Unreasonable People

For the other entrepreneurship course we were required to do a book or article review, and so I picked up The Power of Unreasonable People by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan. This book outlines the power that social enterprises can harness to create social change and in doing so the book gives many examples of enterprises that are doing just that. One point the book illustrates is that just like a commercial business, social enterprises must be able to find funding sources if they are to create the change they aim for, and make this change sustainable. Some enterprises that are creating sustainable change actually run more like a business and less like a typical non-profit. One example is of a dairy farm that employs mentally ill people. Very few customers who buy the dairy product know who is behind the production. So even though the public is not aware of the change the company is driving, the target population is still being helped and the organization's aim is aided by the fact that is is able to earn profits.