HYBRIDIZATION: A FINANCING MATRIX IN SOCIAL INNOVATION

During my senior years at the High School, in a country which more than 10,000 miles from Pittsburgh, I came across the concept of hybridization in my Inorganic Chemistry Course. Hybridization is a bond forming process whereby S orbital and P orbital combine to form SP hybridized bond. The strength of the hybridized bond depends on the number of orbital involved. Long before the concept of hybridization was espoused in the field of chemistry, no one thought that it would find its way social innovation and non-profits.

Let’s take two scenarios. Abernathy runs social innovation in the curvaceous slope in Tamale. His organization produces low cost insecticide mosquito nets for pregnant and nursing women in Tamale. It cost his organization $12 per unit but his target users do not have the money to pay for it so they must be donated free of charge Scenario two has Bernard who run a charity hospital in the same bucolic setting. Bernard comes from organization that does market research for multi-national organizations trying to find a foot hold in Africa. Additionally, the organization is able to invest in cocoa farm and is able see cocoa beans. Proceeds from the commercial profile brings roughly $3m annually. Income from their commercial activities is divided into three with two-thirds invested into the health care aspect of the organization and the remaining used to expand their frontiers in the land.

Whilst other non-profit organizations are downsizing, Bernard’s organization is upsizing and growing strong. When those struggling companies come to Bernard’s organization, they are told that there is a principle of hybridization which has helped fuelled funds into the organization.

With the recent financial crisis , the fountains of funds coming from donors to non-profits have almost run dry. Non-profits must either disband or strategize. Strategising does not mean downsizing but finding ways and means of engaging in income generating activities to be able to plough those funds back into social mission. After all, every organization must be sustainable including non-profits as well as companies listed on the NYSE. Hybridization provides the answer to self-sustaining.