This document discusses key risks that social entrepreneurs may face and strategies to manage them. It begins by emphasizing the importance of establishing a clear vision, mission, and values from the start. The top 10 risks identified are: 1) Failing to deliver social impact or achieve the intended mission; 2) Business or financial failure; 3) Lack of capacity or support; 4) Issues with sustainability over the long term; 5) Not properly accounting for costs; 6) Poor marketing and promotion; 7) Inability to ensure quality and customer loyalty; 8) Difficulty building a strong team; 9) Failure to protect intellectual property; and 10) Personal burnout of the social entrepreneur. The document provides suggestions for mitigating

1. Risk Management in the
Journey of Social Innovation
Timothy Ma
RSW, FCRP, JP
Vice-chairman, General Chamber of Social Enterprise
Project Consultant, Project Flame, The City Univ. of Hong Kong
HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS)
Academic Seminar Series

2. Setting the Scene
• Social Innovation is a trendy term nowadays
• More than 50% of those born in 1995 decided
not to be an employee, but want to start their
own business (China)
• Social Issues are no longer to be the monopoly
of Govt., but a civic movement to offer
innovative solution from the public
Yet, with the heart & passion, would it then be
safe and sustainable enough to move on………….

3. The Agenda
• Why we start our social innovation?
• What would be the risks we shall encounter
at the journey of social innovation / social
enterprise…..
• What / how we can do better in preparing for
the risk, handle / face it more competently
• Revisit our VMV at social innovation

4. Pre-amble: Why we start our social
innovation?
Ask yourself three essential questions prior to your
journey of social innovation:
• 1. What change you are going to make for the
society?
• 2. If your social innovation failed, who would
be the most losers? Why?
• 3. At the eve of the termination of your social
innovation, what you want other people to
talk about you?

5. The Three Questions
Answering these 3 questions helps us to be
away from risk:
• A. Setting our vision, mission and value
• B. Setting our focus of target and priority
• C. Concerning the quality of our service /
product from the social innovation
(Ref: Drucker, Peter: 5 Essential Questions you ever have to ask
for your Org. HBS)

6. Identifying the VMV
AT the course of VMV development, three principles have to be
in mind:
a. Never repeat others , or copying others, or even be the
same as others, unless you are sure you are better than
others
b. Never aim at destroying or killing others, so as to
monopolize or dominant the market, but to co-operate to
form united front and partner
c. Have to be innovative, but only for the beneficiaries but
not for the curiosity or self-interest

7. Risks to be faced at Social Innovation
(Please share….)
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.
• 6.
• 7.
• 8.

8. Risks to be faced –
Suggested by other participants
• 1. Failure t to deliver social impact(4), uncertainty on
social impact (2)
• 2.Business Failure (2)
• 3.Environment – social – governance (2)
• 4.Balance between personal and entrepreneurial life (2)
• 5.Not being successful in building the org.
• 6.Stuck in the middle – losing my identity
• 7.Lack of capital for Phases of change (4)
• 8.Implementation replication

9. Risks to be faced –
Suggested by Other Participants
• 9.Adminstrative and distributional blockages
• 10.Disordered growth
• 11. Losing organization’s value
• 12. I believe or the World needs
• 13. Scaling ability, sustainability (2)
• 14. Missing the main point
• 15. Attached to personal results
• 16. Operator or mentor hyper

10. 1st Utmost Risk –
Your Vision/ Mission
• A. Not knowing what you are trying to do or
tackle with
• B. Not share your Mission with the ones you
love much- partner, Girl/Boy Friend/ Parents
• C. Just comes out of short term inspiration
• D. Did not do any research to see if your idea is
already in the market
• E. Start the initiative without getting available
funding or other resources

11. Suggested Solutions
• 1. Share more of your dream with others
• 2. Listen to feedback and challenges
• 3. Refine and reframe your social mission again and
again
• 4. Looking for a mentor (may be experienced SEr) to
seek their advice
• 5. Work out a feasible business plan prior to starting
• 6. Securing certain amount / resource prior to
starting

