IN THIS POST
This past summer, I had the privilege of serving as a Farber Fellow at REDF, with the Spokane-based employment social enterprise (ESE) Global Neighborhood. I heard remarkable things about the social sector and REDF during my first year as an MBA student, but the experience itself far exceeded my expectations.
I was amazed by how much one can learn about an industry, a company, its mission, and its story in just 10 weeks. One’s perspective on social challenges can shift simply by sharing space with people directly affected by these challenges. And I was thrilled to see incredibly intelligent individuals dedicating their business acumen to seek solutions that create impact beyond the traditional profit and loss statement.
I returned to school with increased clarity and conviction that we need more people to walk this path between business and impact.
The Social Entrepreneurs Paving a New Way Forward
In my second week as a Farber Fellow, during the REDF retreat, I heard something that stayed with me: “Intelligence is equally distributed, opportunities are not.” This phrase remained top of mind throughout the summer and still today. How many lives could be transformed with the right opportunities? How many remarkable stories are out there, waiting to begin?
Running a business is challenging enough on its own; addressing a social issue adds another layer of complexity. What astounded me this summer were the people willing to tackle both, working toward sustainable and circular solutions for challenges that many of us have overlooked for years. These social entrepreneurs, who I see as modern-day superheroes, are using business-like solutions to help overlooked individuals reenter the workforce. In doing so, they are opening the door to work with dignity and economic mobility.
These entrepreneurs have chosen to work within an exclusionary employment system that has often been criticized as broken. Yet, through their efforts, they are re-integrating communities caught in a vicious cycle of exclusion, helping them overcome steep barriers to employment. By walking this unique path — connecting the realms of business and social impact — they have forged a trail that didn’t exist before. And now that they’ve done so, we must ask ourselves: Shouldn’t this path be more frequently traveled?
Where Do We Go From Here? A Call to Action and Introspection
REDF and ESEs have shown that solutions to social problems are waiting to be found in the same business books that teach us about profits. Now, it’s time for the business world to reciprocate. Big corporations, consulting firms, banks, and profit-driven companies should start asking themselves what they can do to get closer to the work of social impact. What can they do today to integrate social purpose into their “business as usual”? What initiatives should they pursue that will drive not only profits but also social change?
As ESEs have learned to incorporate the best of business thinking into their missions, I encourage you — business professionals — to learn about the challenges our society faces. Look beyond the symptoms and find the root causes, using your opportunities and skills to craft real solutions.
If you’re an MBA student, take a class focused on the social sector.
If you’re a consultant, craft recommendations that consider not only the bottom line but also the community impact.
If you work in the corporate world, ensure that social and environmental issues are woven into daily operations — not just treated as parallel, isolated initiatives.
I invite you to open your eyes to the social sector, to step inside, observe, ask questions, learn, and be inspired. If we can make this path connecting business and impact a well-traveled road, we’ll be astonished by what we can achieve. In doing so, we will move towards an economy that works for everyone — and perhaps, opportunities will become more equally distributed.
— Written by María Beatriz Montaño Murrieta, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
