Start thinking about the future now
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 16:26:24 +0000
I have been following Sierreza, a social enterprise based in Los Baños, Laguna on social media for over a year now. Che Abrigo, the founder of Sierreza, is a college friend. I learned about her inspiring story in an opportune interview with her. The business she established is characteristically different from its mainstream counterparts because of its prime focus on its mission of promoting fair trade and providing a stable market for the products of the farming communities of indigenous people.
Social enterprises are organizations that primarily pursue a social mission at the same time operating with the financial discipline and determination of for-profit organizations. SEs help address issues that are not adequately resolved by the government, civil society, or the market. The blending of the social and economic goals implies challenges though, and hence have an impact on SE’s viability and continuity.
Abrigo is keen on replicating Sierreza’s social and business model and looks forward to seeing her initiative flourish all over the country. Her recent post on their social media page is the call for student interns. I reached out to her and she happily confided that she is beginning to mentor and is thinking of her successor. She said that “the sustainability of a SE and the preservation of its core values, vision and mission depends on the mentees. It’s just prudent to start mentoring, and I am doing it.”
Academics engaged in studying SEs raise the case that founder succession in social enterprises is crucial because when not planned or carried out carefully, it could mark the downfall of the organization. Drawing on SE literature, I find the work of Bacq and her colleagues in 2019 titled “What Happens Next? A Qualitative Study of Founder Succession in Social Enterprises” insightful in shedding light on social enterprise succession dynamics. I summarize their ideas here and call them the Three Cs: centrality of the social entrepreneur; choice of successor; and context.
Social entrepreneur centrality suggests that decision-making and promotion of cultural values are chiefly played by the founder-social entrepreneur. This has implications on: whether the central figure of the organization will be willing and ready to handover the organization he passionately toiled to grow; on the level of involvement in successor selection; and on the continuous provision of support during the transition. The chosen successor can come from within or outside the organization. Picking from the SE’s bench ensures the successor’s affinity to the values, mission, and vision of the organization.
Choosing an exact replica of the founder-social entrepreneur seems not to be a viable strategy though and hence warns the founder to not mentor to make a clone. The fit between the organizational core values and the successor candidates is the determining characteristic when eyeing outsiders. The context of the social enterprise, referring to the nature of its social mission, operational settings, and financial compensation has implications in planning for succession. It is crucial then, how the successor owns the culture and social mission of the organization.
Turning just two years come August 2020, it’s never too early to mentor and plan for succession at Sierreza. I am glad that the paradox of succession, that is, its acknowledged importance but lack of management action, is not true for them. I look forward to liking and sharing their posts and updates on social media.
Joviel R. Teves is a Doctor of Business Administration student of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business and is an assistant professor at the Department of Business Management of the Visayas State University in Leyte. Her research interests are social enterprise financing and capital market investments. She can be reached at joviel_teves@dlsu.edu.ph.