A new breed of entrepreneur is rising - young, savvy idealists who want to make a lifestyle of changing the world, and the independence to do it their way. Bruce Munro looks at the mainstreaming of social entrepreneurship and its promise of new solutions to old problems.
Smartly dressed, well groomed and standing in sunshine outside the Otago Polytechnic student centre in Dunedin, the 29-year-old's confident smile, steady patter into his smartphone, and shoulder-slung laptop all betray his commerce degree roots.
But closer inspection reveals an anomaly. His smartphone screen is cracked. It is a battle scar from last February's devastating Christchurch earthquake, after which Mr Brown played a lead role in organising the youth-led response of the Student Volunteer Army.
And a couple of minutes' conversation deepens the incongruity. Dreams of fame and fortune were abandoned in an Australian epiphany seven years ago, he says.
"I was a New Zealand delegate to a UN conference in Sydney and they showed a graph of the state of the world," Mr Brown recalls.
"In that moment I thought `What am I doing with my life? Not a lot to help that'.
"I came back to New Zealand with a different motivation.
"Today he runs two fledgling social enterprises and is one of a rapidly growing number of social entrepreneurs, many with schoolyard memories still fresh, who are blurring and redefining the boundaries of charity and commerce.
It is a new and rapidly evolving phenomenon, Dr Jodyanne Kirkwood says.
Although researchers are just beginning to look at social entrepreneurs and their myriad enterprise hybrids, it is obvious the notion of being a social entrepreneur is quickly becoming more widely recognised and accepted, Dr Kirkwood says.
The Government is also busy trying to get a handle on the topic.
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is collating and analysing the results of a nationwide online survey conducted between July and mid-September. The survey aims to uncover the nature and extent of social enterprise in New Zealand.
It defines a social enterprise as one that: has an economic, social, cultural, or environmental mission; derives a substantial portion of its income from trade; and reinvests the majority of its profit/surplus in the fulfilment of its mission.
While it has a definition, the DIA admits not a lot else can yet be definitively said about social enterprise in this country.
Australia, which went through this exercise a couple of years ago, is estimated to have 20,000 social enterprises spread throughout the economy but concentrated in the service sector. The turnover of the largest Australian social enterprises is believed to be $300 million a year.
The main statistic touted on this side of the Ditch is that 38% of all income generated from registered charities in New Zealand comes from service and trade.
The results of the New Zealand survey should be published early next year.
One characteristic of the movement that is already clear is the youthfulness of its growing edge, Dr Kirkwood says.
In the past couple of years, the optional social enterprise paper has become a favourite among entrepreneurship master's degree students.
"We are finding a shift to most students wanting to do the social entrepreneurship option," Dr Kirkwood said.
"The issues being addressed by social entrepreneurs are now more mainstream. They are not seen as being on the fringes of society anymore.
"Young people are seeing it as a career option."
This change is also evidenced in a "huge increase" in the number of students joining the recently established local branch of Enactus - a worldwide youth business competition with a social enterprise focus.
"Young people's goals seem to be broader today. Ten years ago entrepreneurs wanted independence and money. Now there is a lot more talk about lifestyle and helping ... Young entrepreneurs are not as focused on making lots of money as entrepreneurs are traditionally known for being."
This month, the social anthropology PhD student and medical student respectively, will celebrate the first anniversary of their Dunedin "ethical boutique" Cuckoo's Nest.
With little business experience, but a strong desire to promote and support fair trade, environmental sustainability and local producers, they opened the George St store selling new and vintage clothing, jewellery and accessories.
"We invested all we had in the business," Mrs Wardell said.
"Winter has been tough but we've had a lot of strong support and business is picking up." Social entrepreneurs run their businesses with just as much business acumen as other entrepreneurs, "but they have strong values in the front of their minds in making decisions", Dr Kirkwood says.
Wellington-based PledgeMe is an online crowd-funding platform for creative projects, including other social enterprise start-ups. Individuals or groups list their project on the site in hopes of attracting enough donated funding to make it happen. A success fee is deducted if the target is reached.
