal Responsibility - Gere shares his personal story of embracing universal responsibility.

Discussions and Conversations

Microcredit debate - Democracy Now broadcasts a debate on microlending between Susan Davis, founder and chair of the Grameen Foundation, and Vandana Shiva, a physicist, environmental activist and author.

Charlie Rose - An Exclusive Hour with Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates - The conversation after Warren Buffet made his historical donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Emerging Models of Social Entrepreneurship in India Part 1; Part 2; Part 3 and Part 4. - Panel discussion focused on the rise of social entrepreneurship in India.

Davos Open Forum 2003 - Innovations for Social Change - Watch some of the brightest people in the world discuss how innovation drives social and economic change.

About Organizations

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public - Learn more about Ashoka and the work it does. Here you can see how Ashoka chooses its fellows.

Kyle Zimmer - The president and the co-founder of First Book talks about her passions and the mission of her organization. First Book puts books in hands of children in the United States, Columbia and Canada. She shares her strategy on starting socially responsible enterprises.

2008 Skoll World Forum Closing Film - Watch this inspiring movie about social change and the work that needs to be done. The movie is very inspirational and powerful.

2007 Skoll World Forum - Larry Brilliant, Google.org Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 - Learn about Google.org, Larry Brilliant, his work and optimism.

Google.org: Looking Forward to 2008 and Beyond - Learn how Google.org searches for solutions to global challenges around the world.

Alchemy World Weyto Village Support - Learn how Alchemy World is helping Weyto Village and its people.

Ethiopia Alchemy World Stop Poverty Social Entrepreneurship - Life in Ethiopia, and what Alchemy World is doing to help people fight poverty.

Alchemy World Ethiopia Poor Entrepreneurs forming a company - Alchemy World is conducting a business training in Ethiopia teaching people the basis behind running their small businesses.

Virgin Unite Promo - Learn what Virgin Unite and the Virgin Group is doing to change the world.

Social Entrepreneurship Pure: Wise Co-Founder Etienne - Etienne Eichenberger, the founder of WISE speaks about his organization and how it makes good while making profit.

Peter Samuelson - Film Producer and Social Entrepreneur - A numerous social entrepreneur shares his inspirations and the work that he did over the years. Very inspirational.

On Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship - Ashoka’s Bill Drayton speaks at Google - learn more about the field of social entrepreneurship from the person who pioneered it.

Muhammad Yunus: Building Social Business Ventures (preview) - This is just a short preview of the DVD that can be bought on Amazon; it is a part of 16 DVD collection created by Ashoka’s Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship. Nobel Peace Prize recipient shares his insights on building businesses that do good.

Social Entrepreneurship: Creating Change - The most complete video on the evolution and importance of social entrepreneurship.

Imagine the Headlines of the Future… - Jeff Skoll showed this video as part of his speech at the Skoll Forum. These headlines suggest some of the things that we have the power to achieve.

Activist Training Workshop by Corporate Accountability Intl - Watch the training of new changemakers. A lot of great insight and hands-on work examples.

The NYU Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship - Learn how NYU prepares its students to make a stand, and solve some of the global challenges.

Mel Young Social Entrepreneur - Learn about Mel Young and the organization that he started - Homeless World Cup, a fascinated program that takes people out of poverty through playing soccer.

MW-Social Entrepreneurship - Mission Wise gives an introduction to social entrepreneurship.

Fazle H. Abed: Innovator for the Poor - A short clip from the Ashoka DVD series that highlights the work done by Fazle H. Abed, founder and chairman of BRAC, Building Resources Across Communities.

Microlending

FRONTLINE/World | Kiva | PBS - PBS talks to people in Uganda who run their businesses with the help of microloans done through Kiva.

The Kiva Story - Kiva employees tell a story about how Kiva works, and changes the world.

Matt & Jessica Flannery - Kiva.org - Co-founders of Kiva tell the story of how they got started.

Muhammad Yunus - Grameen Bank - Yunus speaks about his path and aspirations.

