Economic growth and inclusion have undoubtedly been some of the most successful methods of lowering poverty rates and creating opportunities for people to raise their standard of living. But, the centralized, just for profit approach to business has proven to be one of the least sustainable human endeavors, this is where social entrepreneurship comes into play. Most forms of entrepreneurship are profit-centric, but social entrepreneurship is focused on positively impacting society and only uses the accumulation of capital to facilitate this effort.
The model of action is based on identifying social problems or areas of opportunity and applying entrepreneurial skills in building solutions that get the job done in a way that is beneficial to all the parties involved. Our society has reached a level of complexity that no central approach, like government or big business, can manage and this creates the need for a shift in dealing with social problems and opportunities. More diverse and complex problems need more eyes and ears to address them, thus the need for more players involved in shaping social structures. Prosocial Labs has taken on the form of the tech startup because this model has proven to be the most agile and impactful way of aggregating capital and attention while delivering worthwhile solutions.
Our approach towards social entrepreneurship is based on the values and pillars of prosocial behavior, as defined by us, and will be centered around emerging models which facilitate social interactions. The next few pages will define our ideological stance and will try to put in context what is prosocial behavior, what is Prosocial Labs, and what is the vision for our first platform?