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RIC05 Where to Begin?: The Social Enterprise Model Canvas

The Social Enterprise Model Canvas (SEMC) provides a strategic framework that outlines the key components of a Social Enterprise. Aspiring Social Enterprises can use this canvas as a way to map out business and social impact ideas—taking the first step towards building a Social Enterprise.

What is the SEMC?

“The business model, is the rationale of how a company creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, and cultural contexts.”

- Alex Osterwalder, the pioneer of the Business Model Canvas 

The Business Model Canvas functions as a strategic management template that is used to develop a new business model, and supports organisations in documenting existing ones.

raiSE has built on the Business Model Canvas, incorporating social impact components to the strategic template, and encourages the examination of the impact social impact has has on business decisions, activities, products and services for aspiring Social Enterprises.

The Social Enterprise Model Canvas features and highlights components that sets Social Enterprises apart from regular business. This provides:

  • A visual summary of the building blocks of the Social Enterprise
  • Helping to analyse the assumptions and potential blind spots at the planning stage
  • Prioritising of the key areas that are important to the social entrepreneurs.

Foundations of The Social Enterprise Model Canvas:

SEMC

The SEMC serves as a blueprint for your Social Enterprise's key building blocks, helping you organise and operate effectively to achieve both business and social objectives. The SEMC balances the two foundations of what makes a Social Enterprise:

  1. The Business Model foundation, which seeks to:
    • Create value by addressing an unmet, unfilled, latent customer need
    • Deliver the products and services and make them available to the customer
    • Capture value through income earned in exchange for the offering
  2. The Social Model foundation, which seeks to:
    • Create value by addressing an unmet, unfilled, emerging social need
    • Deliver value through the intervention (product, service, or solution offered) and resources made available to beneficiaries
    • Capture value with the social impact created on the beneficiaries

Identifying and articulating these clearly through the Social Enterprise Model Canvas helps the Social Enterprise identify potential blind spots, gaps, and assumptions that may need further validation.

Components of the SEMC:

To guide the thought process of filling in your Social Enterprise Model Canvas, it is divided into 2 key components. The Strategy Component, and the Operations Component.

The SEMC Strategic Component

Starting at the strategy of a Social Enterprise serves as the north star. Not only will it enable the team to stay focused on the business and social objectives of the Social Enterprise, but it will allow your operations to be mapped to these objectives. However, This begins with having a clear problem that is being addressed and a clear articulation of the solution that your enterprise will use to address it.

  1. Identify your problems and opportunities
  2. Create The Big Idea
  3. List down all your key offerings
  4. Identify your segments, both market and social segments
  5. Craft your Social Enterprise’s unique value proposition

The SEMC Operational Component

Once your strategy has been defined and the objectives have been set, it is time to think through how it would be operationalised through the business. Identifying these individual operational areas will test the feasibility and viability of your Social Enterprise.

  1. Identify the key activities and processes needed to make the idea work
  2. List down the key channels used to reach the segments identified in the SEMC’s strategic component
  3. Define the key resources required
  4. Identify the key partners needed
  5. Design a financial model for business sustainability
  6. Social Impact measures

Download your SEMC here and begin identifying the foundations of your Social Enterprise, and their Strategic and Operational Components,

 

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Continue your raiSE Impact Community Journey

If you are part of the raiSE Impact Community, we have designed a 7-step journey that would guide you towards strategic incorporation of social impact in your business.