One of the themes discussed at the beginning of the Sao Paolo gathering (after we dried off the Sao Paolo rain, which took us by surprise on the way and drenched us, literally, and which allowed us to skip the ice-breaking   dynamic) was about the main barriers that impede social technologies in reaching the people for whom they were invented. Social technologies are products and services that seek to improve the quality of life of the people who today are exclused from the system because of their economic situation, location, culture, physical disability, etc. All of the 23 social entrepreneurs gathered that first day are developing and/or distributing a product or service of that type, and reflecting with what type of barriers they face at the hour in which they intend to reach the intended audience at a mass level.

One of the first barriers mentioned by these entrepreneurs starts at the moment of designing the product. There is a distance between those who design the technology and those who use it. Often, end users' cultural factors are not taken into account when designing a social technology (whether it is a water pump, a solar heater, or a certain productive system), so it is hard for them or to truly adopt them as their own. Also often their interests and motivations are not taken into account.

• Do these particular beneficiaries think their quality of life will improve if production increases?
• What value do they place on their health, education or housing?
• How do they prioritize these?

Knowing these factors helps the social entrepreneur understand how to get their technologies adopted. A solution to this gap is that the technology inventors work closer to their beneficiaries, or that the communities are actively participating in the design of the social technology.

Other barriers mentioned by the entrepreneurs had to do with the lack of a competitive distribution landscape (at least in Latin America) for these social products. Generally the social technologies are distributed thanks to donations made by social organizations or by the government, and this leads to a lack of healthy whether it is of the quality or the real utility of the technologies. The donation system makes it hard for a competitive lanscape to develop.

The role of the State was also present in the discusion. The theme came up that these social entrepreneurs in Latin America observed a resistance from behalf of the government to adopt effective and low-cost technologies as part of their public policies. There was a feel that the government should be more flexible--both in terms of their administrative proceses and their costs--to foster some of these technologies that require regulation, e.g. hearing aids.

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This post was written by Paula Cardenau.

Paula Cardenau coordinates the Social Business Initiative in Latin America for Ashoka, prior to this work, Paula was Ashoka's Latin America Integrator and the Executive Director for "Cono Sur" (Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Paula managed the technology and social business gatherings in Sao Paolo, supported by the Lemelson Foundation and the Artemsia Foundation. It gathered 20 Ashoka Fellows, 3 Artemisia Entrepreneurs and leading investors from Latin America.