“In the Business of Doing Good”

Arthur Guinness Fund-British Council

Community Entrepreneurs Challenge (AGF-BC CEC) WAVE III

How can your business benefit your community?

Community Development through Community Entrepreneurship

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists on trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Maxims for Revolutionaries, 1903

According to John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan, the world is full of unreasonable people, people who refuse to be let down by surrounding skepticism and believe that the market, often perceived as exploitative, can be used to cater to the common good. We call these people Social entrepreneurs, people who start a business in order to solve social/ environmental problems, as their main purpose.

In UK, social entrepreneurship is believed to have developed more rapidly since the 1970s when communities took the initiative to solve social, economic and environmental problems that they faced, through an entrepreneurial approach. The non-profit sector has been moving from charity-based activities to entrepreneurial activities. Social entrepreneurs manage innovative businesses to gain profits that are then invested to sustain and develop their social activities.

Social entrepreneurship has continued to grow worldwide through initiatives such as Coin Street in UK, Aravind Eye Care Centre from India and Telapak and Hutan Jati Lestari Cooperative in Indonesia. More specifically, community based social enterprises are those that are managed and governed collectively, transparently and democratically by a community. Community entrepreneurs are leaders in their communities, who are able to establish and manage a community enterprise aimed at solving a common problem.

AGF-BC Community Entrepreneurs Challenge (CEC) Wave III

AGF-BC CEC is a competition that aims to identify and support communities that have both the commitment, and the inspiring ideas to start and manage their own enterprises which will help to solve the social and environmental problems that they face in their communities. Within two years, 2010-2011, CEC has attracted applications from over 700 communities throughout Indonesia.

Now, CEC Wave III is entering its final stage, and we are proud to announce communities which will receive funding from Arthur Guinness with the total fund of IDR 600 million.

Aside from receiving funds, two community winners will go to London in March 2013 to meet with UK social entrepreneurship experts and practitioners. They are Komunitas Pelangi Nusantara and Kelompok Hutan Lestari Menoreh. Meanwhile for its efforts to develop the eastern part of Indonesia and empowering women in their community, the Board of Jury of CEC Wave III have decided to honour CV Roas Mitra from Ternate with Special Mention. For this, one representative from CV Roas Mitra will also go to the UK for comparative study.

Congratulation for all the winners!

For more information on AGF-BC CEC Wave III please follow British Council Indonesia Facebook Page and Twitter account or contact Sri Nalarani (sri.nalarani@britishcouncil.or.id)

Also, don't forget to take a look at CEC Wave 3 on Youtube.