5 Pointers We Gained From Ziad Abi Chaker In the Social Entrepreneurship  Summit

The Social Entrepreneurship Summit, which was held last week on 22 and 23 March, hosted many of the most prominent entrepreneurs and speakers in the ecosystem, including  Ziad Abi Chaker,

Abi Chaker is the founder of Cedar environmental,  an environmental engineering organization that aims to build recycling plants to produce organically certified fertilizers and leave no waste material to be disposed of achieving ZERO WASTE to the landfill status.

“I’m very proud to be here, and I’m excited to share this session with you,” Abi Chaker told the audience.

What followed was a lengthy presentation on the Do’s and Dont’s of social entrepreneurship, and the reform needed in various fields, mainly education.

Ziad Abi Chaker at the Social Entrepreneurship Summit

Here are some key pointers we took from the session

1) The goal of social entrepreneurship (and the hardest thing about it) is to create impact while sustaining profitability.   

“An example of that is the latest initiative we’re working on, which is placing composting boxes on the street so that people can pick up their dog littlers,” Abi Chaker said. “But we still haven’t figured out a solution on how to make it profitable.”

   2) Differentiation is key if you want to be sustainable .

“There are copycats everywhere in the market. So people need to buy your product because they know that you’re making a difference somewhere in the world,” Abi Chaker said.

   3) Tap into your network, it’s very valuable and deep.

“We’re not talking about acquaintances here, but [about] people who can actually help you when you need help and have deep talks with you,” Abi Chaker said.

  4) It’s ok if you choose not to be a non-profit . 

You need not be ashamed of making money as a social enterprise, because this is how you sustain yourself and pay for the research and development you need for market research, Abi Chaker said.

  5) We need to re-invent the education system.

“Global leaders are debating now whether a college degree is worth investing your money in,” Abi Chaker said. (I never came close to cover what I personally invested in my university degrees, and I’m already a retired person)

One-on-one education is not enough, we need to get a culture that will keep us all connected and help in disseminating information in many ways, he added.

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