12. 2nd Utmost Risk –
Review on Capacity & Support
Even you got a great idea, initiative, innovation,
but still not doing the below two reviews on
yourself / team and starts immaturely:
• A. Capacities – including knowledge, technique,
skill, marketing, service delivery, etc…..
• B. Supports – including govt. policy, customer,
demand, parents, peers, media, etc…
In short, i.e. checking your asset….
(ref: Leonard, Herman B: A Short Note on Public Sector Strategic
Planning, HBS 2002)

13. Suggested ways
• 1. Conduct an over-all check list test to identify your
capacity and support
• 2. Identify which ever you are missing, lacking
• 3. Formulate plan to increase, improve your capacity
and support, i.e. strengthen your asset by:
-- inviting impact investor
-- attending conference, seminar, training courses
-- meeting with government officials
-- joining as member of General Chamber of Social
Enterprise

14. 3rd Utmost Risk -- Sustainability
Sustainability of your social enterprise operation.
Four Sustaining factors are:
• A. Achievement of your social mission
• B. Continuation of funding source in
• C. Service effectiveness brings benefits to
customers and beneficiaries
• D. Endurance of your social impact – creating a
sustainable impact to influence the entire
society

15. Suggested Solutions
• 1. Periodically review the achievement of your social
mission – measuring the effectiveness on change
• 2. Assessing the sustainability of your financial
resource, and whether the operation brings in
INCOME / PROFIT
• 3. Identify any ways to improve, enhance your
service delivery / quality level of service / product
so as to keep loyal customers and increase new
customers
• 4. Asking how many people know about your service,
and review the increase of support, e.g. Volunteers

16. 4th Utmost Risk – Calculation of Cost
Social Entrepreneur always get a challenge of
not be cost sensitive…..
• A. Unit Cost Accounting
• B. Full cost recovery budget
• C. Cash in / out flow
• D. Contingency fund
• E. Have your also count on your personal
input?

17. Suggested Solutions
• 1. Invite an account friend to help your business plan
• 2. Design a full check list on your cost, from printing to
transport, from design to production, etc…
• 3. Adopt an unit cost strategy to identify your every cost,
and so identify ways to cut cost
• 4. Estimate the cash in / out flow to prepare for the
payment and potential cash risk
• 5. Always remember to plan for your own salary at the
budget
• 6. Try not to allocate all of your saving into the SE, but
remain small part for contingency fund, and, maintain a
good relationship with your potential supporter - family

18. 5th Utmost Risk –
Marketing & Promotion
Some social entrepreneur think that just with a
good heart, and lovely mind, people will then
love your product and service..
• A. The market is confusing
• B. Users / Customers sometimes not knowing
their need,
• C. Customers buy your product / service due
to branding, fame and peers referral, you
need to let them know you and your service

19. Suggested Ways
• 1. Engaging a marketing friend to help design your
product and service – brand building with eye-
catching name and colour
• 2. Mobilization of social media, above the line and
below the line marketing
• 3. Consider the Social Marketing – friends / fan
marketing, user loyalty program, etc..
• 4. Prepare budget for product / service design
• 5. Organizing the customer feedback for further
improvement

20. 6th Utmost Risk – Quality / Loyalty
Never think people buy or use your service due to
supporting your great dream, they come to you due
to quality and need.
Have to ask yourself:
• A. Whether your service / product is need driven?
Continuation of the need – where to find, and how
to create their loyalty?
• B. Will the customer and service users come back
to you after the first time?
• C. Never try to bribe them by your loving heart…but
Quality is forever the FIRST

21. Suggested Ways
• 1. Frequently assess where is your customer need
• 2. Asking what else you can offer other than the
current service
• 3. Detecting the reasons of low response,
consumption rate
• 4. Looks for rooms for Improvement
• 5. Consider using Secret Customers to test the service
• 6. Taking part on competition / award to know where
you are

22. 7th Utmost Risk –
Cannot build a Strong Team
You can never be a social entrepreneur by yourself,
but by a team. How to build your strong team,
and also avoiding conflict, argument, and
handling of diversified views
A Non- Strong Team can:
• a. Steal your idea and start a new one as your
competitor
• b. possess personal agenda
• c. Creating hurdle at the midst of development
• d. Delay your growth plan

