Teaching at a Christian univeristy, it's not uncommon for someone to doubt the validity of a business school. I've written before about it here. People think business equals profit and greed, and for a Christian that must mean business is bad. However, suddenly business is hot again and that's because of this nifty little word called social entrepreneurship, which is also known as Business as Mission (BAM).

Social entrepreneurship is when a business uses for-profit means to accomplish a social good. This usually happens in one of two ways. A non-profit starts a for-profit enterprise and uses the proceeds to fund their philanthropic activities. Or a for-profit decides to put some of its business proceeds towards a good cause. An example of the first is the Salvation Army retail stores. An example of the second is Tom's Shoes, which donates a pair of shoes to children in need for every shoe that is sold. 

Fast Company recently reported on the work of Samasource, a company that trains Sudanese and Somalian refugees that are currently residing in Kenya. The refugees are taught basic computer skills and are employed at a local computer center managed by CARE. Businesses from the US, then contract with the organization to complete computer tasks and in doing so pay them a wage ($2 a day) that is four times what they would be paid breaking rocks in a nearby quarry. $2 a day may not sound like much to us, but for these refugees it's changing their lives.

And this is an amazing thing. We've all read plenty about the damage that outsourcing can do, both to a domestic econcomy and when the outsourcing companies are unscrupulous with the way that they treat workers. In countries where worker protections are few, we can't overstate this concern. However, like with so many things, we have to be careful to not throw out the good with the bad. If we can better someone's life by training them with new skills, hiring them to perform productive work, and allow them to provide for themselves in ways that they previously thought were impossible, then shouldn't that be something that we celebrate? And shouldn't that be something that we actively seek to do?