What is social entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship has created a lot of interest in the last decade or so. More and more universities in addition to business schools are presenting entrepreneurship courses which are related to social entrepreneurship as the number of social enterprises keeps on growing.

This type of entrepreneurship is all about recognising the social problems as well as achieving a social change by employing entrepreneurial principles, processes in addition to operations. It is all about making conducting research in order to completely define a particular social problem and, after this, organising, creating as well as managing a social venture in order to attain the wanted change. This change may or may not include the thorough elimination of a social problem. It may be a lifetime process which focuses on the improvement of the current circumstances.

Whilst a general business entrepreneurship necessitates taking the lead to open up a new business or – alternatively – diversifying the existing company, social entrepreneurship primarily focuses on generating social capital with no measuring of the performance in profit or return in monetary terms. Social entrepreneurs are associated with non-profit sectors and organisations. But this does not mean that they don’t need to make a profit.

Together with social problems, social entrepreneurship also concentrates on environmental challenges. Child Rights foundations, plants for the treatment of waste products as well as women empowerment foundations are a few examples of social ventures. Social entrepreneurs can be those people who are associated with non-profit as well as non-government organisations that raise funds through community events in addition to activities.

A formal definition of social entrepreneurship

The term ‘social entrepreneurship’ refers to an approach which is taken by start-up companies as well as entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund as well as implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues.

Today’s young people are as worried about a positive impact on the world as much as they are concerned about making money. According to a recent survey, 94% of millennials want to use their skills in order to benefit a cause.

Against this background, social enterprise has taken off as a new recipe for success, combining capitalism with a mentality of doing good for the community. These self-funding, for-profit businesses also have a goal to tackle global issues such as alleviating hunger, enhancing education, and tackling climate change. To achieve their lofty goals, the businesses may fund specific programmes, partner with governments or active philanthropic entities, or follow a one-for-one donation model, and work on either the local or international level.

Why social entrepreneurship?

Typically, people leave the societal requirements to the government or the business sectors. However, social entrepreneurs tend to pinpoint areas which are not working effectively in the current system. They solve the challenge by changing it, increasing the awareness about the solution as well as encouraging people to be a part of the change.

As a popular trait, social entrepreneurs are fixated with their ideas. In addition, they commit their lives to change. These people are visionaries as they envision a society that doesn’t have problems. Furthermore, they are realists because they concern themselves with the practical implementation of their vision.

Social entrepreneurs also present ideas that are user-friendly, ethical, easily understandable in addition to engaging widespread support. This makes sure that local people stand up, grab their idea as well as implement it. In simple terms, every leading social entrepreneur is the mass recruiter of local changemakers. This person is a role model who tells other individuals that what they do can move mountains.

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