Tag: social entrepreneurs

The three principles “to get rich”

Arantza Arruti Leave a comment

Answering to some people who asked me… yes, I’m still here, but it’s been hard months and, this time, I haven’t been able to write as much as I would have liked. Besides, I remind you that this coming November 2024 I will celebrate 10 years of this blog, it wouldn’t seem right to stop right now, don’t you think?

Today I want to share with you a video from TEDxAlcoi, by Rafa Fergom. I watched it a few days ago and I liked what he tells and how he tells it. Rafa shares with us the three principles to get rich, get richer, or just, the three principles of social entrepreneurship.

I don’t know if you know TED (I highly recommend them). They are short talks and this one that I share with you today, could not be otherwise. I encourage you to watch the video and listen to Rafa’s words. Among other things because you will discover that sharing is the best way to compete.

Here is a summary of the three principles:

Principle #1

  • Helping is a very good strategy to transcend.
  • It is better giving to share (love), and not to receive (to expect something in return), because this way of giving activates the flame of entrepreneurship, uncertainty, creativity, growth and development.

Principle #2

  • We should do what makes us happy, useful and passionate, because from that way of doing, in return, we will receive something.

Principle #3

  • Let’s do something bearing in mind the collective benefit, making other people feeling useful, recognized and valued.
  • Let’s believe in the strength of the community. If something is not good for everyone, it is not good for others either.

Thank you, Rafa, for sharing your story and for reminding us that  the person is not rich because he/she has more money than anyone else.

I’ll be back soon, I promise.

Thank you for still being there.

Dispelling the myth about social entrepreneurhsip

Arantza Arruti Leave a comment

Today’s post was not this one, but I admit that, by chance, while I was looking for information for “the post I was writing”, I came across a video that I liked. It could not be otherwise, I confess. I have a special affection for Ashoka. The video I am sharing with you today seems very clear and direct.

What do I like about this video? Above all, I like the fact that Maite Arango y Alexandra Mitjans, two women from different generations of Ashoka, talk about social entrepreneurship. Among the keywords of their conversation, I share with you the following:

  • Work
  • Challenges
  • Solutions
  • Innovation
  • Initiatives
  • Impacts
  • Contribution
  • Legacy
  • Technology
  • Humanity
  • Ethic
  • Education
  • Awareness
  • Commitment
  • Empathy
  • Sustainability
  • Conviction
  • Collaboration (intergenerational, institutional, organizational, corporate, global, international, etc.)

¿What is your main option? Difficult, right?

Thanks, Ashoka, for your daily work.

I will be back in two weeks. Enjoy June.

GAPTAIN launches Segureskola

Arantza Arruti Leave a comment

Some months ago, Cristina Sal Salvador del Valle, who is responsible for the social impact at the BBK Foundation and is my fellow sufferer in this thing called entrepreneurship, got in touch with me to see if I could make an ad hoc mentoring session for a project in education to strengthen certain issues.  You can imagine that it didn’t take too long for me to say yes, of course. The day chosen for the mentoring, the 4th of June 2019, which, by the way, is a very important date for me, started this adventure. Roberto Álvarez was there, the founder and CEO of a company that “soon” would become an ally in the great adventure that is entrepreneurship, education and digital competence.

Here starts today’s post that, honestly, gives me good feelings and memories, and makes me want to join forces to do my small part in a topic that worries me more every day. I encourage you to know Gaptain.

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THANK YOU for you WOP?Yes

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Today I want to write an appreciation post.Hoy quiero escribir un post de agradecimiento.

I want to thank Mikel and Mentxu, real social entrepreneurs, for letting me be a part of your family and, specially, of WOP, whose work I’ve been supporting for a few years, and attitude (Mikel’s and Mentxu’s) I envy many days of the year. So, THANK YOU.

Thanks to Ruth too, for making things easier for me with the more than 200 volunteers we had to coordinate on the 6th Estropatada of WOP. Because for those who don’t know, we were more than 200 people who made possible that the estropatada went that well.  And that’s thanks to some heads and hands that moved everything from the beginning so that the 17th of June of 2018 everything went how it was supposed to, even though things can always be improved. So, together with Ruth, THANK YOU to the volunteers too for making things easier in a very hot and busy day.

Because, throwing 30.000 WOPatos (ducks) to the estuary of Bilbao to raise funds to research about rare neurodegenerative diseases it’s not an easy task, even though some may think like that. You have to know that the ducks thrown from the Deusto Bridge ARE NOT left on the estuary once the race is over; the chips they have aren’t put by themselves (nor do they remove them once the race is over); they don’t arrive to the finish line by themselves because some of them don’t see very well and need guiding in their way to the finish line; the tables aren’t set and removed by themselves, the hamburgers, sausages, drinks, pintxos and more aren’t prepared alone; kid’s faces aren’t painted alone; the songs aren’t sung alone, the dances aren’t directed alone and the event isn’t managed, presented and directed alone; the sandwiches of the volunteers aren’t made alone; the merchandising stands aren’t prepared alone; and there are many NOs that have become a YES due to the good work, the good attitude, the willingness and the good mood there is on an event like the estropatada.

Therefore, as I’ve been doing for the last couple of years, this year I also challenged myself to sell 250 WOPatos, not for the WOPatón, which I already have a few (and I’ve gifted others), but for the pride of knowing that my effort, even if it’s small, contributes to the research about a cause that I support strongly, and which is not researched enough.

I can’t end this post without THANKING many people who have contributed to the research buying each of those 250 ducks. The truth is that I’m more than proud to see, another year, how generous are the people around me, the vast majority colleagues of the University of Deusto, but also personal friends and colleagues from other institutions. It’s a pleasure to know that you’re there, collaborating with the cause and it’s even better to know that you’re almost waiting for the ducks, even though you already have a few, because it’s not about them, right?

THANK YOU, specially, for not saying the well-worn sentence for some people: “another duck? I already have one from last year”.

Enjoy these sunny and warm days, we don’t know how much they’re going to last.

Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.