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Financing, business economics, statistics, accounting, mathematics, human resources, marketing. Subjects like these can be found in the timetable of more or less anyone who has decided to study business at university. It would be in the timetable of someone who will maybe become a social entrepreneur in the future, because he wants to change the way things are and to help others. Or someone who will never get the chance to learn about all the opportunities available in this sector, because he will simply never come across terms like ‘sustainability’ or ‘ecological management’. He will probably learn about CSR and the Code of Conduct and find out that a lot has changed for the better during the past few years. But, sadly, in the course of his studies, he’ll never discover that he can actually help people and run a business all at the same time.

An isolated case, you might think. But guess what: This student is not alone. He’s got a friend. This friend has decided to study Social Work, and learns about mediation, self development, social perspective strategies, social psychiatry and intercultural communication. She likes her studies but, for some reason, she wants to something more entrepreneurial at the same time. She just doesn’t know how to do it. So both students are in a dilemma, because they can’t find the connection between doing business and tackling urgent issues like poverty, hunger or climate change. They know that the concept of social business can work out, somewhere and somehow, and they have heard of Mohammed Yunus…but Bangladesh seems a bit far away. Too far away. As does the idea in general. So they’re going to forget about the idea. And continue studying as if nothing had ever happened. The End.

Hold on: Isn’t it possible to bring together both groups? To teach them how to deal with social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way? To describe to future business economists the different social fields of activity in which they can work? To tell the future social workers about the positive side-effects of dealing with poor or handicapped people using words like profit and growth? To really challenge both kinds of student, to encourage them to choose a social problem of their own and to let them come up with a business plan that addresses this problem?
The answer is: Yes, there is.

And where can you find such a possibility? In Nuremberg, Bavaria (state in the south of Germany), more precisely: at Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences. The seminar is called “socialbusinessideas – Social Responsibility as Business Opportunities”, and Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman and Alexander Zeitelhack were kind enough to tell me what it’s all about…

If you have a social business you would like interviewed or wish to contact one of the authors in general, please email: schmucker.hans(at)gmail.com or juliansartorius(at)googlemail.com.

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