Top Social Entrepreneurship Books

Here are the top social entrepreneurship books recommended by the staff here at Bridge for Billions.

Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. by Muhammad Yunus

In his book Creating a World without Poverty, Nobel Peace Prize winning economist Muhammad Yunus explored the idea of a social business as one where the entrepreneur’s creativity is applied to solving some of the most serious social problems like protecting the planet, feeding the poor, and housing the homeless. Yunus reveals the hope that lies in social entrepreneurs’ ability to deal with these environmental and social issues.

The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook: Pressure Test, Plan, Launch and Scale Your Social Enterprise by Ian C. MacMilan and James D. Thompson

This book is a playbook for any entrepreneur who wishes to start a social enterprise. It gives aspiring social entrepreneurs a three-step walk-through of how to develop their business, and guides them through each phase: Pressure Test your Idea, Plan your Social Enterprise, and Launch and Scale your Social Enterprise. This book gives accessible frameworks and tools to aspiring or active social entrepreneurs about how they can do more good with their businesses.

The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers by Paul Polak and Mal Warwick

Paul Polak and Mal Warwick explore how to tap into the market potential of the 2.7 billions people who live on $2 a day or less. They explain how you can serve them ethically and effectively which helps solve some of the world’s most difficult environmental and social problems while still making a profit. To learn more about their ideas, check out our article on 5 Steps to Starting a Social Enterprise.

Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs by Muhammad Yunus

In Building Social Businesses, Muhammad Yunus shows how to put into practice social businesses and why they have the potential to redeem the free-market enterprise. The goal of these social businesses is to create self-supporting, viable enterprises that generate economic growth for those in need while producing goods and services that help solve social and economic injustices.

Bonus:

A book that isn’t directly about social entrepreneurship, but can inspire anyone to find a job you love and truly believe in.

Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This short novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry tells us the story of the Little Prince that lives on his own asteroid though his encounter with an explorer in the desert. When the Little Prince leaves his asteroid because he wants to explore the rest of the universe, he comes across multiple planets with single, narrow-minded adults: like The Vain Man — a sole resident of his planet that, by being alone is assured of being the richest and best-looking man on his planet; or The Businessman — one that owns all the stars but does not even remember how they are called and is too busy even to greet his visitor. This portion of the novella can inspire readers to think outside the bubble when considering career choices and try to find a job that they would truly love and in which they believe.

Are you interested in social entrepreneurship? Want to start your own? Apply at BridgeforBillions.org.