“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.

This year, while amplifying the success of previous Challenges, CEC Wave III combines community challenges with youth activism. Under the umbrella competition of AGF-BC CEC Wave III, British Council and Arthur Guinness Fund will be hosting two different competitions: Community Journalism Competition and Community Enterprise Competition.

We hope that these competitions can create opportunities for collaboration between communities to creatively develop sustainable, entrepreneurial solutions to social and environmental problems.

CEC Wave III – Community Journalism Competition

Application for Community Journalism Competition has been CLOSED. Congratulation to all finalists who will go to the next round.

The six finalists will be contacted by the British Council for further information.

CEC Wave III – Community Enterprise Competition

AGF-BC CEC is a competition held by the British Council and the Arthur Guinness Fund that invites community based social entrepreneurs in Indonesia, both start ups and semi established, to compete for capacity building and networking opportunities.  There is also a chance to win grants with a combined total value of up to IDR 600 million.

Up to 50 community enterprises will get a chance to participate in a one week workshop on social entrepreneurship and business development, and exhibit their communities’ products/ services during Inspiration Night, held by BritishCouncil and the Arthur Guinness Fund.

AGF-BC CEC aims to develop a sustainable support system for community enterprises that aspire to create concrete social and environmental benefits for their communities through various capacity building and networking activities.

After two successful years that attracted applications from over 700 community entrepreneurs, the British Council and Arthur Guinness Fund once again invites Indonesian social entrepreneurs to participate in the AGF-BC Community Entrepreneurs Wave III Challenge!

Congratulations to all the finalists in the Community Enterprise Competition. To find out who qualified to the next round, please download the announcement.

For more information on AGF-BC CEC Wave III please follow British Council Indonesia Facebook fanpage 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.