The Concept of "Social Entrepreneurship"

The concept of "social entrepreneurship" is catching on. Recently, PBS ran a four part series (http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/) about social entrepreneurs and the work they are doing…from India to Puru…to address social problems using a unique blend of philanthropy and business savvy.

I first heard the term when I listened to journalist David Bornstein speak last year in San Francisco on his book tour for How To Change The World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas (http://tinyurl.com/7wzqj)
In his book, Bornstein profiles nine champions of social change who developed innovative ways to address needs they saw around them in places as distinct as Bombay, India; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and inner-city Washington, D.C.

Bornstein describes a similar approach and philosophy that each social entrepreneur uses to address local problems. Social entrepreneurs believe that problems like hunger or poverty are best addressed by channeling market forces to the needs of a social enterprise.

Social entrepreneurs concentrate on marginalized sectors of society. They seek financial sustainability as a means of attaining objectives such as improving the quality of life of their stakeholders and their living environments.

Here’s a description from The Ashoka Foundation (http://www.ashoka.org), an organization that identifies and invests in social entrepreneurs:

The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.

Identifying and solving large-scale social problems requires a social entrepreneur because only the entrepreneur has the committed vision and inexhaustible determination to persist until they have transformed an entire system. The scholar comes to rest when he expresses an idea. The professional succeeds when she solves a client's problem. The manager calls it quits when he has enabled his organization to succeed. Social entrepreneurs go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities, societies, and the world.

http://www.ashoka.org/fellows/social_entrepreneur.cfm