basics of social entrepreneurship

1. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP-
AN INTRODUCTION
P.J.ANN MARY

2.  Social Entrepreneurs and Social Entrepreneurship are found
throughout history, with individuals who adopted strategies to tackle social
issues with a passion and force becoming of the entrepreneurial spirit as
described by Schumpeter.
 Social entrepreneurs develop simple comprehensible ideas which people can understand and use
for the betterment and development of the society. Their aim is to identify and create efficient
change makers or role models, who will in turn motivate the masses to develop their own ideas,
solutions and strategies to resolve these social issues. In short, a social entrepreneur is an agent or
mediator who thrives to bring about positive change in the society
INTRODUCTION

3. TYPES OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 Social entrepreneurs may be categorized as:
 Non-profit
 For-profit, or
 Hybrid.
 Christopher Poizat, Founder & President of International Network of Social-Eco
Entrepreneurs has defined Social Entrepreneurs as, “people who recognize social
problems, decide to roll up their sleeves and get into action using entrepreneurial
principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to implement social change that is
sustainable, good for the planet and for the highest good of humanity.”

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL
ENTREPRENEURS
 Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just privatevalue);• Recognising
and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve thatmission;
 Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and
learning;
 Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand,
and Exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and
for the outcomes created.”
• Their focus is on social value creation, with a desire to share theminsights with others for
imitation.
• They are not curtailed by limited resources but jump into action.

5. DEFINITION
 Social Entrepreneurship is a new breed of entrepreneurship that
exhibits the characteristics of non-profit organizations (NGO), government
and business (Walk, Nicholls). It combines the passion of a social mission
with a business-like approach to the market place (Dees). The Roberts
Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) defines Social Entrepreneurship as an
“application of innovative management and program development strategies,
in an effort to address critical issues facing society.”
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6. HISTORY
 Social Entrepreneurship has evolved as a new term in the 1970s, and came into widespread use
in the 1980s. However, the term did not spread in academia until the late 1990s. Theories started
to emerge in the new millennium as before its academia was all about practices, success stories
and case studies.
 The term “Social entrepreneur" was first mentioned in 1972 by Banks in his work "The
Sociology of Social Movements", where defined as the need to use managerial skills to address
social problems as well as to address business challenges. Dees (1998b) defined social
entrepreneur as a person who do extraordinary things and play the role of change agents in the
social sector by adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value),
recognizing and relentlessly pursing new opportunities to serve that mission, engaging in a
process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning, acting boldly without being limited
by resources currently in hand, and exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies
served and for the outcomes created. Brooks (2009) stated that, when we often hear talk of
entrepreneurship as it were a modern concept.

7.  James Oliver, a chef and media personality form Britain started a restaurant chain
named Fifteen after he employed fifteen young adults from disadvantaged
background. Most of them were ex-convicts, drug abused and having criminal
record. Now the restaurant chain he started is now gone global with 4 locations over
the globe. An innovative method to provide employment to those Jordan Kassalow
founded Vision Spring foundation in New York USA which provides low priced
readymade reading glasses to people who cannot afford glasses for reading. Vision
spring is dedicated towards the cause of providing low cost glasses for seeing and
reading for underprivileged people in developing and underdeveloped countries.
 Sam Goldman and Ned Tozun founded d.light in year 2007. Their aim for developing
d.light was to provide clean, safe and kerosene free lighting facility where electric
supply is not reliable. They’ve set up marketing operations in India and African region
where electric supply is not regular and kerosene lanterns are used for lightening in
night. For this they have been awarded Ashoka Fellowship. There venture have been
enlightening lives of millions of people living in dark in Indian and African soil by
providing them with low cost solar powered lighting equipment Florence Nightingale
(1820-1910), founder of the first nursing school,

8. It was in the 1960s and 1970s that the two terms, Social Entrepreneur
and Social Entrepreneurship first appeared in management literature. Michael
Young52 promoted the concept of social enterprise by creating more than sixty
organizations world-wide and a series of schools for Social Entrepreneurs in
the UK during the period between 1950 and 1990. The terms got widespread
publicity in the 1980s, promoted first by Ashoka Foundation, followed by
others such as Schwab Foundation, Skoll Foundation and others. The founder
of Ashoka Foundation, Bill Drayton, is credited with coining the term Social
Entrepreneurship. Others, like Charles Leadbeater,53 described Social
Entrepreneurs as innovators for social change and took the subject to a higher
platform with his work, “The Rise of Social Entrepreneur.”
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9. FUNCTIONS
 They firstly analyse the social problem/issue to be tackled. Try to find out the underlying causes
and roots of the problem, this is done through thorough social entrepreneurship research, field
analysis findings, surveys and observation methods. Then they study and link them in terms with
the existing societal patterns and emerging social entrepreneurship trends in the society. Then ideas
and strategies are developed for bringing in change in the mindset of the people, bringing change
in their lifestyle and attitude. By doing this they try to identify and develop change makers from
the society itself, these change makers work as role models, motivators and leaders to bring about
positive progressive changes in the entire system.
 These change makers form a team, social entrepreneurship network with each other and create a
platform for people with similar goals and objectives. This platform allows interchange of ideas,
feedbacks and development of effective strategies to resolve the problem. This platform also
associates the funders who want to associate themselves with bringing about positive change in the
society along with the change makers. The social entrepreneurs work in collaboration with social
innovators, funders, grass root leaders, social workers, and community organisations to bring about
effective long-lasting social changes in the society.

