Social Entrepreneurship: Success Cases and Their Contributions to the Creative Economy
Social entrepreneurship is a reality in Brazil and around the world, growing at full speed, breaking many paradigms, and contributing to transforming lives.
In addition to being vital for the development of the creative economy and the inclusion of innovative products and services, it creates sustainable businesses with extreme value for society and its hope for a better future.
These social enterprises exist based on an independent model of state donations and aid.
And mainly, to promote solutions that generate changes in the reality of vulnerable people and communities, in a continuous and well-structured way.
Whether on a local or global level, they cause significant impacts by offering training, employment, opportunities for health treatment, basic sanitation, housing, food, preservation of the environment, among other fronts.
All projects that focus on this mission and social responsibility also contribute to the satisfaction and fulfillment of investors, entrepreneurs and partners.
That’s because their work aligns career and life purpose, adding a noble meaning to professional activities.
By reading this article until the end, you will learn about the role, practical actions and promising examples of social entrepreneurship to inspire you.
Shall we go ahead? Good reading!
Social Entrepreneurship: Role and Challenges
Social entrepreneurship emerged to meet needs that should be covered by the State, meeting, in particular, the demands of needy populations.
The proposal is challenging: using management techniques, green technologies, finance, sustainability and others, with the objective of maximizing the generation of capital and social emancipation of a community, neighborhood, city or country.
Unlike prioritizing profits for the sustainability of common ventures, the social entrepreneur seeks value in the form of large-scale transformational benefits.
Of course, this does not mean that social entrepreneurs avoid profitable projects, as their ventures can generate income and be organized for profit or not.
And more!
You might be asking yourself: how is it possible to climb in social entrepreneurship?
Yes, it is perfectly possible and even desirable, since successful solutions and initiatives in one community can be adopted in other locations, greatly enhancing its advantages.
One of the paths to this scale is networking, where CSOs (civil society organizations) operate less isolated and more aware of the importance of working alliances with their sister organizations.
After all, the IPEA (Institute for Applied Economic Research) points to the existence of more than 780 thousand CSOs operating in Brazil.
Another way to scale successful initiatives is through corporate social responsibility strategies.
When a company takes an initiative or a project that it supports in one community and takes it to be replicated in another, it is expanding the range of its social actions.
This benefits other locations, with the advantage of offering something already tested and proven successful.
These two paths have enormous potential to amplify the effects of local social entrepreneurship initiatives.
Social Entrepreneurship and its practical actions
To understand and create practical actions in social entrepreneurship, it is worth remembering that in the current Information Age, these actions stand out for bringing together innovation, digital transformation and the generation of value to society, surpassing purely profitable goals.
And to deliver value, it is important to create indicators that help to understand the evolution and effectiveness of your initiatives.
Faced with a community without access to drinking water, for example, the social entrepreneur must find answers that go beyond the purchase of this item to supply for a month.
It is necessary to offer opportunities to reverse this situation, reusing water or guaranteeing the supply of this region without great costs for the citizens.
The same applies to Education, where the Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC) and the New High School allow students to have access to the theme of social entrepreneurship.
Can you imagine how precious learning is to develop skills and abilities such as altruism, empathy and problem solving, strengthening schools and communities?
According to the report presented by the Schwab Foundation, which provides platforms at the national, regional and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship, the sectors that have the most support from social entrepreneurs on the planet are:
● Education
● Ecological solutions
● Economic activities
● Job Generation
● Access to energy
● Financial inclusion
● Health
● Housing
● Right to land
● Social inclusion
● Technology
Another relevant fact in the document is that Brazil is among the 10 countries most impacted by these activities, along with India, the United States, Mexico, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
The slow pace of socially-focused public policies and the numerous inequalities, combined with the creativity of the Brazilian population, make the country a fertile ground for innovative ideas that improve practical actions in social entrepreneurship.
Promising Examples of Social Entrepreneurship
Check out the success stories of social entrepreneurship below:
● GRAACC
The Support Group for Adolescents and Children with Cancer (GRAACC) is one of the most popular cases of social entrepreneurship in Brazil.
The entity was created in 1991, through a partnership between pediatrician Antonio Sérgio Petrilli, engineer Jacinto Guidolin and volunteer Lea Della Casa Mingione.
The team wanted to improve the chances of a cure for children with cancer and, in 1998, it won technical-scientific collaboration with the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP).
Thus, GRAACC has already treated more than 5,000 patients, with a cure rate of 70% and has become a reference in the treatment of childhood cancer.
As a case study of social entrepreneurship, it is maintained through the sale of products in bazaars, online stores and donations.
● ASID
The Social Action for Equality of Differences, another example of social entrepreneurship, has been operating since 2010 with a core commitment: assisting in the management of schools and institutions that work with special people.
Alexandre Amorim, Luiz Ribas and Diego Moreira lead the organization through an administrative methodology used by entities served by ASID.
The objective is to improve the quality of free education offered to special people, empower families and include them in the labor market.
On its website, this social entrepreneurship is accountable and shows results, with total transparency.
● Network Asta
Rede Asta could not be left out of social entrepreneurship!
Since 2005, it has been connecting groups of artisans across Brazil to create and develop sustainable solutions for reusing waste, following the upcycling concept.
Or rather, the creative reuse that consists of transforming waste and unwanted materials into a product of quality and environmental value.
Very interesting, do you agree?
The production is entirely made by artisans from areas with low purchasing power, generating income and economic inclusion for this case of social entrepreneurship.
● Liter of Light
Liter de Luz is a type of social entrepreneurship that operates in more than 20 countries, bringing light to populations that do not have access to electricity.
In addition to using economical technology, the organization has a methodology to train residents and mobilize volunteers to meet the needs of these populations.
In Brazil, they directly impact more than 10 thousand people.
Look how these examples of social entrepreneurship are broad in purpose and expand economic creativity and social and environmental well-being!
It is time to innovate, and the transformation is inevitable, as we are all agents of it, regardless of whether we are in business with exclusivity in social entrepreneurship or not.