MFP_001. Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Microfinance - MicroSave presents a video on the growth and work of the Grameen Bank.

Professor Muhammed Yunus - Founder of The Grameen Bank - Oliver Clarke, the president of the Gleaner Company Limited interviews Yunus.

Microcredit from Grameen Bank in Bagladesh: Phone ladies - Learn how Grameen Bank changes the lives of people in Bangladesh.

Social Responcibility

IBM Study: Corporate Social Responsibility - Learn about corporate social responsibility and how corporations start to embrace this field.

Alice Tepper Marlin: Architect of Corporate Responsibility - Preview one of the videos on the rise of corporate responsibility from the Ashoka DVD series. Alice Tepper Marlin is a President and CEO of Social Accountability International (SAI), an organization that sets an international standard on human rights in the workplace.

CEO goes green - Ray Anderson, the founder and the CEO of the Interface, Inc., the largest manufacturer of the modular carpet is interviewed on The Hour. He shares how he became one of the greenest CEOs in the country.

The Role of Business in Tomorrow’s Society - World Business Council for Sustainable Development examines the challenges ahead of us, and how businesses can help address them.

McDonald’s Corporate Social Responsibility-Making Progress - Learn how McDonald’s is trying to create a social difference in the world.

I just found a collection of educational videos that explain different internet concepts in plain English, making it easy to understand. Here are couple of videos that I particularly recommend.

Social Media in Plain English

Podcasts and How They Work

Twitter. This is something I had to watch closely, since this is something I am not using on the regular bases. Basically, it is you blogging about what you are doing right now. This way people can know what is that you did 10 minutes ago, or 5 minutes ago. If you want to make your life public, this is a way to go. Cool concept.

Wikipedia, ever wondered how the biggest encyclopedia in the world works? Here is a video on wiki, (the platform behind wikipedia) and how it allows people to collaborate about anything they want. It is also in plain Enlish.

RSS and how to keep up with everything that is going on on-line.

Recently, I read that the Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship has come back to Waterloo to run a boot camp on how to run a social enterprise. My first reaction - what a great idea. If I was there, I would’ve went. In fact, since I am not able to go I started thinking about organizing this sort of event here, where I live, in Ohio. I am, however, wondering how effective the bootcamps are. I believe in a total submersion, where people work together until something good comes out. What if they try something like a month long full time engagement into a business setting. Selected group of entrepreneurs (7-10 people) will be placed to live together for one month. They will be provided all the necessary resources in order to maintain a productive environment and not get distracted. Each day they will have various think sessions, educational classes and meetings with business advisors. The goal is to get people to fully focus on several problems that all of them are facing, and design one or two businesses that they can run as a group. During the month period they will finish business plans and will receive proper business training preparing them for running their new ventures. The focus has to lie on group work, instead of merely lecture listening. Such program will engage people in working closely with each other as well as give them an opportunity to learn without getting distracted. If the program proves to be successful, it can easily be modeled and expanded. After this month of work, people will have a set business strategy and a clear plan on how to work together to build a profitable company.

For couple weeks now I have been thinking about the best way to summarize who social entrepreneurs are and what they represent. And then I thought, what can be better than creating an “anthem” for the field of social entrepreneurship. Obviously, I could not write the lyrics myself, so I referred to a song many of you know as “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. I did spend some time rewriting it, and I think at the end it did not turn out to be so bad. I would appreciate your comments. To get into the proper mood and to listen to the original song please visit YouTube. This will also help you get the rhythm. Hope you enjoy this.

Our Anthem

All right stop, time to collaborate and listen
social entrepreneurship is a brand new invention
something that grabs our attention tightly
solving challenges daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? No way, I know
time to help the world and we will glow
The extreme challenges are part of the flow
Light up the stage and help the world grow.

Dance, rush create and bloom
We are creating a better world in this room
daily, create to this melody
Anything less than the best for the world is a felony
Love it, believe it, You better make way
You better work hard, here it is not just a play
If there is a problem, we will solve it
Check out this site and we will help you resolve it.