23. Suggested Ways
• 1. Frequently share your dreams and missions with
your colleagues and team members
• 2. Motivate them also to build their dream within
your mission
• 3. Offering decent package to your staff
• 4. Delegation of authority – create their ownership
• 5. Arranging external visits to other SEs or similar
operations to learn from others
• 6. Offering promotion chances to colleagues

24. Suggested Ways
• 1. Frequently share your dreams and missions with
your colleagues and team members
• 2. Motivate them also to build their dream within
your mission
• 3. Offering decent package to your staff
• 4. Delegation of authority – create their ownership
• 5. Arranging external visits to other SEs or similar
operations to learn from others
• 6. Offering promotion chances to colleagues

25. 8th Utmost Risk – Protection of your
Intellectual Property / Creation
With the social innovative mind, you have your
unique social enterprise. Yet, the success of
your great idea can attract external investment,
impact investor, enemy’s attack
• A. Have your registered your trade mark
• B. Have your registered your IP
• C. Have you obtained the license of
monopoly?
Registered Trade Mark of

26. Suggested Ways
• 1. Identify the most unique, special and particular (USP)
process or kind of your product / service process
• 2. Document the detail process, characters and the
history of your own creation
• 3. Double check whether there’s any similarities in your
country, or in the world
• 4. Employ an IPR lawyer to help registering your IPR
• 5. It may take 1 to two years, but good to proceed with
the registration to prevent others from registration
• 6. Upon success, should try every means to promote
• 7. Yet, can leave a space for licensing or franchizing

27. 9th Utmost Risk – Not Doing R & D
A great idea can be out-dated, replicated, or out-
going by other advance technique, in particularly
when is in-responsive to the changing need and
world
• A. Not checking any update on the changing
need
• B. Not checking any latest technology / skill
• C. Not spending money or hiring consultant to
identify the next 3 years of your service
model

28. Suggested Ways
• 1. Conduct more frequent on meeting with your
customers / service users
• 2. Identify any rooms for better improvement, re-
creation or streamlining the service process
• 3. Employ out-source consultant to conduct product
test, or new product creation
• 4. Yet, have to sign undertaking that all creations are
belongs to your propriety
• 5. Allocate certain percentage of your operation fund
for R & D

29. 10th Utmost Risk –
You as the key stakeholder
Your Social Innovation/ Enterprise is not going
to run on, if you
• A. are disappointed with the response
• B. feel really lonely at the SE journey
• C. are inpatient to wait the belated impact
• D. are too worried about the cash issue
• E. Your better half / parents ask you to STOP
• F. Decided to give up

30. Suggested Ways
• 1. Never be 200 % involvement on daily operation
• 2. Consider the 7 – 2 – 1 scale: 7 on daily operation, 2 on
R & D, 1 on Day dreaming, dreaming for new invention
• 3. Identify Mentor to be shoulder of your tears and
frustration
• 4. Maintain ideal relations with your family, who is the
utmost source of support
• 5. Take a break if you are really tired
• 6. Cry sometimes to let emotion out
• 7. At time of ultimate difficulties, Give Up and Let Go
timely

31. Revisiting our VMV –
The Three Questions
Answering again the 3 questions will help us to
be away from risk:
• A. Setting our vision, mission and value
• B. Setting our focus of target and priority
• C. Concerning the quality of our service /
product
(Ref: Drucker, Peter: 5 Essential Questions you ever have to ask
for your Org. HBS)

32. References
• Drucker, Peter: 5 Essential Questions you ever have
to ask for your Org. HBS
• Leonard, Herman B: A Short Note on Public Sector
Strategic Planning, HBS 2002
• Tse, KK : 8 Characters of Social Entrepreneurs, HK

33. Questions & Answers
• Questions Welcome…..
• Welcome to share your concerns and views….
• Thanks

34. Future Contact:
• Timothy Ma
• Email: tm722956@netvigator.com
• Tel: 852 9038 0545
• WeChat: Kamwahma

35. • Provides thought leadership
on business and policy
challenges in emerging
economies
• 40+ Faculty Associates
• Founded in 2013 with support
from EY
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