Ambition moves human beings from wanting to improve their lives to taking the actions to do so. Social entrepreneurs harness that force, creating ventures explicitly designed to help people help themselves
The year was 1995. A young, smart actuary and self-described ‘hardened capitalist’ named Taddy Blecher had accepted an offer from U.S. consultancy Monitor, packed his bags, and was about to board a flight from Johannesburg to Boston when he changed his mind -- and as it turned out, the course of his life.
Absent economic and societal opportunity, ambition at this scale can lead to anger and continued unrest. Fostering the conditions for growth and stability requires institutional reform at every level, in government, education, and the economy. But such reforms don’t just happen on their own: they require human disruptors, risk-takers who catalyze opportunity, those people we know as social entrepreneurs.
4. Barefoot College
[This article has been reprinted, with permission, from Rotman Management, the magazine of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management]