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There are many ways to define social entrepreneurship,
categorize organizations as social enterprises, and
identify people as social entrepreneurs. This document
attempts to provide some clear definitions and examples
of social entrepreneurship.
What is social entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting or
improving organizations in response to an identified
opportunity or need. Social entrepreneurship describes
people and organizations that start or improve
organizations in response to a social need. Social
entrepreneurs use business skills such as risk-taking,
innovation, and strategic thinking, to solve pressing
social issues in sustainable and lasting ways. Social
entrepreneurship operates across sectors: through
innovative non-governmental organizations (NGOs), within
the government, and in social purpose businesses such as
community development banks.
A social enterprise is driven not by the extent to which
it makes a profit, but by the extent to which it creates
social value.
A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social
problem and uses entrepreneurial principles of
strategically analyzing, measuring, and leveraging
resources to organize, create, and manage a venture to
improve society. Social entrepreneurs are people whose
creativity and drive open up major new possibilities in
education, health, the environment, and other areas of
human need. Just as business entrepreneurs lead
innovation in commerce, social entrepreneurs drive
social innovation.
How is social entrepreneurship different from
entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurs set out with a specific social
mission in mind, while business entrepreneurs set out
with a business mission in mind. A business entrepreneur
typically measures performance in profit and return, but
a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of
impact on society. Business entrepreneurs focus on value
in the creation of new markets, while social
entrepreneurs aim for value in improving communities and
society. While wealth creation may be part of the
process, it is not an end in itself. Promoting systemic
social improvement is the real objective.
What skills are essential to social entrepreneurship?
Knowledge of the content area, management principles,
and leadership ability contribute to successful social
enterprises. Social entrepreneurs have a deep
comprehension of the root cause as well as the symptoms
of issues they strive to address. They have a commitment
to creating a lasting organization through financial
acumen, accountability, and innovation. They know how to
evaluate the impact of their enterprise, and strive to
assess and improve it. As leaders, they are aware of
their strengths, challenges, and passions. Leaders have
the ability to communicate a clear vision, create roles
for others, and continue identifying needs and
opportunities that improve society. Social entrepreneurs
are willing to try new approaches to address their
issue, and seek to include the skills and resources of
others.
How is social entrepreneurship different from community
service?
Both social entrepreneurship and community service are
methods to improve the community. Community service
refers to individuals or organizations volunteering
their time or resources to benefit people, communities,
or institutions. In contrast, social entrepreneurship
refers to sustainable organizations or practices that
continue serving the community by addressing the root of
the problem, usually by involving community members in
the solution to the problem.
Example 1 (Playground):
• Community Service - A group of students volunteers to
build a playground in an underserved area. Students will
benefit from raising funds and dedicating their time to
construct a safe place for children to play. Although
the play ground will likely last, it will not address
the root of the problems in the community.
• Social Enterprise – A group of students forms an
organization that provides job and construction training
to young people in that underserved area. Then, the
organization employs these people so that they can apply
their newly learned skills to build playgrounds and
other structures. This model builds skills and creates
new jobs to bring sustained finances into the
underserved community, enabling citizens to provide for
their families. Although some people may volunteer their
time at the organization, the efforts are professional
and ongoing.
Example 2 (Alashanek ya Balady Association for
Sustainable Development):
• Community Service - Alashanek ya Balady Association
for Sustainable Development (AYB-SD), meaning “For You
My (beloved) Country,” started off as a community
service club at the American University of Cairo in
2002. The club taught students the difference between
charity and community development.
• Social Enterprise - After graduation, Raghda El
Ebrashi turned AYB-SD into an active NGO that “involves
Egyptian youth from various educational backgrounds and
cities in community development… to contribute to the
alleviation of poverty and enhance the ethics and morals
of the society through engaging them into the circle of
development.” The NGO uses donations to finance its
micro-credit program and language and computer skills
workshops. The organization also offers marketing and
management trainings which are donated by multinational
corporations. In this program, students pay fees that
are later used to fund other programs at the
organization. This type of mentality of affecting long
term social change makes AYB-SD a Social Enterprise.
