Definition
Social Entrepreneurship is the use of entrepreneurial principles and business models to create, fund, and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. Unlike traditional business, which measures success primarily through profit, social entrepreneurship measures success by the positive impact on society (“social return”).
Why It Matters
Social entrepreneurship is the ‘innovation engine’ of the non-profit world; it applies the speed and creativity of the startup world to systemic social failures, measuring success by the positive impact on human lives rather than just shareholder returns.
Core Concepts
- Sustainability over Aid: Focuses on creating self-sustaining revenue models rather than relying exclusively on philanthropy or government grants.
- Innovation and Disruption: Identifying “market failures” in the social sector and applying creative solutions to solve them (e.g., Microfinance and Microcredit).
- Leveraging Core Competencies: Using a company’s unique strengths (logistics, marketing, technology) to address social problems (e.g., Social Business Model).
- Scalability: Designing solutions that can be replicated or expanded to reach larger populations.
- Systemic Change: Aiming to solve the root causes of problems rather than just treating symptoms (reinventing vs. saving).