Social entrepreneurship

Student organizers from the Green Club at Newcomb College Institute formed a social entrepreneurship organization in 2010 that aimed to encourage people to reduce waste and live in a more environmentally conscious way.

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.[1] This concept may be applied to a wide range of organizations, which vary in size, aims, and beliefs.[2] 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[3] 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.[4]

In recent years, researchers have been calling for a better understanding of the ecosystem in which social entrepreneurship exists and social ventures operate.[5] This will help them formulate better strategy and help achieve their double bottom line objective.[6][7]

  1. ^ "What is a Social Entrepreneur". Enterprising Ideas. PBS Foundation. A social entrepreneur, in our view, is a person or entity that takes a business approach to effectively solving a social problem.
  2. ^ Dees, J. Gregory (2001) [1998]. "The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship". caseatduke.org. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  3. ^ Thompson, J.L. (2002). "The World of the Social Entrepreneur". The International Journal of Public Sector Management. 15 (4/5): 413. doi:10.1108/09513550210435746.
  4. ^ "IDOSR-JAS-52-49-55-2020.pdf" (PDF). idosr.org.
  5. ^ de Bruin, A.; Teasdale, S., eds. (2019). A Research Agenda for Social Entrepreneurship. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78897-231-4.
  6. ^ Purkayastha, Debapratim; Tripathy, Trilochan; Das, Biswajit (January 1, 2020). "Understanding the ecosystem of microfinance institutions in India". Social Enterprise Journal. 16 (3): 243–261. doi:10.1108/SEJ-08-2019-0063. ISSN 1750-8614. S2CID 213274658.
  7. ^ Bloom, P. N.; Dees, J. G. (2008). "Cultivate Your Ecosystem". Stanford Social Innovation Review. 6 (1): 47–53.