Social Entrepreneurship: Generating Solutions To Global Challenges

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship is not new, but has gained greater visibility and recognition in recent years due to its growing worldwide impact.  As in the case of business entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship starts with an entrepreneur who has a novel idea, an innovative product or service, a creative approach to solving a perceived problem, a new business model, and/or a previously untried approach to product or service delivery. However, social entrepreneurship differs from business entrepreneurship because it is after sustainable solutions to societal problems and aims at social change rather than market expansion. It is, therefore, seen more as an agent of change than a profit-seeking enterprise.  This paper explores the characteristics of social entrepreneurship, and the factors that make a difference in its success or failure. It also sheds some light on what a social entrepreneurship is and what it is not. Finally, it examines the missions and contributions of six successful social entrepreneurships: The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, ADAPT of Egypt, BRAC of Bangladesh, Instituto de Pesquisas Ecologicas of Brazil,  the Aravind Eye Care Hospitals  of India, and Televerde’s Prison Call Centers of the United States. The impact of the first four has spread beyond their countries of origin, either through the geographic expansion of their operations or the application of the same concept or business model by social enterprises in other countries.