5 signs you might be ready for Social Entrepreneurship
When Zoe and I lived and worked in the Netherlands we felt a big emptiness in our souls.
We both had a good job, every month we had a nice salary in our bank account. Buying new shoes, clothing, going on holidays 1- 2 times a year was a no-brainer for us. But still, that empty feeling kept hunting us.
Everything felt in place when we moved to Suriname, the motherland of our parents.
Little did we know we would start a Social Enterprise and follow into a Social Entrepreneurship! Social what?!
What does this actually mean? As a Social Entrepreneur, you find a solution for social, cultural, or environmental problems. Social entrepreneurs combine commerce and social issues in a way that improves the lives of people. As a social enterprise, you don't measure your success with profit only, your success is also measured by the social impact you make in the world. And the profit you make, you directly use to solve the social problem.
In our case: We found out job opportunities and personal development in the rural areas of Suriname are a big issue. They have fewer opportunities in these areas because they live far away from the capital city. We came up with the solution to bring all the materials and organize training sessions in the interior. This way we create jobs in rural areas at the spot.
For us to follow the path of Social Entrepreneurship, we had to go through certain feelings and frustrations. All these frustrations gave us the courage and drive to start our social business. If you notice the following 5 feelings strongly in your daily life, you might consider starting your social entrepreneurship journey!
- No satisfaction in your daily work
When you set the alarm, and keep snoozing more than 10 times because you don't have the energy to get out of bed. Walking around like a zombie at work, because you just don't feel any joy or you don't get the opportunity to use your talents. Not feeling challenged in your work so you switch in auto-pilot work modus
- Strongly feeling the urge to help people
Are you a people person and like to advise people to do better? Or are you a visionary who easily come up with solutions to solve problems?
3. Being the weirdo
When everybody walks to the right, and you are the only one shouting to go left! Always felt like the weirdo, because you do things differently and you don't give a f$%^&* what others think.
- Not driven by money
Money isn't your priority, but just being creative and doing what you like the most can keep you going for hours.
5 . Social, Cultural or Environmental triggers
Is there a social, cultural or environmental problem you just can't let go to rest? Every time you face this issue it just triggers you to max? Well, you might be the change you wish to see in the world.
Do you recognize these feelings? We can assure you, you are perfectly fine and there is nothing wrong with you. You might be ready to get out of the crazy system and start something for yourself and at the same time make a social impact.
Like to know more about our social enterprise journey.
Make sure to watch our vlogs on Youtube and read all about Our Talking Prints Formula
Lobi, Pekula
Are you new to us? Here is a little info about us
Talking Prints is an ethical brand, based in Suriname (South America) and founded in 2015 by Zoe Mezas and Pekula Starke. This conscious brand creates sustainable jobs for the Maroon and Indigenous communities in the rural areas of Suriname. Together with these communities they make handmade products inspired by Surinamese culture and their traditional craftsmanship. Our mission is to create sustainable jobs. We offer fair, ethical, unique and quality handmade products made by artistic indigenous people. We invest in their future and make sure they are treated fairly and get a fair income. We are transparent about the making process and we give you the opportunity to help us create a better future for the makers.
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