How is social entrepreneurship different from activism?
Activists are known for their drive and passion for
improving a current situation. Social entrepreneurs
apply these traits as part of a strategic, ongoing
initiative to create measurable and lasting results.
Raghda El Ebrashi, founder of Alashanek ya Balady
Association for Sustainable Development, says that
“social entrepreneurs are called ‘entrepreneurs’ and not
‘activists’ because they have the same qualities of
business entrepreneurs, that is risk-taking, innovation
and strategy.”
Who are examples of social entrepreneurs?
• Florence Nightengale is often considered an early
pioneer of social entrepreneurship. While treating
soldiers in the Crimean War, she was motivated to make a
positive impact, not driven to make a profit.
Recognizing the need for skilled caregivers and an
opportunity for employment, Nightengale founded the
first nursing school and created the foundations for the
nursing industry.
• Muhammad Yunus revolutionized economics by founding
the Grameen Bank, or "village bank," in Bangladesh in
1976 to offer "microloans" to help impoverished people
attain economic self-sufficiency through
self-employment. Yunus received the 2006 Nobel Peace
Prize for this model that has been replicated in over 60
countries around the world.
What are examples of social enterprises?
• AL BIDAYA (the Beginning): Saadya El Wafy, the first
woman to found a community-based civil society
organization in Saudi Arabia, has developed a lasting
model to improve poverty in the country. Instead of
having the poor rely on charity donations, Saadya is
pioneering a new level of community mobilization by
providing employment services, microcredit, and
emergency assistance to squatter communities
(communities where people live in vacant buildings or
spaces they do not own). Saadya established the first
civil district council, including community leaders,
donors, governmental officials, and volunteers. The
council is establishing how they will work together to
move the community toward cooperation. Saadya launched
her model in Golail and plans to spread to eight
squatter areas in Jeddah in three years, reaching at
least 40 percent of the citizens.
• WADI ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE CENTRE (WESC), EGYPT. Lynn
Freiji, founder of WESC, is improving the way science is
taught. While most educational reforms in Egypt are
conceptualized at a policy level, Lynn's approach to
changing the way science is taught results from
on-the-ground experimentation with how children best
absorb information and deepen critical thinking skills.
The experiential learning curriculum of over 40 field
trips does not happen in isolation; instead, Lynn has
linked each to the national science curriculum used by
all public and private schools. Lynn charges a minimum
fee per student to ensure the continuity of the effort,
and has begun experimenting with cross-subsidizing.
• WAQFEYET AL-MAADI AL-AHLEYA. Marwa El-Daly established
the Waqfeyet al-Maadi al-Ahleya, the first independent
waqf for 50 years. The waqfeya creates collective trusts
in the form of a community-based organization. It works
with waqfeya partners—business people or corporations
who implement projects within the waqfeya and tie their
profit to the trusts and the organization’s maintenance,
growth and philanthropic activities. It is the first
community-based foundation to diversify its revenues
through a main trust funded by major business
entrepreneurs, contributions from community members, and
a series of business enterprises to ensure a flow of
income and continued active involvement of the business
sector. Marwa’s waqfeya and its activities in the Cairo
district of Maadi are proving that an autonomous,
traditional yet modern structured philanthropy is
feasible in Egypt.
• BELU: The United Kingdom’s first carbon neutral
bottled water company, BELU is an NGO that gives all
profits to clean water projects. For example, Belu is
installing wells and hand pumps for 10,000 people in the
village of Tamil Nadu, India. Every bottle of water
purchased supplies clean water for a month to one person
without access to water.
About Social Entrepreneurship.
www.skollfoundation.org/aboutsocialentrepreneurship
Ashoka Fellows in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/2992.
www.belu.org
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