Share, share proudly Baby,
Share, share proudly Baby,

Now when the problems in the world are rising
the ideas to help are pumping
Quick to the point, to the point no faking
solutions are in the making
We all have to be quick and nimble
we represent a symbol
a symbol of quality and tempo
We are on a roll, it’s time to work solo
Rollin’ in the hybrids on the road
to save the nature so our kids can grow
people whom we helped are here to say Hi
Yes we stopped. And then we drove by
Kept on pursuing to the next stop
there are people who need our help at the next block.

Share, share proudly Baby,
Share, share proudly Baby,

Take charge because we are here for the long run
Africa needs our help, just in case you didn’t know it
our work has created all the new sound
Enough to plant the seeds of change in the ground
Cause our style is like a vitamin spill
sustainable changes that you can vision and feel
Conducted and formed. This is a hell of a concept.

If there is a problem you can solve it.
Join us now, together we’ll resolve it.

                Recently, I was reading an article in the Inc. Magazine about Honest Tea. In the beginning of February, company sold 40% to the Coca-Cola Corporation, with a clause that allows Coca-Cola to buy out the rest of the company in the next three years. This generated much heated debates about the Future of Honest Tea and weather it is staying true to its ideals. Some people were very upset by this news and stated that they will not remain Honest Tea’s customers. Seth Goldman, founder of Honest Tea feels very positive about this deal and in his blog states the reasons why this deal with Coca-Cola is good for the company and for the customers.

                You do not have to read whole Goldman’s blog to understand the bases behind both arguments. Coca-Cola is often perceived as an evil empire, and its priorities are to expand the business and make revenues for the shareholders. Most of their products are not necessarily good for the person, and their practices in other countries have been questioned by the natural food activists. It seems almost natural to think that Honest Tea sold out, that it went after profits and market domination. But is it fair to say this? Just because the company is interested in expanding, and bringing its product to mass-market, does it mean it “sold its soul?”

                This statement of mission is taken from the Honest Beverages site:  “A commitment to social responsibility is central to Honest Tea’s identity and purpose. The company strives for authenticity, integrity and purity, in our products and in the way we do business. In addition to creating a healthy alternative beverage with a lot less sugar than most bottled drinks, Honest Tea seeks to create honest relationships with our employees, suppliers, customers and with the communities in which we do business.” The question is how do you expand while stay true to these values. Social responsibly is not a cheap task for a company. The question is whether customers are willing to pay for it. At the end, if the company stays in business, it is because customers are willing to consume the product. What if the product’s cost becomes much higher than an alternative, will a consumer spend more just to help Honest Tea uphold its values. Additionally, if Honest Tea did not agree to form a deal with Coca-Cola it would not be able to reach the market effectively. The company does not have a very good distribution system, and to create one will require a lot of resources, and at the end consumer will have to pay for it. The company can easily go bankrupt doing so. What good is a powerful mission statement if the company went bankrupt upholding it?

                Naturally, another alternative is to only grow organically:  grow only when you have the resources to do so. Business wise this alternative may also become lethal. The competition does not stay still. Conducting my own informal research, every week I visit near-by Whole Foods store; before it used to be Natural Foods store. Over the past year I have noticed that the selection of organic teas has grown quite a bit. It means that the competition is becoming stiff and a good, powerful mission statement is not enough. At the end, it comes down to business effectiveness and offering the best deal to the consumer. This means that if one of those brands gets access to a well developed distribution model, as well as other resources that a brand like Coca-Cola offers, it will get an upper hand in fighting competition.

                It is hard to see the work that needs to be done in order for a bottle of tea to appear on the shelf in a store at a reasonable price. But this whole process is what needs to be considered before judging what Honest Tea did. At the end of the day, I am willing to bet, if the price of the bottle of their tea will be 20 cents higher than of a similar organic tea produced by another responsible company, they will lose the market. The majority of the consumers will not care that this increase in price happened because Honest Tea paid more to the farmers in China that their competition.

