Structure of Opportunities

The other day in my class on Social Entrepeneurship, I had made a reference to the 'Structure of Opportunities' in a society. Opportunities are not equally distributed in a society, i.e., for some of us certain 'opportunities' come easily, while for others they never do - and therefore, the achievements are not always a function of just 'merit' and 'capability'.

"...e.g., suppose, you go to Chashire Home or School of Hope - or a T-Shirt manufacturer, etc. - and give a bulk-order of their produce, so that you can sell it in the campus (or elsewhere), make some margins and share it back with them. The chances are that, if you ask, they may give you the products on credit, simply because you come from a "background". That is, you can do this venture without 'working capital'. Morevoer, you also have an easy access to the 'market' (batchmates, campus people, etc.) to sell these products.

Now, imagine that instead of you, it is one of those construction workers who are there on the campus these days, who approaches the same suppliers (Chashire Home, School of Hope, T-Shirt Manufacturer, etc.), with the same "business plan". S/he will need the 'working capital' and even though being in the 'market' (XL Campus),his/her access will not be as smooth...

This difference would remain irrepective of the "ability" of the person...

Around the same time, Thanks to Annie's post on HTOHL, I came across this insightful listing by "M." about these 'opportunities' (or as she puts them 'undeserved privileges') on her blog.

This is a list worth looking at. Social Entrepeneurship essentially involves creating access to these and similar 'opportunities' for those who don't have them...