JOURNAL 07

The summary of the main activities of week 07 teaches about the Lean Startups which in essence is to provide a scientific approach in creating and managing startups and get the desired product to customers' hands faster. It is a method that teaches entrepreneurs how to drive a startup-how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere-and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It helps avoid major startup founder mistakes. The business model canvasses describe, design, challenge, and pivot a business model. In essence it is a visual chart which consists of elements describing a firm's or product's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances.

My response to a specific reading, video, or activity in this week’s content is Lluis’s presentation on 5 keys to success for social entrepreneurs, an interesting point of view. The import of the whole lecture was that, what every investor is looking for are potentially successful social entrepreneurs. They know the real value of an idea, They hate- They are really pissed off about social problems, They shout their existence to the world, They are paranoid and They look at both the social impact and the money.

Sharpening business skills is a powerful way to accelerate learning and boost leadership skills and this could help or influence others. The potential benefits are many; it may help one focus and gain clarity on issues, they can therefore inspire others and provide encouragement and moral support when needed as well as help others discover their hidden strengths. The most important skill is leadership skill.

Reflection Journal: Week 06

The summary of the main ideas of week 06 topics mainly talk about sustainability and funding sources of social enterprises and their social value creation. How social enterprises raise funds to finance their activities should they be an NGO as traditional philanthropy doesn't provide them with a stable, long term source of finance. The lessons teaches us about a regular startup funding as network investments, banking, equity debt, convertible debt, crowdfunding etc. as well as social entrepreneurs thinking innovatively and identifying partners who can bring economic value to both parties.

What did spark my interest was Michael Porters video on why business can be good at solving problems. He recognized the seemingly problems in the world, poor nutrition, access to clean water, climate change, deforestation, lack of skills, not enough food, health care and pollution. Simply put, why do we have all of these social problems? In response to these rising social problems, the past several years has seen the ballooning of the social sector, NGOs and social organizations to find solutions to these societal problems. He emphasized on us can’t make a large scale impact on the problems because on the current models, we don’t have enough resources. But in all the fundamentals are that businesses must impact and address these problems.

“If poverty makes us miserable, it stands to reason that wealth makes life worth living. But does it? Psychologists aren’t so sure” Source: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jan/07/can-money-buy-happiness. Mosiah 2:41 “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it”.
President David O. McKay has also said that Virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and in keeping the commandments of God lead to a happy life, so therefore money cannot buy happiness it is through these attributes that we all can gain happiness.

My augment is that money cannot change the world; we only can change the world when we learn the basic principles established by the Lord and learn basic health issues like nutrition, not polluting our waters, clean environment so we will not get sick, learn skills so we can feed our families. We need to change the mindset.  

Weekly Prompts Lesson 05

The summary of the main ideas and topics of the week mostly talks about the Theory of Change which is the change a social enterprises creates through its actions, It talks about the approach social enterprises engaged in in planning, evaluating their activities, projects and services to deliver quality services to communities. The approach involves the identification of desired outcomes.

What sparks my interest is lesson 05 reading which talks about Getting Results: Outputs, Outcomes and Impact and used to describe the results of nonprofits. Outputs: describe activities done by nonprofits and it consists of goods or services that are produced by these non-profits which become available for use outside that enterprise. Outcomes: becomes the observed effects or end result of the outputs on the beneficiaries of the nonprofit. Impact: This is the strong effect or influences the activities of nonprofit have on those they are serving. This is important for nonprofits to attempt to track their activities in some way.

The conclusions drawn from this “Hurling and Community Service” is making a difference where you can. The connection between the article “Hurling and Community Service” and setting my goals are to effect a positive change on the community. My goals are to support local organizations, and agencies recognize their importance to the community’s quality of life and the development of recreation facilities within communities.

Week 04 Journal Social Innovation

Week 04 lesson is all about developing a creative way of solving problems which is design thinking, a process, an action, a protocol for solving problems and discovering new opportunities. Design thinking consists of four key elements, define the problem, create and consider many options, refine selected directions and pick the winner, execute. It helps the designer to ask a more fundamental question if it is poverty alleviation, like “Why does mass poverty exist?” which leads the team to things like improving education, efficient way of resource distribution.

