What is social entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship is defined as operating any business for a good cause. This type of entrepreneurship combines economic and social concerns in an effort to enhance people's lives.
Individuals take up the responsibility of resolving society's pressing issues. It could be a low-key affair or a massive movement involving the public. The activity or initiative must solve a problem and result in a positive change in someone's life in order to be successful and affect society at large.
Characteristics and importance of social entrepreneurship
1. The aim is to solve a social issue or have a social impact that affects society.
2. Social entrepreneurship fills the gap pertaining to societal needs that other organizations do not resolve.
3. Social entrepreneurship is usually disruptive and evolutionary and places purpose over profit, well-being over destruction, and collaboration over isolation.
4. Social entrepreneurship also benefits society by promoting creative thinking and various novel ways to come up with solutions to problems.
5. society also benefits as there is an increased requirement for the awareness of social issues, more responsibility & transparency, and the creation of a better culture & community.
Types of examples of social entrepreneurship
1. Community social entrepreneurs are small-scale change makers. Community social entrepreneurs operate for a wide range of causes, in particular locales and communities. They handle everything, from sanitation and hygiene to employment and food distribution services, from the plantation and environmental safety to give jobs to deserving people. For instance, a young person working with underprivileged children in a town, a group of college students organizing plantation and sanitation drives in a city, or one or more non-profit organizations that promote social justice are all examples of community social entrepreneurs.
2. Non-Profit social entrepreneurs believe that you should reinvest profits. They also add the profits to the cause over the initial cost. For instance, if the first project is to educate children from disadvantaged backgrounds and receive more funding than was necessary to facilitate the initiative, they would use the extra money to educate women and broaden their business. This kind of social entrepreneurship is preferable to people with a business-oriented mindset.
3. Transformational social entrepreneurs seek to bring changes through a business venture that other businesses or even government ventures cannot. However, this type of venture is more formal and organized. The entrepreneur will hire skilled workers, assess newer ways to stay relevant in the market, ensure to meet government compliance, etc. The venture also thinks of things in the larger scheme where collaborative businesses are set up.
4. Global social entrepreneur- These entrepreneurs think of the initiatives globally and usually put social responsibility above mere profits. They collaborate with causes of similar nature in specific countries or on a global level. A good example is the Make a Wish foundation, which is based out of the USA but actively works in other jurisdictions as well.
Is social entrepreneurship profitable?
If we look at conventional entrepreneurship, businesses place profit on a pedestal. However, the social mission is clear and essential for social entrepreneurs.
It undoubtedly influences how social entrepreneurs view and evaluate monetary possibilities. Instead of money generation, the mission-related objective becomes the main criterion. For social entrepreneurs, wealth is only a tool to achieve their goals.
However, this does not mean social entrepreneurship ventures do not have profit-generation capabilities or missions. Unlike NGOs, these ventures have a generation of profit as a priority in their business plans with social impacts.
In fact, social entrepreneurship ventures follow the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. They have the consideration of the well-being of all stakeholders while growing their profit margins. Thus, if you want to make some profit while visualizing social change, being a social entrepreneur is the way to go.
Examples of social entrepreneurship:
There are a number of examples of people who have undertaken Social Entrepreneurship ventures. For instance, Goonj, SHEF, Selco, etc. are all non-profit organizations and social entrepreneurship ventures in India. Not all social entrepreneurship ventures attain the same popularity, but all have had a considerable impact on society in their own ways.
All you need is the drive and passion in order to start a successful social entrepreneurship venture. These businesses usually have a business model as to how they can make a positive impact and how they would make money as well. Social entrepreneurship has seen an exponential rise as sustainability and green corporations are becoming a norm. Businesses have a lot of impact on how they affect society.
As more corporations are conscientious of the fact, they have expanded from their conventional sense. Thus, social entrepreneurship is redefining, re-imagining, and disrupting how traditional organizations work.
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