The nature of impacts that sustainability entrepreneurs aspired to have on communities of the New Orleans region varied with the kind of organizational model which these leaders followed. I have grouped entrepreneurs into three categories, based on what form of organizational model most accurately describes their respective agencies. Although many stakeholders held qualities shared between different models, such as non-profit leaders with a financially viable business model or business owners who invest profit in the community, I chose the organizational model that best represented how these entrepreneurs defined their activities. In some cases, these activities were so varied that it was not appropriate to group them into a single model,
giving rise to a number of hybrid entrepreneurs who blended private, non-profit, and public sector models. This finding parallels that of Austin et al. (2006), whose focus on social entrepreneurs found a tendency to blur the traditional organizational models. Of the 12 individuals who commented on their intended impacts, three were private sector actors, six non-profit, and three a hybrid of private, non-profit, and public sector traits.
However, there was not sufficient representation of public sector leaders to identify their characteristics.
As seen in the most salient intended impacts above, some themes were more commonly endorsed by private sector entrepreneurs, while non-profit leaders more commonly expressed other impacts, and others were more likely to be endorsed by hybrid entrepreneurs. Overall, the different kinds of organizational models from which entrepreneurs approached community impact had common features that demarcated them from the other alternatives. A few key differences emerged between the entrepreneurs that I consulted. These differences were apparent between private sector and non-profit actors which, despite their many similarities in visions and intended impacts, diverged on a few important points. Hybrid leaders show characteristics of both of these models, as well as some unique traits. However, business and non-profit entrepreneurs illustrated several important distinctions.
Private
The most common marker of private sector actors was a focus on five specific goals of the Common Vision. By far the most commonly expressed intended impact was to foster and support sustainable business, followed by the goal of reducing waste.
Other salient intended impacts included the desire to provide high-quality employment to regional job-seekers, and help build a more sustainable and efficient energy system.
Strengthening the Local Economy
One entrepreneur explained how she hopes the electric utility for which she works will help foster the local economy:
“It’s much better for the local economy if you’re not spending unnecessarily on electricity and you can spend it in other aspects of the community. In other
increased electricity sales”
(Anonymous, personal communication, August 24, 2012).
Altruism and Opportunism
One of the main markers of private sector entrepreneurs was a divergence on the motivations of these actors. Although several business owners had lofty goals for reaching a sustainable model and impacting their communities, some of their peers viewed sustainability merely as a new opportunity to profit. This divergence between altruism and opportunism confirms the distinction made by Tilley & Young (2009), who acknowledge that self-interest may drive the adoption of SE, and validate the emphasis of Porter & Kramer (2006) on using strategic business logic for truly effective CSR. This perspective also shows the convergence of positive community impact and business strategy based on self-interest and positive regional impacts. Other entrepreneurs approached community impacts such as providing employment with a more altruistic motivation:
“We take our role as a community member very seriously. I mean we try to provide a nice work environment for our staff. We try to treat them with respect, and create a safe environment for them to work in, and a place that they can be proud of”
(Anonymous, personal communication, August 6, 2012).
Other business owners took a more middle-road approach between self-interest and altruism, emphasizing the shared goals of bottom-line driven concerns such as cost savings and the moral commitment driving them to follow such goals. These intended impacts were prevalent among business owners, representing a strong commitment by private sector entrepreneurs to enhance natural and economic capital in the region.
Although these entrepreneurs had some goals to impact conditions in other areas, such as human capital through teaching skills and trades, the emphasis on the other areas of community capital was somewhat low. Overall, business owners had a fairly low amount of comprehensiveness in their intended impacts, although they were very enthusiastic about the kinds of impacts they did want to have on the region.
Non-profit
Sustainability entrepreneurs from non-profit organizational models had a broader array of intended impacts. Also most committed to sustainable business transitions,
these entrepreneurs shared this commitment with their private sector peers. However, their other intended impacts were unique. Very important to non-profit sector leaders were goals such as ecological restoration and increasing public appreciation for nature, fostering community initiatives, attracting talent and investment, promoting equity and intercultural healing, educating the community, and providing affordable housing. Given the low emphasis on non-profit actors in the SE literature, these findings give new contours to the nature of New Orleans’ sustainability entrepreneurs that can help expand this underdeveloped area in the framework.
