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Training for social businesses With the objective of fighting the condition of poverty and inequality in our region, in the year 2018 the Assistance Program for Social Businesses was continued, and implemented by the university students and collaborating professors of the UABC - Yunus Center. Stages for Social Businesses Assistance 1. Structure and operation Through specialized instruments, the students developed diagnostics, operational analysis, evaluations and compiled evidence of the performance of social businesses, all with the support of the collaborating professors of the UABC-Yunus Center. Moreover, statistical business indicators were collected, which are used for the evaluation of the results of said program and for applied research. Each student who completed an internship at the UABC-Yunus Center was in charge of three students who were completing their social service. They held meetings periodically in order to review the progress of the assistance and thus keep track of the social business and its workers. The students committed to the owners to provide an adequate and gentle follow-up, in such a way that the owners were willing to offer useful and accessible information for the improvement of the operation of their social business. 2. Selection and training of students At the beginning of each semester a new announcement is posted calling for students to apply in the UABC-Yunus Center as operators of business assistance. The selection is carried out throughout an interview; the candidates are those students who are in the last academic stage to obtain their degree, a solidarity profile and the student's knowledge are valued qualities that are reviewed in each application. Several training sessions were held with the students, where the main topics that concern assisting social businesses were detailed. Also, information regarding the filling of the assistance instruments was shared, the manual for social businesses strengthening and the fiscal incorporation regime were among the main topics explained. 3. Selection of Social Businesses type 2 Each social service provider must conduct the search for 3 type 2 social businesses, located in some of the priority attention areas, designated by the Ministry of Welfare (formerly the Ministry of Social Development), in collaboration with CONAPO. Besides, each intern has social service providers in its work group. 4. Application Tools The methodology used for the assistance has instruments and tools that serve as a base and reference to the students, such as: worksheets to keep records (counting sheets) and diagnosis, a business strengthening manual and journals. Counting sheet: Includes preliminary information about the entrepreneur and the social business, such as: identification and location data, socioeconomic information and labor data. Diagnosis: A questionnaire applied during the first phase of the assistance by social service providers, includes specific operational data about the social business, such as: revenues, costs, access to capital, employees, human capital, market information, information on marketing, technical information and institutional information. Strengthening Manual: Contains the key activities that are responsibility of the student during the assistance: management, purchases, sales and finance. On the management section, the owner of the business is assisted by the student in the creation of a mission and vision statement, as well as to set the main goals in the short, medium and long term. On the purchases section, the raw materials and supplies that are needed for the business operation are analyzed, and based on this; a search is conducted to find alternative suppliers to consider purchasing options. The sales area is composed of two key aspects: advertising and discounts, in order to create strategies to increase the sales. In the finance section, a study of costs and equilibrium points is implemented, for which the costs are categorized in variables and fixed, moreover, the incomes are analyzed and the minimum quantities of product that must be sold to cover the total costs are determined. Logbooks: Serves as an instrument to keep a structured record of the company's operations and daily or weekly indicators on issues of production, sales, inputs, costs and wages. Furthermore, this instrument is used in a complementary way to build a database for the analysis and evaluation of the company. This instrument is applied throughout the training process. At the end of the assistance, 12 logs, 1 per week, must have been made. 5. Results During the year 2018, 135 type 2 social businesses were attended (of which 72 were in the peripheral areas of Tijuana, and the rest in Tecate, San Quintín and Guadalupe Victoria), through the involvement of more than 45 university students who provided their professional social service or internships. Considering the total of the social businesses served, most of them were undertaken by women, who started with the installation of independent or family workshops counting with self-employment or with only one additional worker to the owner. More than 50% of them started their business in the last 5 years, without presenting municipal permits or a register with the revenue service, in other words, they are in the framework of informality. 19% of the owners are between 19 to 29 years old, 22% from 30 to 39 years old, 31% from 40 to 49 years old, 20% from 50 to 59 years old, and the rest (8%) over 60 years old. More than 50% of the owners have only reached a low level of educational attainment. Regarding the operation of social businesses, the main problem they face in the market is the excessive competition, followed by the difficulty to acquire machinery and supplies, access to credit and regulatory aspects. More than half of the businesses generate monthly sales of up to $ 15,000 pesos, with a salary of up to $ 8,000 pesos.
As part of the activities carried out in 2018, it was planned the visit of Prof. Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize, 2006) to Tijuana, BC, who received the recognition of Doctorate Honoris Causa in a solemn ceremony conducted at the UABC, also Prof. Yunus visited a social business exhibition fair and inaugurated the new UABC-Yunus Center facilities at the Faculty of Economics and International Relations.
The inauguration of UABC – Yunus Center took place on October 11, 2018. The new facilities included a meeting room, a work room equipped with 20 computers and office compartments, as well as 3 offices for the coordinators. On the other hand, the social business exhibition fair had the participation of 29 microentrepreneurs who were assisted in previous semesters by the UABC-Yunus Center. In addition, there was a meeting with Prof. Yunus, where the opportunity to live and share experiences with the collaborating students of the UABC-Yunus Center was offered.
