"Social Entrepreneurship" is being responsive to the needs of our times. The non-economic motivational underpinnings of social entrepreneurial activity revolves around its passion of accomplishing a social mission, ability to incorporate innovation, strive to create impact and not just earn income are the very basis for social entrepreneurship.
Our current times call for the entrepreneurial approaches to solving social problems. Government and philanthropic organizations could not tackle the problems on their own. Their efforts are, at best, often viewed as below the people's expectations and, at worst, inefficient. Obviously, the government and social organizations alone could not implement necessary remedies for social problems. This is where social entrepreneurs come in.
Social entrepreneurs create models for the century. They lead people to greater visions and higher heights. Social entrepreneurship may be a newly coined word but the phenomenon has existed long before. This was practiced by institutions which we hardly recognize as such before. The new name enables us to recognize the efforts of these institutions at the same time put sectoral boundaries.
Aside from innovative not-for-profit endeavors, social entrepreneurship can be found in business ventures created for social purposes. Examples of which include for-profit community development banks, hybrid organizations which combines not-for-profit and for-profit activities. Hybrid organizations include homeless shelters that organize businesses fro their residents' livelihood.
Social entrepreneurs implement various ways to serve their social missions.
Different people have different views on "social entrepreneurship" though.
So what does the term " social entrepreneurship" really mean? What does it take to be a social entrepreneur?
The succeeding definition is derived from a variety of social entrepreneur definitions all combined to come up with one, comprehensive definition. It is taken from Say's idea of value creation with emphasis on discipline and accountability, Schumpeter' notion of innovation and change agents, Drucker's pursuit of opportunity and Stevenson's need for resourcefulness. The definition goes:
Social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector, by:
Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value),
- Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission,
- Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning,
- Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand, and
- Exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created.
The more a person can satisfy all the conditions enumerated, the closer the person is to being a social entrepreneur. It necessarily follows that those who practice innovation and who create more significant social developments will obviously be viewed as more socially entrepreneurial.
Change agents in the social sector: According to Schumpeter, social entrepreneurs introduced reforms and innovations coupled with a social mission.
The introduce modifications to the traditional way of doing things in the social sector. They have bold visions. They get to the bottom of the problem and address the root causes instead of doing superficial treatment of symptoms.
They effectively curb needs instead of satisfying them. They aim to introduce general changes. Their actions might be geared towards the local public but the effect could lead to global improvements in several areas particularly education, health care, economic development, the environment, the arts and other social field.
Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value: This separates the social entrepreneurs from business entrepreneurs. A social entrepreneur focuses on a social mission. It is an essential part of business, the core with which the entire activities of the social entrepreneurship revolves around.
The mission to create social improvement cannot be compromised to attain personal advantages such as profits. Reaping profits, becoming wealthy, or filling the need customers form part of the social entrepreneurship, but these are simply ways of achieving social end, not the end goal itself. Profit and customer satisfaction are not the measurements use in creating value but social impact. Social entrepreneurs seek to attain long-term social effect.
Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities: Social entrepreneurs do not see problems instead they see view problems as opportunities in disguise.
They do not merely address social needs but also have the appropriate vision. The models and approaches they follow often change in response to the changing needs and demands of their work. Persistence is their number one trait coupled with willingness to adapt to change.
Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning: All kinds of entrepreneurs whether business or social are, by nature, innovative.
They do not necessarily invent new things but also introduce new ways of looking or using existing things.
Innovations they made maybe apparent in their core programs, or gathering of resources and funds. Creativity for entrepreneurs is a continuous learning process. Innovation often entails risks. But entrepreneurs are capable of managing these risks.
Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand: Limited resources for social entrepreneurs do not pose as a hindrance to their desired ends. They augment scarce resources by exploring options such as adding partners, collaboration and soliciting aid from philanthropists. They develop strategies that promote and enhance their social missions or the objectives they sought for.
Exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created: It is hard to totally wipe out ineffective social activities in business. That is why, social entrepreneurs focus on creating social value. To do this, they need to determine correctly the needs and values of the community they revolve in.
They aim to achieve a perfect balance between promoting social development at the same time providing financial or social return to their investors. This is a huge part of the challenge social entrepreneurs' face.
Progress of social entrepreneurs is determined by the relevant social, financial, and managerial outcomes. Unlike the business entrepreneurship where there is a greater emphasis on size, outputs, or processes. They use the information they gathered based on the outcomes to adapt to changes or make new goals if necessary.
For social entrepreneurs, the social mission is intrinsic part of their endeavors. Their objective of attaining socially relevant goals is the basis for perceiving and assessing opportunities. The impact they derived from achieving their social mission is central to social entrepreneurship not wealth creation. Wealth is merely one of the instruments to attain their social goals.
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