Social Entrepreneurship
Riders for Health is proud to be a part of the global community of social entrepreneurs. Riders are members of both the Skoll Foundation and the Schwab Foundation. In 2006 Riders were named the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneurs of the Year.
What is a social entrepreneur?
A social entrepreneur drives innovation and progress. In the words of the Skoll Foundation, ‘they seize opportunities that challenge and change forever established but fundamentally inequitable systems.’
Across the world social entrepreneurs are showing that they are not afraid to take on some of the world’s biggest and most challenging problems. By recognising the talents and abilities of the billions of people living in developing countries, and applying their own skills and experiences, social entrepreneurs are able to create enduring social benefits.
'Social entrepreneurs use business and innovative revenue models to stimulate social inclusion: they are practical, results-orientated innovators who instigate processes whereby the poor become agents of change and self-determination.’ -- Pamela Hartigan, former director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Riders and social enterprise
Riders have bought their own skills and experience of working with motorcycles and four- wheeled vehicles to help solve one of the great problems for development: transportation. Riders realised that both governments and the market were failing to provide effective transportation for the delivery of vital services. Riders’ work focuses on providing a solution to this single problem.
By combining the appropriate technology with new systems for looking after it, Riders have created a solution to the problem of a lack of transportation which is sustainable, replicable and scalable. By providing training programmes for technicians, mechanics and fleet managers, Riders is building capacity in Africa and is developing a lasting infrastructure for the future.
One of the other key components of Riders entrepreneurial approach is that it aims to earn as much of its income as possible. By using a business model for its work Riders’ field programmes are designed to become financially self-sustaining in the long-term. And because this model is flexible, it means that Riders’ programmes are replicable and can work just as effectively for a small fleet of two or three motorcycles as it does for a government ministry’s fleet of hundred of two and four wheeled vehicles.
This (not for profit) social entrepreneurial approach extends into Riders’ fundraising in the UK and elsewhere. Many of Riders’ fundraising activities are based on the principle of giving people something of real value for their money. This is why Riders set up Day of Champions in the UK, Spain and the US, as well as 'MotoGP Experience' days in a number of countries and why we run the ‘helmet bus’ at biking events throughout the year.
How social enterprise helps Riders
Belonging to this international community of social entrepreneurs gives Riders the opportunity to raise the issue of transport and development on the global agenda, at events like the World Economic Forum, the Global Philanthropy Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative. It also means that Riders has been able to work in partnership with other social entrepreneurs allowing communities to work together and transfer their skills.
‘Together with our other social entrepreneurs, Riders represents an incredibly powerful force for systematic change.’ – Sally Osberg, president and chief executive of the Skoll Foundation.
 | Skoll Foundation The Skoll Foundation’s mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs. View website |
 | The Schwab Foundation The foundation is the world’s leading promoter of social entrepreneurism for engendering sustainable development in developing world. View website |
Skoll
Founded by Jeff Skoll, the first employee and first president of Ebay, the Skoll Foundation’s mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs.
The Skoll Foundation invests in social entrepreneurs through its flagship award programme, the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. These three-year awards support the continuation, replication or extension of programmes that have proved successful in addressing a broad array of critical social issues. In 2005 Riders was awarded $765,000 to help strengthen our existing programmes and replicate our programme in a new country.
The Skoll Foundation also connects social entrepreneurs with key people and resources through a number of academic, business and community channels which serve to advance the work of individual entrepreneurs, as well as the field of social entrepreneurship as a whole.
Each year the Foundation organises the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual conference that brings together the world’s foremost practitioners and thought leaders in the emerging field of social entrepreneurship.
Schwab
The Schwab Foundation uses its resources to create unprecedented opportunities where social entrepreneurs who have successfully implemented and scaled their transformational idea, can further the legitimacy of their work, have access to usually inaccessible networks, and in consequence, mobilize financial and in-kind resources that enable them to continue to strengthen and expand.
The Schwab Foundation provides a valuable network for social entrepreneurs and one of the most important activities is to support the participation and active involvement of its selected social entrepreneurs at the annual flagship events of the Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum.
Every January leaders from the worlds of politics and business meet in the Swiss ski-resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum. For the last three years Riders has been invited to attend the WEF as part of the Schwab Foundation.
The WEF's motto is 'entrepreneurship in the global public interest' and the summit creates an opportunity for people to meet and discuss ways in which business and governments can come together to help ensure the development of the world's economies benefits the poorest and most vulnerable.