You could call Jonathan C. Lewis a late bloomer. Not until he retired from business in his mid-50s did he rediscover his 1960s activist soul and become a full-time “social entrepreneur.” Lewis founded a nonprofit impact investing firm now called MCE Social Capital that makes loans to poor people in the developing work. He created Opportunity Collaboration, a conference for activists and funders unlike any other. And he co-founded Copia Global, an Amazon-like e-commerce catalog for consumers at the bottom of the economic pyramid in Kenya.

As a writer, Lewis is smart, insightful and almost entirely free of b.s. I say almost because the term “social entrepreneur” has always struck me as pretentious. But Lewis explains up front that he’s using it as a synonym for political activist, change-maker or community organizer.

Lewis a big believer in learning by doing. “Enroll in the university-without-walls around you,” he advises. Travel widely, listen carefully, and “let your heart be sickened by the injustice it meets.” Your first job (or your current job) will probably not be your last, but it’s probably better than unemployment.

“It’s a lot easier to network and show off your talents from a place of employment than from a cafe, a sofa or a hot dog stand,” he writes. “And, it’s nearly impossible to get a letter of recommendation from an employer if you don’t have one.”

Read the source article at Nonprofit Chronicles