10.  Social entrepreneurship focuses on gaining understanding of how a social problem develops and
how an entrepreneur with the use of his innovative practical ideas and business strategies develop
solutions to resolve the problem; and motivates him to utilize the available social entrepreneurship
resources to overcome the problem to benefit the society as a whole. Social entrepreneurs focus at
utilising the various available resources to create a better and progressive society.
 Following are some points which clearly reveals the importance of an entrepreneur in the social
development:-
 Employment Opportunities
 Development of Backward Areas
 Equal Contribution of Wealth
 Reduce the Gap of Rural and Urban Areas
 Improves Quality of Life

11.  Optimum Utilization of Resources
 Conservation of Our Heritage
 Contribute in The Economic Growth of Nations.
 Social Satisfaction
 As social entrepreneurship does not have a concrete definition, groups focused on social
entrepreneurship can be categorised into:
 Community based enterprises; these are based on societal ventures. The community as a
whole utilises the capital to empower itself.

12.  Socially these enterprises focus on sustainable development through social gains.
 Social service organisations and professionals; these work to expand social capital for individuals,
community and organisations,
 Socio economic enterprises, these focus upon bringing about profits to the individuals and non-profit
social change in the community.
 Apart from these there are organisations which focus on empowerment of the social entrepreneurs;
they create a platform to connect these social entrepreneurs with like-minded people, mentors and
funding agencies. They help in further strengthening and fortification of the various social
entrepreneurship model.

13. CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VS
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 Corporate Entrepreneurship has been recognized as a prospectively viable means for
promoting and maintaining the performance, renewal and corporate competitiveness
of an organization over the past couple of decades. The entrepreneurial activities assist
organizations to develop new business-lines that further sources for revenues.
 Corporate Entrepreneurship activities also improve a company’s work culture by
promoting product and process innovations, thus leading to success. Corporate
Entrepreneurship is incorporating risk bearing, pro-activeness and progressive product
innovations.

14.  These Corporate Entrepreneurship activities can enhance organizational growth and
profitability and, their impact may increase over time depending on the organization’s
competitive environment. The practical evidence is gripping that Corporate
Entrepreneurship boosts company’s performance by enhancing the firm’s pro-activeness
and willingness to bear risks, and by instigating the development of new products, process
and services by upgrading its competitiveness.
 Creation of corporate entrepreneurial activity is not an easy task as it involves changing the
internal behavioural patterns of an organization. The environment plays a major role and
radical influencing. It has been agreed on that the external environment is an important
factor leading to Corporate Entrepreneurship. Corporate Entrepreneurship has been known
for renewing and revitalizing current companies. It serves as a tool for business
development, revenue growth, profitability enhancement and instigating, developing and
innovating products, services and processes (Kuratko et al., Lumpkin & Dess, Miles &
Covin, Zahra, Zahra & Covin, Zahra et al.).

15. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A rapidly growing and dynamic sector of the industry today, social entrepreneurs play a pivotal role in providing
products and services with the prime motive of creating social well-being, operating from a 3-tier bottom line
perspective benefitting People, Planet, and Profit. Profit in the social enterprises is reinvested into the enterprise
rather than being distributed among the stakeholders and founders. Social enterprises operate on different models.
Such enterprises have an entirely different legal structure created, thus distinguishing them from charities, in
being self-sustaining through income. Social enterprises have been persistently survived for any economy and
contribute remarkably to the revenues.
Social entrepreneurship prioritizes far beyond just generating a profit, and measures its performance based on the
impact the business makes on the society as well as economy. This responsibility of focusing on generating and
maximizing positive social returns differentiates the social entrepreneurial business from the conventional and
outdated “corporate social responsibility” approaches which tend to occur only when healthy profits have been
made by the businesses.

16.  Social entrepreneurs are innovators who commit themselves to the need of the society,
and on making products and services that solve social issues and problems. Unlike
traditional start-ups and business ventures, their goal is to make the world a better
place to live in, and not to take market share or to generate profits for the founders.
 The entrepreneurs tend to start a business venture in order to bring changes in their
lifestyle, and routine, and tend to boost social and economic development.
Entrepreneurship is generating a business, starting and running a new business, and
maintaining it in a long-run. Entrepreneurs take and bear risks, are focused,
determined, innovative and creative, confident and bold, possess a can-do and go-
getter attitude. They are self-motivated and have strong work ethics and people skills.
 The foremost responsibility is to benefit the people either inside or outside the
organization.

17.  The best part about entrepreneurship is that the business idea can be small or big,
whether in an urban area or rural, involving any amount of capital, tangible or
intangible, it gives an opportunity to grow and make changes in the society to the
person or group generating the idea. These changes can range from generating
employment opportunities to impacting the society in a positive manner.
Encouraging the idea and concept of entrepreneurship always leads to more
improved and satisfied economy, as it gives the liberty to the people to turn their
dream or idea into a full-fledged business plan, further generating employment,
which leads to improved standards of living and welfare of the people, further
resulting into a developed economy. Entrepreneurs are considered as the national
assets to be encouraged, motivated and remunerated to the best extent.

19. CONCLUSION
Role of social entrepreneur is important for social and
Economic development of the country. Social entrepreneurs help in creation of social and
Economical values. Social entrepreneurs play an important role in employment
generation ,
Economic development, innovation, social and financial capital formation. Social entrepreneurs
Are necessary as they see the problem that is prevalent in the society find out the causes and
Through their innovative ideas and creations remove those problems and most notably earn
profit.