Giving Compass' Take:

• Kathy Wong is a traveling social entrepreneur who created Moeleco in Sydney, Australia. It is a rubber flip-flop manufacturing company that donates a pair of school shoes to a child in India for every pair of flip-flops sold.

• Wong discusses the public's confusion with social enterprises and explains the challenges of being part of an emerging model. How can social enterprises better distinguish themselves from other businesses and spread awareness about social entrepreneurship?

• Read about the competitive advantages of social enterprises.

I started my journey three years ago as a social entrepreneur when I decided to shake up my life of retirement. After finishing my design branding business and having the life that everyone dreams of, I traveled the world, took up all those hobbies I never had time for whilst moving to the country to live on acreage in the beautiful southern highlands of Sydney.

With that burning desire to chase my dream, my social enterprise, Moeloco was born. We manufacture a rubber flip-flop as its called in most parts of the world, although us Aussies refer to this footwear as thongs and I could no longer bear that raised eyebrow when I previously said I ran a thong business.

We give a pair of school shoes to an Indian child in poverty with every pair of Moeloco sold. Did you know children without shoes cannot attend school because they have no shoes in case they may spread disease through their feet to the other students?

We use trade to generate a profit that can then be used to fund the causes we support. Being a social entrepreneur at such a young stage of this emerging business sector has been very challenging and this has led me to realize my role in helping raise further awareness and play a part in a bigger vision I now have.

Consumers have so much power and can drive the revolution in supporting ethical businesses to flourish so that they become the mainstream and just the accepted norm for how we all live. If we provide education to the public then I believe more people will get on board with this vision.

Read the full article about social entrepreneurship by Kathy Wong at Causeartist