The only constant is change.
-Heraclitus (Greek Philosopher)
Changing lives is a website about the rapidly-growing field of social entrepreneurship and how its ideas, concepts and approaches can be applied in developing countries and Sri Lanka in particular. Changing Lives is geared towards individuals with an interest in development work as well as business people as these two fields, which were once considered mutually exclusive, are now merging. You will also get a good dose of random stories and theories on a wide range of topics!
Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish, or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.
- Bill Drayton (Founder, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public)
There’s no question that large NGOs are doing a lot of great work for people suffering around the world, however, people frequently question whether their operations are being run as efficiently as possible. Today, development is not exclusively in the hands of NGOs or foundations. There’s a new breed of social development; enter the social enterprise…
Social enterprises are sometimes referred to as “more-than-profit” especially when comparing them to non-profits. What exactly does more-than-profit mean? Social enterprises are said to have a triple bottom line (TBL)- people, planet and profit. Social enterprises essentially have a business engine to support their social endeavours!
Now, we no longer have beneficiaries, but customers. Now, there’s a clear sense of ownership and empowerment rather than a dependency on donations. This is why social enterprises and social entrepreneurs will be paving the way in the field of social development!
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island nation situated just south of India with a population of approximately 21M. Sri Lanka was once referred to as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”. Many wish that this beautiful country with so much potential can be deserving of that description once again.
Over the last 30 years, Sri Lanka has experienced a bloody civil war between the ethnic majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. Over 80,000 deaths (mostly Tamil) have been recorded since the war began. If the war wasn’t devastating enough, on December 24th, 2004, Sri Lanka was also one of the worst hit countries by the Asian Tsunami. This time, there were over 30,000 deaths (mostly women and children) due to the Tsunami.
Many felt that the Tsunami was a blessing in disguise and that the divided nation could now be united by this tragedy and rebuild the country. That didn’t happen. In fact, it got worse. The 2001 “ceasefire” was called off and the war raged on. The civil war finally came to a bloody end on May 18th, 2009. Sri Lanka has a culture of displaced persons and several hundred thousand people spend their time languishing in refugee camps. The time has come to rebuild Sri Lanka and give these individuals their lives back!
Bio
Ian Selvarajah was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, but has spent most of his life growing up in the beautifully diverse city of Montreal, Canada. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from the John Molson School of Business. He has blogged since 2004, chronicling his travel experiences. Ian is currently an IT consultant and has had the privilege of working with several multinational organizations in a variety of industries.
In February 2005, Ian made the decision to go to Sri Lanka to assist with reconstruction efforts after the devastating Asian Tsunami. In December 2008, he went to Nepal to give a Business Development and Social Entrepreneurship awareness training to 8 of the largest NGOs in Nepal.
Ian has a keen interest in entrepreneurship, social issues and technology. He has always enjoyed helping others (which might be why he’s a consultant!), but after witnessing the kindness, hospitality, ingenuity and resilience of people in developing countries, he decided that his long term objective was to work in the development field. Ian always enjoys connecting with people and can be reached several ways:
