Eye on Acumen: New Documentary Examines Social Enterprise

Earlier this week PBS premiered The New Recruits, an insightful documentary that provides an inside look at the experience of Acumen Fund fellows as they try to change the world through social business. The movie starts where most pitch contests end: we've all seen award ceremonies anointing a group of social entrepreneurs as the future of disruptive social change, but The New Recruits follows the winners into the field to see what happens after the feel-good speeches. Rainn Wilson from The Office is the narrator, and if your local station isn't showing a repeat you can get the DVD on the PBS website.

Since I was a consultant on the production I'm not in a position to provide a disinterested review, but I will say that one of things that makes the film so refreshing is that it isn't afraid to take a warts-and-all approach.

For example, the documentary raises a number of pertinent questions faced by the movement at large as well individuals. Is it appropriate to send an evangelical Christian--social entrepreneur in to a Muslim community, or should Acumen--as a secular venture--screen out faith-based Fellows? Are indigenous farmers ignorant regarding efficient business techniques, or are MBAs who place their faith in spreadsheets and business plans blind to the subtleties of the local market?

Are certain regions too dangerous for certain social entrepreneurs, or are young Western do-gooders a bit too naive and inexperienced to understand the communities they are trying to change? And while learning from failure is indeed useful for young social entrepreneurs, is it ethical to beta-test flawed yet costly products on the poor?

Your own interpretation of certain incidents in the film may vary significantly from the responses of the Acumen fellows themselves, but that's precisely the point: The New Recruits is not itself a recruiting film, and you may not agree with everything you see. This tension between experience as lived and watched is precisely what makes a film like this a valuable tool to promote self-awareness. As the film notes, social enterprise start-ups have a substantial failure rate--if we don't want to be another casualty, we need to be as open to mistakes and ambiguities as we are to unvarnished success.

But you don't have to take my word on that--for instructive reviews from the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets, check out the filmmakers' website.

Photo credit: Artshooter