The area designated for applied research and publishing was strengthened, in which students and professors of the Faculty of Economics and International Relations also participate. In this year 2018, research tasks were designated in topics of entrepreneurship, microfinance, business management, fiscal structure and inequality analysis and income distribution, linked to different academic bodies of the academic unit.
The agenda worked through the administrative year 2018 was:
Activities were carried out for the restructuring and consolidation of a microenterprise chamber, which mainly brings together type 2 social businesses, and which provides voice and management capacity in public and private support programs aimed at the most vulnerable social businesses.
(http://uabcyunuscentre.feyri.mx/).
For the purpose of sharing the activities and information of the UABC-Yunus Center, which complements the publications in the official website of the Yunus Centers Global Network (Social Business Pedia), an official website was designed, anchored to the personal domain of the page of the Faculty of Economics and International Relations. It is published information regarding the concept of social business, the Global Network of Yunus Centers, organizational and operational structure, as well as the events held. All the information is published in English, Spanish, French and Indi.
It was conducted a study of income concentration and inequality, focused in the northern border area of the country, with emphasis on the state of Baja California. Through a literary review and empirical evidence of recent years, indicators such as the Gini index were used, with methodological modifications that eliminate statistical biases in the analysis of the calculation of the patrimonial income. At the same time, work precariousness was studied through the study of wage gaps.
The Second Social Business Meeting was planned and structured from the review of invitations made by the Global Network of Yunus Centers, as well as the state of the art in the theory of social business and the analysis of the context of the Baja California region. The Meeting aims to gather the latest studies concerning the world of this type of businesses. The topics that were incorporated, among others, were: poverty and inequality, gender equity, sustainable development, fiscal framework and entrepreneurship. The best evaluated documents of this event, held in march 20, 2019, at Tecate, BC, were specified to participate in the annual event of the Social Business Academy Conference, organized by the Yunus Center Dhaka.
There was a successful collaboration with the California Institute for Social Business of the California State University Channel Island (CSUCI), between September and December 2018, where a group of students assigned to the UABC-Yunus Center participated in the course named "Social Business Planning", taught at that Institute, by Dr. María Ballesteros, full-time professor at the CSUCI. In the framework of this course, it was structured the business plan for the installation of a microfinance institution in Mexico, taking as a reference the social business type 1 "Grameen Bank", started in Bangladesh and replicated in developed and developing countries.
It was reinforced with the announcement of calls for the publication of books, articles and book chapters, looking for academic research concerning the theoretical and empirical framework of social business, with the objective of consolidating and positioning these concepts in the national and international scope. The strategy followed was to submit publications in those journals indexed in institutions such as JCR and Scopus, in order to guarantee the quality of the portals and journals.
Based on the documents presented at the First Social Business Meeting, held in March 2018, in San Quintín, Baja California, five research articles were developed and submitted in the call launched by Yunus Center Dhaka. Four of these articles were accepted to participate in the global event of the Social Business Academia Conference held last November in Germany. These articles were presented by students affiliated to UABCYunus Center, being the only institution that took students for their presentations. Moreover, the UABC-Yunus Center also participated in the Global Social Business Summit, held two days following the first event, in Germany. In total, UABC-Yunus Center participated with a commission of 15 people (10 students and 5 teachers), the largest delegation following the Yunus Dhaka Center.
In order to comply with the operation of the UABC-Yunus Center during the administrative year 2018, funds from four sources were managed, two of them internal to the UABC and two from other sources.
With respect to the University, the UABC - Yunus Center was supported by the regular budget that was destined for the Research, Administration and Teaching Center for Micro and Small Enterprises (CIADMyPE), which was relocated to the operation of the new UABC- Yunus Center ($ 500,000 pesos). In addition, the UABC-Yunus Center had successful results in the call to support Social Service Projects, with a total support of $ 145,053 pesos ($ 110,000 in scholarships for students and $ 35,053 in operating costs).
Moreover, through the Research Group that operates at the UABC-Yunus Center, the Center counted with resources assigned to the last stage of the projects supported by the Calls for Basic Scientific Research and National Problems, both belonging to the National
Council of Science and Technology, employing in this last year a total of $ 500,000 pesos ($ 300,000 from the call for Basic Scientific Research and the rest belonging to the National Problems call).
In sum, in the year 2018, $ 1,145,053 pesos were exercised and allocated to: monthly scholarships of students who participated in the training and technical assistance work of social businesses, in the field work required to attend the commitments of research projects for the community development of the areas served, as well as in the participation of national and international events.
Some of the key aspects that will direct the activities for the 2019 operational year are the following:
Academic Bodies, associated to social entrepreneurship issues o Call for National Problems (Conacyt). oCall for Basic Scientific Research (Conacyt).
