Social entrepreneurship is a unique form of entrepreneurship that emerged in the 1980s. It is a concept primarily focused on generating social impact rather than just profits. Individuals who engage in social entrepreneurship, known as social entrepreneurs, are characterized by their creativity, ethical integrity, and strong desire to address societal issues. They operate in various fields, including social work and environmental science, and can run both for-profit and non-profit organizations. The primary objective of social entrepreneurship is to identify pressing social problems and mobilize resources to create a substantial global impact. Despite facing various challenges, such as funding limitations and varying interpretations of its definition, social entrepreneurship is seen as a crucial factor in facilitating societal change. With the support of different stakeholders within its ecosystem, including international organizations like the Skoll Foundation and Omidyar Network, social entrepreneurship continues to evolve and expand.
This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (June 2023) |
Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of organizations, which vary in size, aims, and beliefs. For-profit entrepreneurs typically measure performance using business metrics like profit, revenues and increases in stock prices. Social entrepreneurs, however, are either non-profits, or they blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society". Therefore, they use different metrics. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
At times, profit-making social enterprises may be established to support the social or cultural goals of the organization but not as an end in themselves. For example, an organization that aims to provide housing and employment to the homeless may operate a restaurant, both to raise money and to provide employment for the homeless.
In 2010, social entrepreneurship was facilitated by the use of the Internet, particularly social networking and social media websites. These websites enable social entrepreneurs to reach numerous people who are not geographically close yet who share the same goals and encourage them to collaborate online, learn about the issues, disseminate information about the group's events and activities, and raise funds through crowdfunding.
In recent years, researchers have been calling for a better understanding of the ecosystem in which social entrepreneurship exists and social ventures operate. This will help them formulate better strategy and help achieve their double bottom line objective.
NL 
EN 
FR 
PT