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Applying concepts from the mental health field, Social Sector Network designs support systems for social entrepreneurs. Why is there a need for this? What do support systems for social entrepreneurs entail? How are we building these support systems?
Over the course of this post, you will learn about entrepreneur support systems, specifically focusing on sustainable development entrepreneurs. We hope that you can apply and build upon your learnings, ultimately contributing support to social entrepreneurs.
Without further delay, we shall begin our journey by defining the problem and providing an overview of support systems.
Why Do We Need Support Systems for Social Entrepreneurs?
According to Fundera, “About 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, and 50% of small businesses fail in their fifth year.” Business survival is even more difficult to achieve for social entrepreneurs because they face several unique challenges.
In Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know, David Bornstein and Susan Davis explain that social entrepreneurs struggle to access growth capital, cultivate talent, and measure impact. Furthermore, “the bridges that link businesses, social organizations, and government agencies remain narrow and untraveled.” These factors combine to create a formidable business environment for entrepreneurs focused on social change.
Social Entrepreneurs Face Personal Challenges Too
Mental health problems are particularly prevalent among entrepreneurs. Researchers at the University of California and Stanford discovered rates of mental health issues among entrepreneurs that far outpaced the general population in a 2015 study:
Self-reported mental health concerns were present across 72% of the entrepreneurs in this sample, a proportion that was significantly higher than that of the comparison group. Entrepreneurs reported significantly more symptoms than the comparison participants, as 49% reported having one or more lifetime mental health conditions.
Whether entrepreneurship contributes to mental health issues or people with pre-existing conditions are drawn to the field remains unclear. Regardless of causation, support systems can strengthen entrepreneurs’ mental health, as well as their ventures’ vitality.
What Are Mental Health Support Systems?
Mental health practitioners encourage the creation of social support systems to improve people’s well-being. According to DDS SafetyNet, social support systems “include anyone we trust and can go to for help, advice, or any other type of emotional support.” Strong social support systems act to alleviate stress, increase self-confidence, and decrease feelings of isolation. If you have ever ridden the entrepreneurial roller coaster, you know that stressful situations, self-confidence fluctuations, and feelings of isolation are often the norm.
How Do Support Systems Apply to Social Entrepreneurship?
While improving entrepreneurs mental well-being is essential, support systems can also be cultivated to create healthy and thriving businesses. Similar to people turning to friends for emotional support, entrepreneurs should be able to rely on an inner circle of advisors and service providers for business support. For example, an entrepreneur may need a web developer to help them build an online presence for their business. In this technology case, the entrepreneur could use a trusted tech advisor to alleviate the stresses associated with screening, hiring, and partnering with a web developer.
Since social entrepreneurs face unique challenges, they may need people to help them access growth capital, cultivate talent, and measure impact. Most importantly social entrepreneurs need people to help them build bridges, especially across traditional sector divides, by providing introductions to mission-aligned collaborators.
When social entrepreneurs possess skilled inner circles of advisors and support providers, they improve their chances of achieving sustainable business and societal outcomes.
How Are We Designing Support Systems?
Now that you have begun to understand support systems and the voids that they fill, we will move into the details of support systems and how to construct them for social entrepreneurs.
Social Sector Network is currently implementing a three-pronged approach to support social entrepreneurs:
- Training and Education: We have created a variety of online resources to make top-quality social entrepreneurship training available to anyone who wants to build impactful innovations. Our educational resources include free online social entrepreneurship courses and actionable blog posts for early-stage social innovators.
- Community Development: To encourage community support and facilitate productive collaboration, we have built a Facebook Community for Social Entrepreneurs and are currently growing a diverse network of partner organizations.
- Startup Support: Since social innovators often require specialized support to launch high-impact initiatives, we offer sustainable marketing solutions and social impact consulting services to social entrepreneurs and mission-driven teams working to launch sustainable development projects.
Do You Want to Help Support Social Entrepreneurs?
Contact Social Sector Network to Learn How You Can Make a Difference:
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