HONG KONG, January 9, 2009 – In a unique discussion, where audience
members sat and listened in total darkness, social entrepreneur Andreas Heinecke,
founder and CEO of Dialogue in the Dark (DiD), stressed the importance
of social enterprise as a viable and significant means of social change
in the world.

DiD, an awareness-raising social franchising company that offer
business-training in total darkness, hosts small exhibitions that
effectively create a platform to immerse people in a world very
different from their own. DiD believes this breaks down prejudices,
increase tolerance and empathy, and helps empower marginalized people.

At a DiD exhibition, visitors are led on a one-to-two hour tour in
the dark by blind guides, who in the absence of sight, have developed
unique perceptive abilities. “If you bring people from different
backgrounds together, something happens,” said Heinecke.

Heinecke noted that social entrepreneurship has become an
increasingly viable and significant means of social change in the
world. DiD began by hosting a small exhibition in Hamburg, Germany in
1988 and has since expanded operations to over 150 cities throughout
Europe, Asia and America, with 5,500 blind employees and 6,000,000
visitors worldwide.

Heinecke argued that DiD’s ability to transform peoples’ habits are
entirely relevant to business. He articulated the need for the business
world to rebuild trust, adding that the process of entrusting oneself
to another person in the darkness allowed one to regain humility and
compassion. “When you appreciate what the other can do, you can think
about human values again,” he said.

In the subsequent discussion moderated by K.K. Tse
of the Hong Kong Social Entrepreneurship Forum, participants explored
the question, “What is social entrepreneurship?” They concluded that
there was no distinct definition and that social entrepreneurship
allowed for different structures and hybrid models. Heinecke was quick
to point out that DiD was not a charity organization.

Patrick Cheung,
responsible for bringing DiD to Hong Kong, said “Social enterprise
gives us the opportunity to use our business experience for a social
purpose” and added that he hoped to see social enterprises transform
moral and business practices in China.

Reported by Julianne Chou

Audio Excerpt: Andreas Heinecke on how regaining trust and
becoming humble are even more important for businesses in this time of
crisis. (2 min., 21 sec.)

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