Social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is a much newer concept than commercial entrepreneurship and it has been defined in many ways over the past few years. The variety in definitions has meant that one standard definition has not yet emerged clearly, but practically all of the definitions have contained one or more of the following concepts:

• Social entrepreneurship addresses social problems or it responds to needs that are unmet by private markets or governments.
• Social entrepreneurship is motivated primarily by social benefit.
• Social entrepreneurship generally works with – not against – market forces.

A useful definition of social entrepreneurship employs these concepts and ties them to the way we understand the commercial entrepreneurial process. Considering social entrepreneurship to be related to commercial entrepreneurship in this way is not radical. In fact, a common claim about social entrepreneurs is that they adopt a “business-like approach” to social innovation. The primary difference is not the nature of the entrepreneurial process itself but rather the benefits that social entrepreneurs hope to obtain.

A social entrepreneur recognizes an opportunity to create social value. This might take the form of an obvious or not-so-obvious social problem or an unmet social need. Two aspects of social opportunity recognition are especially noteworthy. First, social entrepreneurs tend to see opportunities where others see only threats and tragedies. For example, where most people see an ugly industrial zone, a social entrepreneur might see an opportunity for cooperative gardening or a park. Second, an unmet social need might involve an actual unfilled demand such as a group of inner-city parents who are unsatisfied with their local public school. Alternatively, however, it might involve a demand that is still “latent”; that is, people in need might not even know the benefit they could receive. For example, parents might not even know what kind of educational improvements their children could be experiencing or might not understand the importance of these improvements.

Who are social entrepreneurs?

Just as there have been many early definitions of “social entrepreneurship”, a number of attempts to define “social entrepreneur” have also emerged over the years. One definition comes from Dees (2001), who calls social entrepreneurs “change agents in the social sector” who do the following:

• Adopt a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value).
• Recognize and go after new opportunities to serve that mission.
• Engage in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning.
• Act with certainty and without being limited by resources that you currently have.
• Show that you feel accountable to the people you help and the goals you have set: accept responsibility when things go wrong and try to put them right.

Some scholars have studied entrepreneurs’ innate characteristics for which they are not necessarily responsible. A number of provocative studies have found that there are, in fact, some groups with an increased likelihood of engaging in entrepreneurial activity. For example, Saxenian (2000) describes a research finding that immigrants tend to be highly entrepreneurial. Studies also show that first-born children are most likely to become entrepreneurs, and that entrepreneurship often occurs at milestone years (e.g., 30, 40, 50), when people feel restless.

Source:
Adapted from Brooks, A. C. (2009). Social Entrepreneurship – A Modern Approach to Social Value Creation. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. pp.4–5, 11–12.