Web Social Entrepreneurship: Revolutionary Goals, Evolutionary Action

Sept. 1, 2010 - PRLog -- Unemployment, poverty, crime, educational struggles, low consumer spending, strains on local business; all of these problems are effects of today's economy, especially for today's youth. Some people run to elected officials to make a change, some start non-profits, and some complain and offer no solutions at all. However, with the rise of new media, and web companies generating millions in revenue, a grassroots web startup plans to capitalize on this trend while offering solutions to a variety of problems for today's youth and local businesses. This startup is called The Illuminated Ventures Project (IllVP).

The growth of Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr, and many other web companies shows that people are naturally socially driven creatures. For example, according to Nielsen, the average person spends an average of 7 hours on Facebook per month. With Facebook's current valuation of $50 Billion, there's a lot of evidence that money is being poured into this space.

Unfortunately, everybody is not taking advantage of this substantial transfer of wealth. According to CB Insights, African Americans are only 1% of Internet startup founders, and women only account for 8%. With the average net worth for African Americans being only $300 for those without home equity and $3600 for those with home equity ( according to the Institute On Assets and Social Policy), new media offers a great opportunity to close the huge wealth gap the exists in the United States; especially since the barrier to entry of starting a web business is so low.

The youth have really suffered during this recession. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that teen employment has fallen to levels not previously experienced in the post World-War II era. Furthermore, these statistics show that low income youths are the group that has been the most negatively impacted.

Teen employment is important for the individual to break the disastrous cycle of poverty. Without gaining work experience during these years, teens are more susceptible to dropping out, delinquent behavior, engaging in violence and even teen pregnancy. But when a youth is able to find stable employment, opportunities are presented that will lead to a positive financial change.

Another alternative can be low risk entrepreneurship opportunities that the youth are passionate about. With the growing trend of technology, and it being second nature to this generation, this option may provide hope for these grim times.

What are some solutions to these problems? Is government the only answer? Can non-profits make change by themselves? With the rise of the B-Corporation and the L3C entities, social entrepreneurs are providing valuable products and services while adhering to a set of socially responsible principles and making a substantial social impact. If you throw in a twist of the web with that equation, there's a lot of untapped opportunities awaiting in the near future.

"Web Social Entrepreneurship is the answer to most of the problems we have today. It also addresses the public's distaste with corporations putting profit over the people and the environment.  With the right model, people, and resources, I feel it will become the de-facto way of doing business in the future," said Drew Little, the founder of The Illuminated Ventures Project.

Learn more about The Illuminated Ventures Project in their video intro at:

www.illvp.com/vidintro

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The Illuminated Ventures Project (IllVP) is an organization where passionate people in local communities come together to help each other reach their full potential.

Our portfolio of websites help local businesses and promising aspiring talent reach their full marketing potential, and help local residents reach their full purchasing potential via special deals in their local area.

We also connect students into low risk entrepreneurship opportunities that they're passionate about within our portfolio of startups, and provide an online/offline community to develop self-managed learning techniques for topics of interest with like-minded individuals.

We're proud to be the world's first grassroots web incubator for minority-owned web startups and disadvantaged youth.

We recently launched our "30 Days to $100K" online fundraising campaign. Learn more at change.illvp.com.