Social Entrepreneurship Explained | How Social Entrepreneurship Works

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Social Entrepreneurship: What it is and why it exists. Image Credit: youmatter.

Entrepreneurship is the talk of the town today. Individuals rooting to do something of their own are sprouting up like never before. Even governments across the globe are encouraging home-grown entrepreneurs through funding and support of all sorts. What has inspired people to tread down the path of innovation? The underpinnings of ‘pioneerdom’ are well-documented in Professor Chuanyin Xie’s paper titled “Why Do Some People Choose to Become Entrepreneurs? An Integrative Approach”.

He attributes venture creation to individual and environmental factors. The former comprises characteristics related to a person’s trait (need for achievement, risk-taking ability, etc.), demographics, and cognition. The environmental approach focuses on an individual’s surroundings in three contexts: immediate (role model(s) in the family or workplace), broad (political, legal, economic, cultural, and support institutions), and embeddedness (relational and spatial). The paper is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand an entrepreneur’s mindset in greater detail.

Into Supply Chain? Read this: Creating Socially Responsible Supply Chain.

Ingenious minds come in all shapes and sizes, from diverse backgrounds, and whatnot. Just like the individuals who power ambitious initiatives, entrepreneurial ventures also appear in different forms. One such undertaking that has seen a surge in global recognition is social entrepreneurship. What is social entrepreneurship? Though several definitions linger out there, the underlying proposition is the same—social entrepreneurship is a field in which entrepreneurs tailor their activities to be directly tied with the ultimate goal of creating social value. And this approach of social value creation is not some passing fad.

Various startups have done wonders while solving cultural, environmental, and social issues. A Case in point is Scott Harrison’s initiative ‘charity: water’. The venture strives to provide clean, drinking water in countries bereft of this basic necessity. The team behind ‘charity: water’ raised over $56 million in 2019 and has served more than 10 million people to date. 

And there are various other instances of socially-oriented startups. Marc Koska was aghast when he read about the transmission of HIV through the reuse of syringes in a newspaper article in 1984. He took action by designing the K1 syringe, an instrument that is rendered useless after a one-time jab. To make this syringe available to the masses, Koska founded ‘The SafePoint Trust’, a registered charity, in 2005. The SafePoint Trust has delivered more than a billion safe injections across multiple countries. 

Even academic institutions are now promoting social entrepreneurship programs via formal degrees. As many as 23 colleges and universities have some sort of offering. University of Southern California’s ‘Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship’ and Harvard University’s ‘Social Enterprise Program’ are some examples. And it’s not restricted to just dispensing certificates and degrees; these institutions are also setting up research and innovation centers for encouraging social endeavors. On top of it, governmental support for community-improvement initiatives is also picking pace as outlined in a Forbes article. Hence, it would be unjust to dismiss social entrepreneurship as a fleeting obsession. The term which first appeared in literature in H. Bowen’s book ‘Social Responsibilities of the Businessman’ in 1953 has been implemented in one form or the other throughout history. Florence Nightingale opened the world’s first nurses’ training program in 1860! In fact, the annals of history are filled with myriad examples of social enterprises.

How 2020 changed your workplace: The World of Work Post COVID-19.

Is everything rosy about social entrepreneurship? Probably not. The topic of social enterprise is accompanied by raging debates on the financial model these initiatives bank on. If you are doing something for the greater good, should profitability be on your mind? The traditional mindset associates positive impact on the community with not-for-profit organizations/entities. However, success stories about social entrepreneurs working on a for-profit-model abound. 

What better example than Elon Musk? With his fingers in several pies — SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and Hyperloop — the world’s second richest man is a testimony to how sustainability and profitability can go together in a congenial relationship. Moreover, social entrepreneurship isn’t as easy-going as people perceive it to be. Some prominent difficulties are non-transparent reporting, lack of consistent access to capital, and high burnout rates]. And innovation in social undertakings is perilous as outlined by Tim Curtis in his publication titled “The challenges and risks of innovation in social entrepreneurship”. 

A segment that is transforming the lives of billions across the globe, social entrepreneurship is — without any second thoughts — a game changer. The future looks propitious for our civilization as modern-day social entrepreneurs weave their magic and conjure sustainable creations.

Thebrainwrites is a blog home to topics of general interest and thought-provoking issues. Here are some posts worth reading:

Do you want to understand entrepreneurship and its intricacies in detail? Here are some resources you may benefit from.

The High-Performance Entrepreneur

The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business (One Minute Manager)

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies

Entrepreneurship | 11th Edition

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup

Entrepreneurship Simplified: From Idea to IPO

The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

The $100 Startup: Fire Your Boss, Do What You Love and Work Better To Live More

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