Social Entrepreneurship: "the last thing a fish would ever notice would be water"

Last week I was blessed to be back at Kwadaso Agricultural College. My work with the colleges, with youth and entrepreneurship, continues to be a great source of motivation and inspiration for me so I decided to share another glimpse into my day to day life.

I have spoken previously about the fact that I am not a teacher in the colleges, but more of a consultant. I aim to collaborate with existing staff, co-develop and co-implement interventions that are important and have lasting effects beyond my immediate presence. My focus has primarily been on an Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship Project, but for the sake of this post I'll entertain a side interest; Social Entrepreneurship and building of pro-poor agriculturalists.

This semester we have started working with a new group of students; mature Extension staff, with a minimum of 5 years field experience who have come to upgrade their education. They are quite different from the other students and it is always refreshing to visit them, and discuss issues of extension and farmer behaviour change. The last time I was here, about a month ago, I mentioned in passing "Social Entrepreneurship" only to receive a wall of 50+ blank stares. I then repeated it again; maybe I was speaking too fast. Still nothing. After a brief explanation, they were very intrigued to learn more, and the lecturer himself was curious; so we agreed to do something I don't often do; I would come back to facilitate a guest lecture on Social Entrepreneurship.

I agreed with reluctance, not because I don't love teaching; because I am hesitant to merely fill temporary gaps. I am more motivated by building Ghanaian capacity to create change. Nevertheless, knowing that the students were equally as passionate as I, and that the lecturer was not in a position to learn and teach this topic before the close of the semester, I agreed I would come back to facilitate a discussion on Social Entrepreneurship..

Am I ever glad I did. The discussion was incredibly interesting; we didn't want to leave the classroom. I find it hard to summarize the main highlights of the discussion, but needless to say the extension staff were engaged and intrigued. I will briefly quote that: A social entrepreneur is a person with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. If there is one thing I believe deeply, it is that Ghana needs social entrepreneurs. Across Ghana I see people who are very rich, and people who are very poor.

Interestingly, I don't often see a lot of agriculturally driven youth who I would define as "pro poor" in their innovations. Many student projects are centered around making profit, which surely is important- we need job creators, not job seekers. But I began asking myself; why is Ghana defined by immeasurable numbers of foreign NGO's, short term volunteers, and Development Partners… why aren't there more Ghanaian change agents?

In speaking with this group, asking about challenges they see in Ghana, not one mentioned poverty; the very reason I came to Ghana. Another phenomenon I've seen is a level of "Ghanaian blindness" to poverty. Suddenly this proverb came to me: "The last thing a fish would ever notice would be water" -Ralph Linton. After sharing with the class, I delicately pointed out that I found it interesting that none of them mentioned the fact that Ghana is an impoverished country and that many, many farmers are suffering. We explored that social entrepreneurs do not wait passively when the public and private sectors are failing to address social problems; they take initiative to create systemic changes.

Through the course of the discussion we also explored the skills needed to be an effective social entrepreneur, the important role in society (and especially developing countries) of social entrepreneurs, opportunities and success stories within agriculture, and finally each person reflected on what is holding them back from being a social entrepreneur.

After reading through the Ashoka website in the recent past, I continue to be inspired by the concept of "everyone a change maker". Diana Wells, President of Ashoka states, “Aligned with Ashoka’s vision of forming an Everyone a Changemaker ™ world, this partnership underscores that the most important change must be to empower humans from passive recipients of solutions to initiators and champions of innovation in the social sector. I am confident that the people in that room are well positioned to create meaningful changes for and with farmers as they graduate and re-enter the workforce. This is my hope for them.

Our discussion also included how change agents understand their spheres of influence and spheres of control, and take action.. I believe that becoming "a change agent" is a process, and does not take place over night or as a result of 1 lecture; but maybe it starts somewhere with a mindset shift; a renewed awareness that we as limited human beings are still capable of creating positive, lasting change in our communities.. And a belief that change is needed, and that change is possible.

Though my work in MoFA's Agricultural Colleges is focused on promoting Agricultural Entrepreneurship more generally, I would be dishonest if I said I am not deeply passionate about social entrepreneurship; about raising a generation of Ghanaians committed to using their skills and creativity to address systemic social problems plaguing this nation.

This opportunity was a privilege. Another great day in Ghana.