What's social entrepreneurship?
Table of Contents
What is Social Entrepreneurship?
Social Entrepreneurship is the process that creates change, both economic and social, through leadership and the application of business practices while maintaining the focus on the organization’s mission.
In developing countries, social entrepreneurship focuses on creating income opportunities for many people held in the grips of poverty. Within developed nations, social entrepreneurship helps non-profit organizations explore income generating businesses that focus on the double bottom line of both the financial and social returns on their investment.
Social entrepreneurship initiatives are usually introduced and lead by the social entrepreneur. These individuals will champion the project usually taking a holistic approach to the problem. They identify the sources (or bottlenecks) that prevent change within the society. These areas sometimes relate to the basic welfare of the populations such as food, clothing, and shelter. However, they can take a community approach in areas like education, clean water, basic medical need, or major global concerns of global warming and the environment.
Sometimes new innovations are created to help address a critical need. These new products often address the “Bottom of the Pyramid.”[1] This market is the lowest tier. It is very large, but has little resources. Social Entrepreneurs will use business skills to commercialize the product, in much the same manner as any other inventor. The difference is, they look for sustainability not Maximum Return on Investment. They may patent their product to protect the integrity of their research and prevent others from making profits on their work. They might create new and interesting alliances with for-profit companies, Non-Governmental Organizations, and/or Non-profit Organizations. They may also lobby legislator to create new business entities to help them serve the mission. One such new business is the Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C), consider a hybrid, combining funding sources of a nonprofit with the management of a for-profit.[2]
As a visual person, I have created a couple of pictures to help see the similar and the differences between an entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur. Hope you enjoy my artistic talents.
