Be a social entrepreneur. Turn social problems into opportunities and start a vital social enterprise to initiate change.
Suggested by: Coursera (What is Coursera?)
No prior knowledge required
No unnecessary risks
In this specialization, you will learn how to create social impact through social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship describes the discovery and sustainable exploitation of opportunities to create social change. We will present you with examples of social entrepreneurship and guide you through the process of establishing a venture that addresses a social or environmental problem.
Throughout the specialization, you will develop your idea and update your business model, and the specialization will end with the completion of a business plan.
Entrepreneurship is not about a single genius performing miracles, but about a group of people joining forces, taking action, and initiating change. Over the course of the 3 courses, learners will be encouraged to work in teams and create a social enterprise.
Whether a team will stay with the same members and the same project throughout all 3 courses is up to the learners themselves. You can change topics or switch teams at any time.
This course will explain the definition and meaning of social entrepreneurship and explain the need to learn about the source and root of a social problem. You will be exposed to different views on social entrepreneurship and learn about complementary and opportunistic assets that will give you the tools to identify an opportunity and develop an idea on how to create a business for social change. From a practical perspective, you will be asked to start a process of forming a team and working on a problem topic that you would like to address with your social enterprise in the future. You will work in a team to research this topic and gradually start thinking about a specific opportunity and identify a goal for your social enterprise project.
In this course, we will take the social business opportunity you identified in the first course to a higher level. Specifically, you will develop a business model using the Business Model Canvas tool. Gradually, you will also begin to write your business plan. In addition, you will be able to evaluate different organizational forms and choose the one that best suits the business model you have developed. At the end of the course, you will be able to compare different methods of social impact investing and choose the financing strategy that best suits your social venture.
Note: It is highly recommended to complete Course 1: ‘Identifying Opportunities for Social Entrepreneurship’ before starting this course!
In Course 3 of this specialization, you will first learn about social impact assessment. This will help you develop a method to evaluate the social mission you are achieving during the implementation of your business plan. Next, you will outline a suitable communication strategy for your social venture and demonstrate how to market your products and services to other beneficiaries and customers. Here, you will implement a flexible communication strategy as you move from early adoption to a broader market. Furthermore, you will determine growth strategies and how you can expand or replicate your business plan internationally to reach a larger number of beneficiaries. In particular, you will discuss organic growth, social franchising, and an open source approach. Finally, you will evaluate exit strategies. This will help you review the options available to social ventures when they need funding for growth but their original funders cannot or do not want to finance the expansion.
Course 3 will be completed with a preparatory project, in which you will be asked to submit the final business plan for your social enterprise.
Note: It is highly recommended to complete Courses 1 and 2 of the Social Entrepreneurship Internship before starting this course!
