Social Entrepreneurship
As per definition by the Institute for
Social Entrepreneurs, “The social entrepreneur is a mission-driven individual
who uses a set of entrepreneurial behaviors to deliver a social value to the
less privileged, all through an entrepreneurially oriented entity that is
financially independent, self-sufficient, or sustainable”. Abdul Sattar Edhi was
mission-driven, possessed all the entrepreneurial tendencies and he delivered
great value to less privileged people of Pakistan.
A Short Biography
Edhi was born in 1928 in present day India
and he along with his family migrated to Pakistan, now an independent country
in 1947. He learned of human suffering at an early age of 11 when he found his
mother paralyzed and mentally ill. When he migrated to Pakistan empty handed,
in 1947, he was empty handed but determined to do something for sufferings of
mankind. He relocated to Karachi and worked as a cloth seller. But ultimately
he converted his shop into a free dispensary in 1951. He provided funds for
this dispensary by standing in streets and begging for money. He equipped
himself with basic medical training and provided medical care to people who
needed anywhere in the city. Soon he established Edhi Foundation and Edhi Trust
with his wife, a nurse by profession. In
his career of over 50 years, he has built 50,000 orphanages, thousands of free
dispensaries and various schools. Edhi foundation owns world’s largest network
of ambulances; he has buried over 200,000 unclaimed dead bodies personally and
his organization has provided free education, food and residence to over a
million of children in half a century. He never accepted any government aid and
his resources depend on the charity and donations of people. As a simple humble
human being, he lived in a one bedroom apartment with his wife and mostly owned
two pairs of clothes and never took a salary from his organization. He died on
8th July 2016 after a prolonged illness. His funeral prayers were
attended by several high profile civil and military officials as well as renowned
persons from every walk of life. He was honored
by a 19 gun salute, only third person in the country to be honored in this way
and only second civilian after the founder of Pakistan.
A Successful Social Entrepreneur
Abdul Sattar Edhi started his social work,
with literary no resources at his disposal and no apparent support from anyone
in the society. Edhi Foundation and Edhi Trust are built on superstructure of
his personal efforts and his personal philosophy. As a social entrepreneur, he accomplished a lot
and he served an example to the social entrepreneurial philosophy. He successfully
founded and ran an organization which has rescued millions from suffering and
agony in 50 years. He was self-motivated and mission driven, his philosophy
serves the basis for his entrepreneurial social work. It would be work looking
into the life and work of a person whose personal contribution to lessen the
sufferings of mankind without discrimination of color and creed. His
contribution is significant and this makes him an inspiration for young social
entrepreneur who want to make a difference in the society. He ran a very large
non-for-profit organization successfully for decades. He proved himself to be a
distinguished humanitarian and an excellent entrepreneur. His philosophy, his entrepreneurial spirit,
his personal contribution to greater cause, are all the good reasons study him
under the light of current entrepreneurial theories and models.
Entrepreneurial Mode
Edhi Trust and Edhi Foundation, the social
enterprise founded by Abdul Sattar Edhi is a non-for-profit organization. Sole
purpose of this enterprise is to create a social impact. So, it follows the
business model of a Charity.
Charity
 |
| Edhi's Bheek (Begging) Mission |
The organization possesses huge financial
resources; still it does not indulge in activities aimed at generating profit.
It financiers are wealthy people in Pakistan and around the globe. People have
been impressed by the philosophy of Edhi and helped him with their
donations. There is no motivation of
profit in financial terms although financial stability has helped the organization
expand its network throughout the country. Edhi Foundation is socially driven
non-for-profit enterprise and thus it lies in the first section of Social
Entrepreneurship Quadrant (fig-01).
Fig 01- Social Entrepreneurship Quadrant
This is traditional
not-for-profit quadrant because such an organization is driven by social
mission. They
are not taxation bounded but they must raise enough money to pay their expenses
and keep their social work going. Edhi Foundation and Trust operates on the
model of “live and help live”. There are cradles outside Edhi homes for
abandoned babies. Any child put in that cradle, will be taken care and provided
with education and food. It provides medical care for disabled people and feeds
helpless women and men, especially elderly people abandoned by their
families. Hospitals and dispensaries
provide medical aid to needy people in rural as well as urban areas. All this
social welfare work is based on Abdul Sattar Edhi’s personal philosophy of
creating social impact. He relied on donations and grants of wealthy people, he
begged people while standing in the streets and he accepted donations from PRK
5.00 to thousands and millions. His operations are socially driven. Charity model has proved to be a successful
business model for Edhi’s organization. There is no fee involved in return for
services provided by organization and Edhi Foundation does not accept any aid
from government organizations so he built a successful enterprise based on his
philosophy of collecting charity and using it to finance a huge organization. People working in his organization are not
motivated by profit and most of managers and organizers in such enterprises are
motivated by social mission. Simplicity of offices and simple lifestyle of the founder
does not mean operations of the organization are simple too. It is large organization
with complex operations and administrative responsibilities. But Edhi Foundation
has successfully overcome challenges and it successfully operates as a charity
since last five decades. Basic philosophy and entrepreneurial model never
changed in all these years although it has expanded many folds in every next
decade.
