Financial Literacy for Social Enterpreneurs
On a fine Saturday on 25th March 2023, I had the opportunity to speak at Enactus University Nottingham Malaysia (UNM)’s flagship event, Essential Skills for a Social Entrepreneur Workshop focused on empowering aspiring social entrepreneurs.
My presentation was on basic financial literacy for aspiring social entrepreneurs. In summary, it is important that as an aspiring social entrepreneur we understand financial literacy. Considering how crucial it is in helping us to make good decisions that can keep your enterprise in a good financial state.
Following my session there was a presentation on communication and negotiation skills, before wrapping up with the third session covering the social business model canvas, which provided a framework for developing a strong business model that can help social entrepreneurs achieve their goals.
I found this workshop to be very insightful, as it demonstrated how a strong business model can help social entrepreneurs identify their target audience, develop their value proposition, and generate revenue streams, and putting a focus on what is the plan for the Surplus generated by the SE.
The audience was then given the opportunity to present their own social business ideas to a panel of judges, and I was impressed by the diversity and creativity of the ideas presented. There were ideas for social enterprises in a range of industries, from healthcare to education to environmental sustainability.
The group that presented the healthcare idea was about a skincare product that they planned to develop, to serve to the low income families, with educational workshops and contents to raise awareness on taking care of our skin.
What was surprising to me was that at the end of their pitch, they apologise to the panel of judges for not being able to communicate in good English, and lack of 'business sense' due to their background as medical student.
In all honesty, they were communicating clearly on their idea, plans, and reasoning very well.
In fact there are many thing that I have learned from them there, and here's the top main 3 lessons that I picked up from them.
🚦 It is common to find ourselves being the harshest critics, but they were doing well.
🚀 Their intention is pure, and the have the courage to be the first group to stand up and present their idea to a room full of people, stepping out from comfort zone is never a small thing to do.
💜 More importantly, they have the big heart that care about helping more people to take good care of their skin. I believe that being genuine to contribute positively to the society and environment is one of the key attribute for a social entrepreneur.
Overall, the event was a great success, and I left feeling inspired and energized by the passion and dedication of the youthful aspiring social entrepreneurs in attendance. I believe that events like this are critical for supporting the growth and development of social entrepreneurship, and I look forward to participating in more events like this in the future.
p.s. It was also a pleasant surprised to see my good colleague Vivian Chin Hoi Shin, who is also on the panel of judges was there early and appreciate her support.
