You are entitled to the full freedom of the ship though you are reminded not to stray too far to the left or right as you may fall overboard.
Your ticket entitles you to take a very special excursion where you might guide your very own ship, or at least a rented rowing boat. The price on your ticket will indicate which of these is within your financial means.
I hope you will enjoy the trip...
Setting off on your way
What does social enterprise mean to you? Today, I hope to develop this blog post in my few spare moments so that you may gain some understanding of what it means to me. I also have quite a lot of other things to do today, like cleaning and tidying my house, sorting out paperwork and writing emails to people I have been meaning to contact for the past few days.
Social enterprise is all about meeting needs fairly, in a mutually beneficial manner. It requires excellent communication, courtesy and a commitment to an appropriate level of quality. The main barriers to success as a social entrepreneur are not lack of funds but lack of knowledge and lack of social fairness.
Social unfairness, at least in its public form, is also known as corruption.
Quality, reliability and trustworthiness
Quality in a social enterprise is essentially about the reliability and trustworthiness of the providers, the products and the services. Social enterprises can be run as simple one-person operations or as larger, co-ordinated concerns.
You can learn more about various examples of social enterprise by exploring the links I have been collecting in recent weeks. They are in the right hand column of this blog and I hope to add to them as I find suitable new ones myself, or if readers suggest some to me.
Fair relationships
The relationship between the customer and the provider is at the centre of all social enterprises. It is also important to note that the customer and the business person are both required to have a commitment to fairness. The same applies in the relationship between a writer and a reader. If you find something useful here, how will you acknowledge that usefulness?
How prevalent is social enterprise where you live? What are the barriers to its further implementation? Do you believe the needs of both the customer and the business person are worthy of consideration?
Fair (Fare) negotiations
I took a beautiful rickshaw journey with the assistance of a business person who took me around the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in India in 1985. The business person, who might also have been described as the cyclist or rickshaw driver, depending on your point of view, required that I negotiated the fare to reach a mutual agreement.
I was prepared to decide what the journey was worth to me with a courteous person who had a knowledge of birds and spoke good English. The business person was prepared to accept my ability to pay what he perceived as a fair price.
I did not see many birds but it was lovely to be out in the Indian countryside away from motorized transport, for the price of a few rupees.
The bird sanctuary is now called the Keoladeo National Park. You might like to visit a Wikipedia page about it here.
Understanding fairness
Fairness can be a matter of dispute, especially where resources are subject to competition. As well as unfair competition and corruption, other barriers to a fair go for all include ignorance, population pressures and greed. We may overcome unfairness, however, through the sharing of knowledge and the wise use of it.
I see social enterprise as being an appropriate way to achieve affluence, without oppression. The true style of Australian affluence should be based on fairness. After all, our unofficial national motto is: A Fair Go for All.
What is your understanding of fairness - and a fair go - and is it something Australia could mine and export?
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