                So how does all of this come together?  I am in no liberty to judge Seth Goldman’s decision to sell 40% of his company to Coca-Cola. But perhaps, in order to deliver this great tea (I did try it on more than one occasion) to the wider audience at a reasonable cost it was a no-brainer. Time will show whether Honest Tea will get “corrupt” and will go after profits or will use Coca-Cola’s power to deliver healthy, tasty teas to consumers, while staying true to their believes.

When we were ready to launch this site, the question came up about what will go on the front page. It would seem almost natural to put here an introduction to the social entrepreneurship. But apparently, it seems that this is the hardest part. Surrownded by bestselling books on social entrepreneurship and sites of Skoll Foundation and of Shwab Foundation I still have hard time summarizing social entrepreneurship, as there doesn’t seem to be a unified definition of what it is.

The term social entrepreneurship was introduced by the founder of Ashoka – Bill Drayton. The definition has been evolving over the time, but still it is quite hard to clearly define the term and what is even more harder is to be able to declare who is a social entrepreneur and who is not. Skoll Foundation, founded by E-Bay’s first president Jeff Skoll defines social entrepreneurship as society’s change agent: “pioneer of innovation that One thing that seems for certain is that what matters in social entrepreneurship is the timing. Victor Hugo once said: “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.”benefit humanity”. Ashoka defines the social entrepreneurs as “individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.” One thing that is clear is that social entrepreneurship is about people building sustainable businesses to solve social challenges.

The more I think about defining this term, the less important the definition seems to be. And truly, why should it matter how to call the people who are committed to change. You have came to the site, not because you want to know how to call yourself, but because you want to understand how to turn the ideas of changing the world into reality. Well so do we.

One thing that seems for certain is that what matters in social entrepreneurship is the timing. Victor Hugo once said: “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.” Well it seems the time of social entrepreneurship has come. Obviously, Mohammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank and the recipient of the Noble Prize made it clear that the time has come. This doesn’t mean that before there were no successful initiatives that attacked the social challenges. However before they were considered humanitarians and not successful business owners, now this is being turned around with the help of large social foundations that support businesses and people that are willing to fight for change. Under our resources, you will be able to find lists of major organizations and foundations that offer their support.

So what does social entrepreneurship entail? The book The Power of Unreasonable People by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan makes a case that social entrepreneurs are unreasonable and perhaps even slightly crazy, in a good way of course. The book also lists some of the causes of the unreasonable behavior. We highly recommend this book, as one of the finest in the field. But why are we, social entrepreneurs, unreasonable? It is simple, who else is brave enough to attack the challenges of the global importance? Social entrepreneurs do not want to be like everybody else, they want to create the change, the global change, they are driven not just by the financial motives but by emotions and feelings, they focus on possibilities instead of problems, outcomes instead of challenges, they want to create financially successful enterprises in the fields that used to be considered non-profit, they are unstoppable and driven to create the future that is better than the past. We are honored to be connected to people like you.

Social entrepreneurs tend to go in two directions: they either launch their own ventures or tend to go into consulting helping large corporations find alternatives to make their businesses more responsive. Before, it was assumed that all the organizations that fight social challenges are non-profits. Well, this is not the case anymore. Although some of the organizations are non-profit a lot of businesses in the field are for-profit. This however, is not all. A lot of businesses that are for profit make a case of donating a share of their revenue back to the community and other companies set a limit on how much money they will make and everything beyond that number goes back to the community. This being said, a fair amount of social enterprises make profit simply by finding new solutions to the time pressing global issues. Whichever enterprise you run or will choose to run doesn’t really matter, as long as you stay committed to change.

Where should you start? Do not underestimate the power of idea, as this is obviously the first step. Once there is an idea try to identify which social challenge it addresses. Each social field on this site has a number of resources that will help you. We also have items that are called editor’s pick; hence we recommend you pay particular attention to them.

Well and lastly, we want to thank you for being a part of this exciting new time, where people become accountable for the future of this world. We are proud to help.