Social Profit: Furthering Man-kind vs. the Bottom Line

Inspiration comes from many different places.  Earlier this semester, I read an article that shamed innovation for the sake of innovation.  It encouraged us to use our collective brainpower to elevate our communities or the global society and make things better for mankind.  In my reading, I found this concept to generally be referred to as Digital Social Innovation.  Such innovations (Petronzio, 2017) can include

• AR technology to view the disastrous effects of humans and industry on the Amazon Rainforests.
• Enabling Blind persons to see through special AR equipped glasses.
• Apps that assist in diagnosing health issues or provide a way to receive emergency services.
• Solutions to assist impoverished people around the world or our own nation’s homeless.

Reflection on Innovation I Can Feel Good About Supporting

This certainly gets to me to think a little differently about

1)      Identifying a problem

2)      Proposing a solution for the target market

It’s not all about what innovation can bring in profit as profit isn’t only measured in dollars but also in positive social impact.  One app that caught my attention was invented by a group of teens named, “The Restorers” in Kenya.  It’s called the i-Cut app and is intended to address the now illegal but still culturally significant practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). (Hautea, 2017)

 

According to a 2015 Unicef Report, approximately 200 million girls and women, starting as young as 15 and sometimes younger, and represents 30 different countries, have undergone the procedure. (UNICEF.org, 2015)

The video, presented by the Innovative young women that invented the app, describes a horrifying and vivid procedure and the emotional and physical turmoil that result.  In the same study, it is apparent that men and women around the world that know of this practice, abhor it and believe it should end.  The awareness grows steadily every year, but I think more can be done to support these young inventors and rally against the practice on a larger scale.

As marketers, I think we have a responsibility to not only add value to the companies for which we work, constantly finding ways to grow profit with our projects, but also to grow our own social profit in our daily lives.  This can take the form of finding ways to promote these great digital social innovations.  It’s reading articles like these that make me feel good in knowing it’s not always about how we can be first to market with a new idea, but how we can support a great existing idea that just needs a little promotion and awareness.

What are some global, environmental, or social causes you would like to see solved or at least alleviated by a Digital Social Innovation?  Does a program already exist?

 

References:

1. FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A GLOBAL CONCERN. (2015). FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: A GLOBAL CONCERN. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf.
2. Hautea, A. (2017, August 3). These teen girls from Kenya invented an app to end female genital mutilation. Retrieved from https://mashable.com/2017/08/03/kenya-teen-girls-app-fgm-i-cut/.
3. Petronzio, M. (2017, December 23). 30 innovations that improved the world in 2017. Retrieved from https://mashable.com/2017/12/23/social-good-innovations-2017/.
4. Technology for social good: Digital Social Innovation. (2019, January 31). Retrieved from https://www.martel-innovate.com/news/2019/01/31/technology-for-social-good-digital-social-innovation/.