The Poor are People Too

This week's reading was broken down into two categories, the growth of social enterprises and profiting from the poor. I will speak primarily on the latter, while also touching upon some of the key points from the former. 

Normally when we think of social innovations or social enterprises, there is an underlying assumption that the creators of such enterprises do not expect to attain wealth from the ventures. There is also an assumption that because the people being served are "less fortunate" they will reap the benefits for free. The articles makes some excellent points about incentives and the mindset of those "less fortunate" when they do not have to work for the service of products they receive. To take it one step further, by giving away products and services we assume that those being helped lack key human behaviors. Communism failed for a number of reasons (I am not expert on communism), but one reason of failure is the genetic makeup of the human brain. Most humans believe that work leads to reward, or at the very least something to show for your work. If everyone receives the same thing regardless of effort, there is no incentive to work. 

To an extent, the same concept applies to social enterprises. If a social venture offers to provide services that increase quality of life for free, those living in that area will have no motivation to earn it. Yes, maybe it is a basic human right, but it is a human right that they were previously going without - in a way making it a privilege for that community. 

Forcing the poor to pay also allows for some of these social enterprises to grow. Profiting from the poor is not a bad thing - especially if you are improving the overall quality of life amongst that community. The relationship between a community and an enterprise should be mutually beneficially, similar to that of Coke and the rural Kenyan kiosks. Just because the goal is to help, it does not mean one should discard all prior teachings of human behavior and basic business models.