Social Entrepreneurship. It's so hot right now.

Social entrepreneurship is so hot right now.

You know you have at least heard variations of that sentence in the last few years. Twitter even has a hashtag to capture the awesomeness that is social entrepreneurship. It’s called #socent. All the cool kids use it.

But how many of us truly understand the underlying intricacies of that term or the terms associated with it? Do we throw around the words “innovation” and “social enterprise” because it’s sexy, or because we truly believe in the value of out-of-the-box ideas to achieve social change?

ThinkChange Pakistan aims to demystify this sphere in order to foster dialogue, learning and collaboration within the social entrepreneurship and innovation space. In Pakistan, social enterprises – social mission-driven businesses that take market-based approaches to achieve social impact – represent a small but growing contingent in an increasingly dynamic global field. Organizations like D.Light, Husk Power Systems, Naya Jeevan, Samasource, and Ansaar Management Company are tackling poverty challenges throughout the world, and are achieving social (and in some cases, environmental and financial) returns that can be brought to scale. There is much that Pakistani social entrepreneurs can learn not only from each other, but also from social entrepreneurs in other areas of the world.

In the coming months, ThinkChange Pakistan will provide case studies of current social enterprises, interviews with social entrepreneurs and players in the space, contributions, job postings, and pieces that hope to foster dialogue on the dynamics of this industry. We recognize that many of these terms and acronyms – SROI, DBL, PRIs, the list goes on – can be overwhelming, and frankly, a little obnoxious. That is why we created a glossary of terms for this website. We also value the importance of collaboration, and have posted profiles on the social enterprises/networks currently operating in Pakistan, a list that will continue to be updated.

At the end of the day, ThinkChange Pakistan is a team of people (Jeremy, Maryam, and myself – Kalsoom) who care deeply about fostering dialogue within the social entrepreneurship space in Pakistan, because we feel non-traditional approaches to development can play a significant role in alleviating poverty.

In other words, it’s because we too believe that social entrepreneurship is so hot right now.

(Big thank you to Khizra Munir, who designed the TC-P logo, and the team at ThinkChange India for their guidance and encouragement!)