The Middle East has been witnessing a social enterprise boom in the last few years, with more and more young professionals looking for ways to use their skills and knowledge to create positive social change. UAE has seen a rise in social enterprises dealing with a variety of topics, from women empowerment to ethical design and environmentally friendly practices, such as Palestyle and Green Shine. To guarantee the success of such endeavors, a significant number of young entrepreneurs look for mentors and coaches that will guide them on their way to creating social impact.
Social entrepreneurs usually start off with a strong passion for a particular issue and work their way from there. The business idea comes from a desire to change the status quo as opposed to starting a business as a means to gain purely financial profit. This means that quite a few social entrepreneurs do not necessarily have a business background and might lack the practical skills needed to take their idea to the next level and make it sustainable and profitable. Luckily, UAE has a large coaching community comprised of top-level professionals that are eager to share their knowledge with startups and social enterprises, with organizations like Coach4Good and Jeeran working closely with entrepreneurs in different stages of their business. Social entrepreneurs usually ask for help with legal structures, marketing strategies, coaching on financial models and scalability. In later stages of social business, entrepreneurs start realizing the importance of measuring their social impact and seek out coaches that can help them set up the framework for such measurements.
As mentioned, social entrepreneurs have specific needs when compared to “traditional” entrepreneurs and face different challenges. While traditional entrepreneurs usually have a business background to give them a sense of confidence, social entrepreneurs often struggle with personal barriers to success. Social entrepreneurs who seek mentoring often report feeling overwhelmed and insecure, feeling like they do not have the skills needed to succeed and require more personal guidance on their path. Mentoring social entrepreneurs has proven to be vital to their success later on and entrepreneurs themselves rate their relationship with their mentors very high on the list of things that helped them succeed. Unlike with coaching, the success of a mentoring relationship depends largely on the chemistry between the mentor and mentee and how they “click”, meaning that finding the right match is often the most challenging part of the process for organizations that facilitate these connections.
Through coaching and mentoring I have gained valuable insights into the dynamics of social enterprises and people that stand behind some of the most groundbreaking ideas in the sector. Training the coaches and mentors to better address the specific needs is paramount to organizations and individuals, ensuring that the next wave of social entrepreneurs have an even greater impact on the community we all live and work in.
