Tjanpi Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Essay

Social Entrepreneurship Proposal

Tjanpi is a social enterprise that works with women living in remote regions of the Central and Western deserts to help them produce fibre art objects, which generates an income source for this population. This includes sculptures, baskets, jewellery, and merchandise. Due to the fact that the aim of the social enterprise is to help the Aboriginal population remain in the locations, they have always lived in and preserve their unique culture, this proposal aims to develop an online education service, which will showcase how the fibre art products are made and discuss the culture of these people. In addition, this project will partner with Sydney Community College to introduce commercial courses that can be purchased by people who want to have a better understanding of the aboriginal culture. The primary purpose of this social innovation project is to aid Tjanpi’s primary goal in helping Aboriginal women to combat social problems, such as lack of job opportunities, by empowering them and helping others learn more about the aboriginals.

For the first stage of this project, the educational course that depicts the culture and the fibre art creation process will be developed. Several distribution channels will be leveraged to promote these educational materials. The Tjanpi’s social initiative argues that the ABoriginal women use “native grasses to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, weaving beautiful baskets and sculptures and displaying endless creativity and inventiveness” (About us, n.d., para. 2). This is a unique and creative skill and to attract attention to the online course, several online distribution channels will be leveraged.

Firstly, a video-sharing platform YouTube, which allows anyone to upload and share video content, can be used as the primary source of distributing the online course. Additionally, YouTube allows creators of unique content to receive money from advertisements displayed around their content, which will help Tjapi collect money to support other initiatives for the Aboriginal women (YouTube monetisation policies, n.d.). This platform is a convenient and appropriate way of sharing knowledge about the Aboriginal culture, which will also help support the social enterprise that will create the course. Next, different social media platforms, for instance Facebook and Instagram, will be used by Tjapi to promote the course becuase this is a cost-effective strategy (Abi-Aad, 2015). The main reasoning behind this suggestion is the fact that Tjapi already has a well-established social media presence, which can be leveraged to attract attention to the new initiative.

The second stage of this project involves collaboration with Sydney Community College, which offers students to purchase courses in varied academic fields. According to the Sydney Community College’s website, its goal is to provide practical knowledge, and this establishment recognises the importance of advancing the nation’s understanding of the aboriginal culture (Sydney Community College, n.d.). Students pay a fee per each course separately, meaning that people interested in fibre weaving and jewellery making can enrol in this course without having to take any additional courses. Social media of the College and Tjapi’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram will be used to promote this offline course.

Tjanpi’s Description

The current governance structure of Tjanpi emerged as a result of this project’s purpose. The Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY), Women’s Council, is in charge of the Tjanpi’s operations, and this non-profit organisation established this social enterprise. The new service outlined in this essay will not require this social enterprise to change its governance structure, since no changes in the way Tjanpi functions are implied. This organisation will continue helping Aboriginal women create fibre art objects and sell them to generate profits and raise awareness about the cultural heritage of this population.

Instead, this organisation will have to change its organisational structure, to account for the activities related to online education and partnership with the Sydney Community College. The reason for this advice is because currently, there is no division that would account for education and development of educational materials and strategies within Tjanpi. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that cooperation with the Syndey Community College is adequate, which will require continuous collaboration and communication while the course is being developed. Other aspects, such as social media presence and project promotion, can be facilitated using Tjanpi’s existing employees since the organisation already has an established social media policy.

Therefore, this project implies that Tjanpi will have to modify their organisational structure to account for activities connected to the process of collecting information, creating educational materials and videos and uploading these videos to the chosen distribution channels. Tjanpi will have to hire a professional with experience of working on social innovation projects or educational projects, who will manage the process. This employee will also be responsible for communication with the Sydney Community College. Additionally, it is possible that the organisation will require an information technology specialist to account for the specifics of managing online education courses and other participants can be hired only for this specific project.

Reference List

Abi-Aad, G. (2015) ‘Social media for social entrepreneurship’, Enterpreneur. Web.

About us(n.d.). Web.

Sydney Community College (n.d.). Web.

YouTube monetisation policies(n.d.). Web.