Rebuilding civil society through grassroots entrepreneurship

They say that the best ideas come when you least expect them. One of my best ideas came to me as I was sitting on the beach contemplating my loss to Clive Palmer at the 2013 Federal election – a loss by only 53 votes I might add.

As I mulled over life’s challenges, the issues on my mind were those faced by young people in today’s society: drug dependency and mental health; homelessness and suicide. In some parts of the country, youth unemployment and underemployment has been the highest in 40 years.

Youth unemployment can be viewed as a proxy for all the issues facing young people – sapping them of hope and opportunity.

I was asking myself one question as I sat on that beach - who was responsible for helping the younger generation?

We have traditionally turned to government and business to solve our biggest social problems. In fact, we’ve become overly reliant on government and the market place to solve these issues – and this has come to the detriment of civil society.

Civil society is that sector of our society occupying the community space, widely recognised as relying on family and friendship networks, neighbourhoods and voluntary associations; a bringing together of individuals and groups without obligation and without direction from government or the marketplace.

I came to the conclusion that it was my responsibility to help the younger generation as much as it was anyone’s.

But, I wanted to make a positive and long lasting contribution to this problem; one that contributed to rebuilding connections and relationships across the community, one that would help rebuild civil society.

Now, civil society cannot and should not be rebuilt as it was in the past. We shouldn’t expect young people of today to conform to the conventions of older generations.

It was then that I decided to explore youth entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment, and Generation Innovation was founded.

The Generation Innovation (GI) concept is simple: to create an opportunity to unleash the innovation and genius of young people by giving them a real opportunity to develop, create and adapt their ideas and turn them into businesses.

But young people lack three things in starting their own business - experience, a network and money. GI brings a community together to remove these barriers by providing education, training, industry access, mentorship and seed-funding to help young people start their own business.  

GI is also a civil society incubator. You see, its core mission is not to create start-ups but to empower young people to pursue their own path towards a positive future and to create heroes out of them along the way. GI delivers on this mission by reconstructing civil society in a way that’s fit for today’s modern world.

GI has no paid staff; its Head Office is virtual and its website is its shop front.

GI creates young heroes with help from its media partners – TV, radio and newspaper – that tell positive human stories about GI participants and their ideas. Local business chambers and local businesses – small and large alike – are involved. Nearly 100 volunteers who are highly skilled professionals typically at the peak of their own careers help deliver the program and there is deep involvement of the community through market surveys, crowdfunding and even a vote on the public’s preferred venture.

Participants in the GI programme come from all walks of like - e.g. some are referrals from youth service organisations, schools or social workers and others sign-up themselves. It is this mix of everyday young people together with GI’s  uniquely designed model that helps capture the imagination of the public, thus creating local heroes who, in turn, inspire other young people to “have a go” at creating their own business.

The rebuilding of civil society as a whole requires this type of collaboration but on a far grander scale. It requires a different way of thinking – in fact, a cultural shift - from organisations, community groups and individuals who need to re-engineer business models, wean off government funding, commercialise operations, redefine their use of volunteers and engage the public more dynamically. 

Such a cultural shift requires one thing more than anything else – leadership!

Rebuilding civil society requires leaders with a social conscience who will answer the call and lead change. These leaders will be found in the home, in churches, community groups, politics or the economy – the rebuilding of civil society rests on the shoulders of all who are able and willing to lead. I’m up for the challenge – are you?

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Ted O’Brien

Ted O’Brien is the Federal Member for Fairfax in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. He is a family man who entered parliament with 20-plus years of experience in business and a track record as a community leader. 

Contact Ted – via LinkedIn

Contact Ted as the Federal Member for Fairfax – ted.obrien.mp@aph.gov.au | 07 5479 2800 | tedobrien.com.au | facebook.com/TedOBrienMP

Generation Innovation

www.generationinnovation.com.au