The elea Way - Preview

elea’s FOUNDATION AND OPER ATING MODEL 1 01

we have, thus, made room for extensive reflection on ethics and virtues, not because we believe that everybody should adopt liberal ethics and live by the same virtues, but rather to encourage others to likewise engage in deep thought about why they are doing what they are doing. There is rarely a right or wrong answer when addressing such issues. Does a philanthropic initiative result from a specific experience during a crucial moment in one’s life, or is it rather the outcome of an intel- lectual thought process? Does the chosen purpose follow an intuition that is related to a personal or family constellation, or does it address a universally recognized human need? Are decisions taken based on clear criteria and the analysis of facts, or are they rather based on gut feelings? We would argue that making the effort to reflect on deeper “whys” about how answers to such questions are derived can lead to higher levels of consciousness and consistency, and through that, possibly to higher levels of effectiveness and impact. Transparency in decision-making also helps to sharpen the profile and identity of an investment organization. Our decision to define elea’s purpose as fighting absolute poverty with entrepreneurial means ena- bled a clear strategic focus and direction, and it helped to identify the trade-offs with other possible statements of purpose, such as those in the field of environmental protection. Being clear about one’s identity helps when finding out where and how an organization can make a difference in line with the additionality principle. While this all sounds clear and well thought out, we should, however, not succumb to the delusion that this was all rationally designed and planned. Much of elea’s profile and identity today resulted from a learning journey that was exploratory and involved much trial and error.

3 .3 .2 Your point of view Learning objec tives After studying this chapter, you should be able to

1. identify the motivations and intentions of elea’s founders and ana- lyze the drivers that led to the creation of elea; 2. describe elea’s integrated approach using entrepreneurship and capi- tal to drive social innovation;