Supporting Economic Development
Although these entrepreneurs did not operate in the business world, they often expressed a desire to support economic development through attracting talent and investment to the region. One stakeholder works for an organization directly devoted to attracting capital in-flow to the city via sporting events:
“The Sports Foundation is a non-profit organization. The point of it is to increase economic impact. Our mission is to bring events, major sporting events to New Orleans that will do what you just said. Fill hotel rooms, fill up restaurants, use taxis, use the flights at the end, things of that nature. And create a positive economic impact on the city”
(Anonymous, personal communication, August 12, 2012).
Instilling Confidence
Related to the healing that comes with deconstructing social and racial barriers described by this leader’s perspective is the desire to instil pride and confidence in community members through education. Many non-profit entrepreneurs had an educational component to their programs, and aspired to use their roles as educators to empower marginalized communities and create greater agency among many community members. This entrepreneur explained the goal of her organization in this way:
“I think confidence is a big [goal], and certainly the certifications we provide is another. And I think that the, making it through something is a big achievement for a lot of our students to actually come through a three month program and finish all these classes and get these certificates, and walk in a graduation ceremony and actually achieve something and finish something”
(Anonymous, personal communication, August 8, 2012).
These characteristics of non-profit entrepreneurs provide novel findings for the SE framework to enrich the currently undeveloped focus on NGOs as entrepreneurs.
However, the already existing focus from the social entrepreneurship literature on non-profits shows that the goals of New Orleans’ sustainability non-non-profits play a similar role as those of social entrepreneurs. Similar to the assertion of Dees (1998), the mission of these actors defines their actions and drives the choice of approaches and techniques used to achieve their intended community role. Also, the findings of CCEDN’s report on social entrepreneurs in Winnipeg, MB, are given strength by the parallel to New Orleans NGOs in their ability to fill the void left by market and state actors. Non-profit leaders in New Orleans play pivotal roles in issues such as wetlands restoration and food security that have largely been neglected by the private sector and, until very recently, government, confirming the social entrepreneur’s role in filling institutional gaps.
Hybrid
The final entrepreneur group is a collection of individuals whose efforts are not well represented by any single organizational model. These hybrid entrepreneurs included an architect who is helping author and consult with community members regarding a significant storm water management plan, the director of a local food market that invests all of its profits in the nearby neighbourhood, and a kayaking outfitter who supports local clean-ups and outdoor education. Although each of these individuals has a job title that could be described by some combination of public, private, or non-profit sectors, their vision for community impacts are a blend of all three that leads to their characterization as hybrid entrepreneurs. The intended impacts of these leaders varied greatly, ranging from the goal to promote and execute a more environmentally sustainable storm water system to the desire to raise public awareness about outdoor and recreational opportunities. A few examples of these intended impacts are given below.
Improving Food Access
All of the hybrid entrepreneurs shared a commitment to improving the access of community members to healthy and sustainably produced food. Although they come from very different professional backgrounds, their missions all incorporated food access into their vision for community impact. One hybrid entrepreneur has translated his
passion for vegetarian cuisine into a local restaurant and food collective to meet the need for vegetarian food choice in New Orleans. He also explained this aspiration, fulfilled outside of his planning role but still intended to meet community food needs:
“when I was in college I worked on a farm for a while, and from there I’ve had a few jobs, working professional and things like that. But when I moved here in 2009, I was amazed to see the lack of vegetarian options and vegetarian restaurants in town. I made that move, and so, and I was having lots of people over for dinner. I’ve always cooked for a lot of people, that’s just something that I do. And from there evolved the desire to see contribute to the community by providing a vegetarian option that didn’t exist”
(Anonymous, personal communication, August 12, 2012).
Promoting Healing
An equally strong commitment to promoting healing between divided socio-economic communities was expressed by hybrid stakeholders. One leader poignantly expressed how he hoped his local food market to achieve this aim:
“people kind of have this idea of Hollygrove being this horrible, dangerous place, and…that’s not fair to residents who aren’t the select few who are causing those problems. We want to make sure we’re breaking down those barriers because there’s so many great people back here…I like to think of it as a welcome center, where people can come to the neighborhood, they get to meet residents, they get to see Hollygrove as not this gang-ridden, horrible place with shootings everywhere. There are real people here living their lives. I think that’s valuable, and…vice versa, for the residents and the people who come here to shop.
Because I’m sure…there’s stereotypes going both ways, and we’re trying to break those down as much as possible. And…food is a great way to do that.
Everyone needs food, you can kind of share stories about food, and all that other stuff kind of goes out the window”
(Anonymous, personal communication, August 3, 2012).