It was estimated that there are over 20,000 Social Entrepreneurs in Malaysia. But there is always room for more. SEs present a significant opportunity to generate employment, support vulnerable and marginalised communities and realise sustainable development goals as set out by the United Nations. And of course, SE is not only about social impact. The sector can also contribute significantly to the economy. Locally, however, the SE sector is said to be vibrant and growing. But awareness and understanding of SE still have a long way to go.
Does Gen Z drive social enterprise?
Move over Millennials, it is all about Gen Z now. Based on a recent study, currently, there are over 2 billion Gen Z and they are being heralded as the tech-savvy, empathetic, entrepreneurial and innovative generation. Born around 1995 onwards, they’ve also been dubbed the first truly global generation, due to their ability to relate to their peers around the world. Think Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, right from childhood.
A McKinsey study of Gen Z captures how technology “has produced a hypercognitive generation very comfortable with collecting and cross-referencing many sources of information and with integrating virtual and offline experiences.” As the lives of this generation unfold, everyone is continually learning how they will impact the social entrepreneurship sector. Here are three things we know thus far.
- Gen Z is digital natives – the first generation that could have their whole lives recorded on a smartphone.
- Gen Z’s savvy ability to use technology is unparalleled by any other demographic. They’re likely to have an online presence at a young age which means that online organisations should seriously consider how they engage with them. In terms of social enterprise, with a world consistently evolving to be more tech-heavy, a generation who are fluent and agile in its applications is going to be invaluable.
- Google’s ‘It’s Lit’ publication claims that “Gen Z is the most informed, evolved, and empathetic generation of its kind”.
This demographic has grown up with real-time news and the ability to retrieve any information almost immediately. As a result, we’re witnessing a group with a heightened social consciousness and the means of connection to do something about it.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish student who started a global youth movement protesting against climate change, is a perfect example of this. She successfully mobilised hundreds of thousands of passionate young people online around the world.
For the SE ecosystem, this is incredibly positive as we can hope to see more Gen Z leaders who are empathetic and purpose-driven in various sectors of society. For those Gen Z who are customers of social enterprises, they are likely to gravitate towards those with an impact that personally aligns with them and their beliefs.
The world has now come to realise that just opening up charities and getting people to donate money continues to come up short in making an effective impact in our communities, let alone the world. We’ve also become aware that many of these non-profit organisations (NGOs) are riddled with inefficient bureaucracies with the money lining the pockets of the wrong people.
Thus, the question we normally ask ourselves at schools in the past “What do you want to be when you grow up?” has now changed to “What problem do you want to fix?” to Gen Zs.