(Little India, SG) Entrepreneurs and creative destruction of fats.

I came across a notice from Civic House about a social entrepreneurship competition organized by non-profits Empowerment Group, Youth Venture and The Enterprise Center. I talked to Dan Cantor, who was organizing it, and when he learnt about my previous experience setting up ArtIntern, he asked me to help judge the competition for them. I was glad I went down as the activity allowed me meet non-profit leaders from the community and discuss EduHealth. They really liked the idea and we discussed some ways in which we could collaborate.

Attending the social entrepreneurship competition also gave me new insights into the problems faced in West Philadelphia. The students who attended were largely from the disadvantaged West Philadelphia community. In thinking about the social impact of their startup, they highlighted several common problems that plagued their community. Many of their ventures emphasized keeping students off the streets. It is sad that “streets” have become synonymous with the crime, drugs and violence that afflict this community. Many of them also talked about how their ventures can provide students with skills training and reduce the rampant unemployment in West Philadelphia. Interestingly, many of them mentioned that the government will help subsidize their business. This reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of entrepreneurship.

EduHealth should provide skills-training and keep students off the street. By providing a safe and fun environment for students to work in, and to learn, I believe that EduHealth addresses those two serious problems. EduHealth can be further improved to address the third concern: training students in entrepreneurship. By allowing students to exercise creativity in designing EduHealth’s outreach programs, and give them scope to execute these ideas, EduHealth will allow students to exercise entrepreneurship. This will also allow volunteers to feel a greater satisfaction from the ownership they have over their work.