The creation of an NGO as an entrepreneurial experience: analysis of a case in Colombia

Abstract

The article presents findings from a research study that focused on the construction of the work experience of social work professionals when their “entrepreneurship” involves creating an NGO as a self-employment alternative. NGOs emerge as an alternative to the tensions arising from the relationship between the State and the market. However, the “new spirit of capitalism” confronts them with the pressures of financing, and in southern countries, they have even been established as an alternative for employment and self-employment for professionals in social areas. Methodologically, the study adopted a qualitative ethnographic perspective. The research identified three effects of the penetration of the entrepreneurship discourse in the social labor market: 1. effects of entrepreneurship on the reconfigurations of work environments; 2. effects of entrepreneurship on subjectivity; and 3. effects on the organization of work and the organization of professional knowledge.