What is Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is the use of

start-up companies and other
entrepreneurs to develop, fund and
implement solutions to social, cultural,
or environmental issues
What Social Entrepreneurship focuses on ?

 Social service organisations and professionals; these work

to expand social capital for individuals, community and
organizations
 Socio economic enterprises, these focus upon bringing
about profits to the individuals and non profit social
change in the community.
 Community based enterprises; these are based on societal
ventures. The community as a whole utilises the capital to
empower itself.
 Areas in which social entrepreneurs have create a
change
 Poverty alleviation through empowerment, for example the
microfinance movement
 Education and training, such as widening participation and the
democratization of knowledge transfer.
 Environmental preservation and sustainable development, such as
‘green’ energy projects.
 Community regeneration, such as housing associations.
 Welfare projects, such as employment for the unemployed or
homeless and drug and alcohol abuse projects.
Forms of Social Entrepreneurship

 Clearly, social entrepreneurship is not a one-size-fits-all designation

for a specific type of activity. There are different types of
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship that fall under the umbrella of
social innovation. These different types of social entrepreneurship
show just how varied the concept can be
community project
 A community project is a relatively small-scale effort to address an issue within a
specific community. Social, environmental and economic issues are the primary
focus of most community projects, but the interpretations of what this means can
be quite broad. Anything from an effort to build a community garden in an
affluent suburb to the organization of a volunteer fire department in a poverty-
stricken rural area can fall under the umbrella of a social entrepreneurship
community project.
 Community projects are one of the best examples of the idea that anyone can be
a social entrepreneur. You don’t need a business degree, power or connections to
affect change where you live. All you need is the entrepreneurial initiative,
creativity, tenacity, and commitment to see a project through to completion.
Non-profit organization

 The exact structure of a non-profit organization is likely to differ based on legal

jurisdiction, but on the whole, non-profit organizations exist not to generate
revenue for shareholders and stakeholders but to create an enterprise focused on a
specific cause. One common misconception is that non-profit organizations funnel
all the donations they receive into their mission, but this isn’t the case.
 Executive leadership for large non-profits can often be quite well compensated;
their income generally isn’t nearly as high as that of the leader of a comparably
sized organization in the private sector, but nonprofits do spend money
on operational expenses like salaries, marketing, and offices. Any extra
revenue is put back into the organization’s endowment or reinvested in other
ways rather than paid out to shareholders.
Co-operative 
 People who come together to address a specific need often form co-operative
groups, or co-ops. These member-owned and operated enterprises usually focus
on basic needs like housing or groceries. According to the International Co-
operative Alliance, co-ops are “autonomous association. of persons united
voluntarily to meet their common economic, social needs and cultural needs and
aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.”
 In most places, co-ops have their own special legal specifications and
requirements, and they can operate on either a non-profit or for-profit basis.
Members may be required to pay a membership fee to cover operational
expenses and they may also be required to perform certain duties to keep the
co-op up and running.
Social Enterprise
 Businesses that operate according to a specific social or charitable
mission are known as social enterprises. These businesses are often backed
by a non-profit organization and may exist to further that organization’s
goal and opportunity.
 For example, a charity that focuses on the health and well-being of senior
citizens may start a weekly craft fair that allows seniors to sell carpentry
projects, embroidery or baked goods as a way of generating some income.
 Social enterprises typically focus on providing a job skills training
opportunity program for marginalized or vulnerable people and may use
proceeds from the business to pay salaries to populations supported by the
non-profit organization or to fund the non-profit’s efforts as a means
of supplementing income through donations. Social enterprises can also
address inequality or injustice.
Social Purpose Business
 Some businesses founded to both generate profit and affect some sort of
change for the good of the general public or a specific group of people in need of
assistance. An organization that strives to strike an ideal balance between for-
profit organizations and non-profit programs is known as a social purpose
business.
 Social entrepreneurs who follow this route believe that the pursuit of financial
gain doesn’t have to be at odds with ethical, conscience-focused action.
 These kinds of businesses tend to attract impact investors. Impact
investing operates much like any traditional business investment or venture
capital effort, only with the added concern of generating social good.
Some Examples of Social Entrepreneurship

Muhammad Yunus
 Bring up social entrepreneurs and one of the first names you're
likely to encounter is that of Muhammad Yunus. Yunus has quite
literally written the book on social entrepreneurship, sharing his
expertise in microfinance and social capitalism through a number of
books..
Scott Harrison
 Lack of clean and accessible drinking water is sadly something that
millions of people (some estimates put it at more than a billion)
worldwide face every day. After a moment of clarity in Liberia, club
promoter Scott Harrison decided to make it his mission to change
that, heading up the non-profit organization charity: water.
Akhtar Hameed Khan

One of the pioneers of the now thriving microfinance world was Akhtar
Hameed Khan, the dedication to which and his activism in developing
rural communities in Pakistan earned him a nomination for the Nobel
Prize.. The Comilla Cooperative aimed to build local infrastructure in
rural communities while also helping businesses grow through
microfinance initiatives.
Bunker Roy
 Indian social activist and entrepreneur Sanjit "Bunker" Roy has helped thousands
of people in Asia and Africa learn vital technical skills and bring solar power to
their sometimes remote villages.
 Roy founded the Barefoot College, an organization which specializes in teaching
illiterate women from poor villages how to become doctors, engineers, and
architects.
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