Term Paper on "Social Entepreneurship Social Entrepreneur a Slum"

Term Paper 15 pages (4068 words) Sources: 15

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Social Entepreneurship

Social Entrepreneur

A slum is a dwelling that is built on public or private real estates unlawfully. In Turkey, these illegal settlements started with movement of people from urban to rural areas in the 1950's. Main causes of the migration incident were subdivision of agricultural lands which was caused by the then heritage systems and lack of urban public services like health, education and culture among others in rural areas and job opportunities in metropolitan areas. Currently, on average 10% of buildings are slums in Turkey.

These are mostly in industrialized cities where accessibility is available and public real estates are common. As a result of the political and socio-economic factors, doing away with these slums owned by low income persons is a big challenge (Dumashie 2004). Since slums are not built according to building rules and 92% of Turkey's residential areas are on the seismic belt it is wiser to come up with creative solutions necessary to solve the housing problem instead of protecting the slum.

The main goal of the business idea is to develop a viable solution for the housing problem in urban Turkey. Business organizations are profit-oriented and are therefore usually unwilling to venture into seeking solutions for social problems. The competitive advantage behind this business idea is based on finding cheaper alternative building solutions and an organizational model incorporating user-initiated involvement for the slum dwellers to afford more decent housing.

Statement of the problem

Slum areas in Europe are not characterized by the abject poverty experienced by slum dwellers in third world countries. Rather, they are described as areas where communities face social exclusion whereby the individuals have been pushed to the edge of society which prevents them from fully participating in social life owing to their lack of basic competencies and opportunities. This may result from their lack of finances to afford the level of general standard of living enjoyed by the larger population of the city, especially housing, which prompts them to seek and elect illegal makeshift shelters on government and private property. The nature of the social problems in these communities becomes self perpetuating and more difficult to overcome poverty challenges owing to unemployment and difficulty of the government to effectively provides basic public amenities for the communities.

Turkey has achieved relatively high growth rates in the last decade, but still continues to grow at a much slower rate than other EU countries. The economy suffers a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the EU. The world economic depression of 2007-2010 has largely affected the slum communities of Turkish cities with persistent unemployment showing no signs of abating in the near future (Edgar 2009).

In Africa, Slums tends to cause misery and physical pain for those experiencing it directly and anyone including children is prone to violence. As earlier mentioned Slums has been on the increase in today's society and is currently perceived to be a social and health menace which needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. It is rather unfortunate that majority of those who tend to experience or witness Slums issues in its different forms rarely report to the concerned authorities for instance the law enforcement. As a result many incidences in Slums in the different environs have gone unreported and unheard thus increasing such cases in the community.

There are numerous problems of Slums for instance domestic problems in Slums tends to take place mostly within the family unit, sexual issues which includes intimate partner abuse, marital rape and child sexual abuse, community problems which includes shootings, peer pressure and assaults as well as media influence which is commonly reflected in film, video games and on television (Elliott, et al. 1998). Majority of individuals tend to question why violent behaviors in Africa slums are common or even tend to occur in the first place. Research studies have indicated that violent behavior are caused by different factors, some of which are inherent but most of which are learned from witnessing or experiencing violent behaviors by others, especially from those considered role models (Elliott, et al. 1998). Some experts argue that violence is genet in that chromosomes tend to carry genetic messages that are relayed from parents to their offspring where some of these messages may be aggressive in nature thus inherited. Violent behaviors can also be caused by other factors such as alcohol and substance abuse which tend to interfere with one's better judgment or actions, brain injury which may tend to bring about aggressive or angry behavior in the injured individual and desensitization

Housing being a basic human need greatly determines the ability of persons to optimize opportunities and put more effort in emancipating themselves from social exclusion and poverty. Provision of decent affordable shelter to slum dwellers is thus of utmost importance for societies hoping to eradicate slums from their cities. Government and NGO-driven projects face sustainability problems arising from resource shortage inherent in non-profit ventures and as such have not been able to provide adequately for all public utility needs. Problems plaguing government programs to solve social problems of slums include administrative and management inefficiencies, inability to ensure equitable and fair distribution, and underfunding. Market oriented solutions for social problems are expected to provide sustainable and equitable remedies through finding viable business opportunity in meeting societal needs. By viewing the social problem of slums as a market gap which can be filled by providing cheap affordable housing and enabling the slum dwellers to own the houses.

Cheap Housing for Slums

The business organization envisioned in this business plan will be a construction firm providing cheaper and innovative housing using interlocking bricks and beams made from recycled plastic material. The interlocking bricks are designed in such a way that greatly reduces the use of cement in building and the time taken to finish one unit of housing (Edgar 2009). The construction firm will implement a management design that organizes the community living in the slum to purchase the housing units through microfinance loans based on the Table-Banking model.

This is a different approach than has been in use in Turkey to provide urban housing. The organization will target to mobilize individuals living in the Sultanbeyli slum to form Community-Based Organizations (CBO's) which will provide self-organization of the community to enable individuals to raise funds and credit for purchasing housing units. Through CBOs, individuals will also be able to access other opportunities for business and make it easier for the government and involved organizations to provide services to the community. The Table Banking model to be used in providing micro-finance to the CBO's has enjoyed much success by the Grameer Bank of India which is involved in providing cheap financial credit to poor individuals in society to enable them improve their livelihoods.

The organization will also take a different approach in the choice of building materials used for the housing units. Interlocking bricks, have seen widespread success in East Africa in solving housing problems in slums like Kibera, Kenya. The organization will employ affordable home ownership model to distribute housing units to the slum's residents. The individuals, through their CBOs, will begin the purchasing process of the housing units as construction is underway. Once the units are complete, the new tenants will start using the houses as they continue payment and security for the loan credit will be guaranteed by members of the CBO the individual belongs to.

Being a C.B.O does not mean that we shall ignore the basic principles of doing business since it is the only way to ensure sustainability of the proposed projects. I will be in charge of helping the youth in writing Business plans required by financiers to help those with talent and interest and capability in business.

As a student in management I realize when over 3 billion people from china India and the former soviet empire all want to own a computer, a microwave and a refrigerator, and later dispose them after their life we are going to create an environmental disaster. This means we should try and do more things with less energy and lower emissions. The paper will aim to combine the building technology such that it utilizes recycled plastic materials as one of the ways of managing computer waste. The social business will not be limited to the slum areas only, the technology will also be sold to the real estate developers (Dumashie 2004)

ISSB (Interlocking Soil Stabilized Soil Block)

These are building blocks made using ordinary soil mixed with a little stabilizer and then compressed to form a highly condensed block and then carefully dried under a polythene paper in a process known as curing.ISSB saves up to 50% of the total cost if one was using ordinary building materials and their technical performance is the same.The Interlocking Machines comes in two types, Manual or the hydraulic machine which is used for extensive construction. To be successful in the business of manufacturing interlocking blocks the organization will have to first carry… READ MORE

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