What sparks my interest is David Kelley’s lecture on creative confidence; he said if we all stick with the process, if we stick with it, we will end up doing amazing things. And we will surprise ourselves at just how innovative we and our teams really are. We need to rise above the fear of judgment that we all have, that prevent us to be creative, and we should overcome the fear of being judged; By gaining confidence we reach "self-efficacy," the sense of changing the world and attain what we all set out to do.

Why design thinking is an important skill in social innovation today is that by using design thinking, it can help tackle more complex problems like finding ways to solve poverty related issues which are prevalent in Ghana and affordable healthcare issues.” It approaches problem solving from the point of view of the end user and calls for developing a deep understanding of unmeet needs, thus avoiding the pitfall of imposing the wrong solution on a community” Source: http://voices.mckinseyonsociety.com/why-social-innovators-need-design-thinking/

Week 03 Journal

The main ideas and topics of week 03 deals with Root Cause Analysis, which is an approach or technique use in identifying the underlying causes of an incident which happens in our everyday life or setups so that effective solutions are implemented. It helps find the underlying cause of the problem and addresses, what happened, why it happened and find solutions to eliminate or reduce its impacts.

Misconceptions, bias, ignorance of global issues was also address by Hans and Ola Rosling, Their discussion centered on how we can be better informed about the world.

What spark interest is how ignorant we all are, our neighborhood where we grew up gave us a very biased view of how life is on this planet, personal bias that is the different experiences we all have had from our communities and people we meet. With the four rules of thumb, we could probably answer better than the chimps, because the chimps cannot do that.

Why social innovation is becoming more prevalent in today’s world are that it has thought us a whole new way of doing things, strategies, concepts, ideas that meet the social needs from education to community development and health.

Jeffrey Thompson’s article, the Gospel, and social innovation brings to fore our social responsibilities as God children on earth. We need to discover our calling which is God’s given gift to rendered service to mankind. John Calvin “argued that God endows each of us with particular talents and gifts and that it is our calling”

“How often in life do we set our own roots into the soil of life and become root bound? Under these conditions we too must struggle to make progress. Oh, change is hard! Change can be rough”. Marvin J. Ashton This fearful change has enlightened my mind to be self-reliant, to able to do things on my own and never depend on someone.

Social Innovation

This week’s summary is all about solving social problems using more effective, efficient, sustainable way of bringing change to people. Social innovations are all around us; it talks about new ideas that work to meet our needs and creates opportunities for the public sector and the markets. 

 

What interests me this week is “What Is Your Calling in Life?”  By Jeffrey A. Thompson which talks about callings. “God endows each of us with particular talents and gifts, and that it is our calling to discover those gifts and seek ways to use them in the service of our fellowmen”. “For as God bestows any ability or gift upon any of us, he binds us to such as have need of us and as we are able to help.” We need to discover our callings, gifts to bring change to society and to our own selves. This great man Mohammed Yunus brought change by providing loans, savings, insurance, and other financial services to poor people who lack access to money for their businesses.

Social innovation is becoming more prevalent today so far as some countries remain undeveloped as well as the existence of inequalities in income levels, inefficiency in resource allocation and lack of access to basic amenities.  

Teachings of Brigham Young

“While the inhabitants of the earth are bestowing all their ability, both mental and physical, upon perishable objects, those who profess to be Latter-day Saints, who have the privilege of receiving and understanding the principles of the holy gospel, are in duty bound to study and find out, and put in practice in their lives, those principles that are calculated to endure, and that tend to a continual increase in this, and in the world to come” (DNW, 20 July 1854, 1).

As Latter-Day Saints we are privileged to have all the prophetic words of our prophets written to us, Teachings of our Presidents. Through videos and the Gospel Library software, and therefore it is incumbent on us to get hold of these materials and feast upon them. I am duty bound as a Latter-day Saint to do just that, to study,  learn, and live by eternal principles. President Brigham Young has admonish us to study and find out, and put in practice in our lives, those principles that are calculated to endure, and that tend to a continual increase, and in the world to come. That is what I am doing as a child of God, reading my scriptures, accept church callings and magnifying them and made sure my children are also thought the principles and are baptized into the fold.

As we feast upon the prophetic words of our leaders, Brigham Young said we will increase in knowledge and intelligence, in every branch of mechanism, or in the arts and sciences, for all wisdom.