"Anna is unapologetic about PledgeMe being a limited liability company, but one that is motivated by wanting to be of benefit to others," Dr Kirkwood said.
In the eight months since it was launched, PledgeMe has raised a combined $600,000 for 135 projects.
One of the beneficiaries was Mr Brown's people-powered social change organisation ActionStation. Earlier this year, Mr Brown used PledgeMe and similar site Givealittle to raise $11,000 to employ a staff member.
He describes ActionStation as being "in that awkward start-up phase" but hopes in a few years it will be this country's equivalent of US-based Avaaz or Australia's Get Up - online grassroots organisations which co-ordinate and raise funds for large-scale, real-world campaigns to bring about social, environmental and political change.
His other social enterprise is Social Innovation, co-founded with Inspiring Stories Trust's young change-maker Guy Ryan.
Social Innovation, which Mr Brown describes as "an independent community development agency", was recently contracted by Otago Polytechnic to trial student volunteering programme Scarfie Army.
He hopes the polytechnic and university will contract Social Innovation to run a scaled-up Scarfie Army across the two campuses next year.
It has been a long road getting to this point. For the past seven years Mr Brown has dreamt up, raised funds for and run a host of different events and programmes in order to "put food on the table" while also "making a difference".
And there is still a good-sized gap between where he is and the realisation of his dreams. But he would not have it any other way.
"I can't think of a more exciting job to have," he says.
"Young people want to be seen and they want to make a difference. They want a challenge, they want autonomy and they want to get better at what they do. Social enterprise gives endless opportunities to do all that."
Will all these youthful endeavours realise their potential? The high mortality rate among small businesses suggests not. But the Government has reasons for hoping a good number do succeed.
DIA spokeswoman Jo Watt says social enterprises are important because they "offer the potential to harness business acumen to help address tricky societal issues". And if their "trading is robust" they could "scale up and become strong contributors to the economy".
In a real sense, social enterprises are not a new phenomenon.
A classic example is Plunket, founded in Dunedin in 1907 by Sir Truby King. In tandem with his work to lower infant mortality rates, Sir Truby started a baby food supplements business while living at Seacliff, north of Dunedin. From 1927 the Karitane Products Society (KPS), as it became known, was run by a group of businessmen who returned the profits to Plunket.
This continued until the mid-1980s when KPS went out of business.
And many other not-for-profits have a trading element: think op shops, street-appeal flower sales, red noses, Jaffa races ...
But what is changing is the increasing number looking to put their funding on a more secure footing by developing the commercial wing of their operations.
Noela Vallis is founder of the Spinal Cord Society which has its research laboratory in the University of Otago Centre for Innovation.
Matamata-based Mrs Vallis says a combination of the global recession, Christchurch earthquake and competition from other charities is forcing her organisation, which has depended on donations and grants, to find new ways to fund its work.
The society's research scientist, Dr Paul Turner, will shortly have a second round of meetings with some of the university's Centre for Entrepreneurship students, who are suggesting the society set up a company to market and sell a product which could provide a steady income stream.
Malcolm Cameron, one of New Zealand's elder statesmen of social enterprise, believes developing commercial sources of income is good for charitable organisations and those they seek to help.
Dunedin-based Mr Cameron established the youth development Malcam Charitable Trust and the 4 Trades apprenticeship training trust, both with strong enterprise elements. He was also instrumental in setting up the Bargain Barn Dunedin Charitable Trust, whose Restore secondhand store directs profits to Malcam and Habitat for Humanity.
"It's about having some independence," Mr Cameron says. "Society has created a lot of dependants, especially on the Government. If you're not careful, those seeking to help them can become equally dependent.
"As funding streams change we still have some independence to make decisions about what we believe is best for the community."
It is not an easy course to pursue.
"You have to open yourself up to the possibility of failure," Mr Cameron says. "You have to take some giant leaps to make it work."
But he is excited by what he sees young social entrepreneurs accomplishing.
"I have so much faith in this generation coming through. They are getting to do things I didn't do until I was 50. I'm really encouraged by what I'm seeing."
