What Social Entrepreneurship is and why it is so important
We live in a world where capitalism has become associated with greed and self-interest. Some would call it a dog eat dog world but the renowned Adam Smith summed it up quite well in the Wealth of Nations when he says:
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. “
Not all forms of capitalism are bad, that “invisible hand” of self interest still results in a mutually beneficial exchange of goods. Yet the ’only for-profit’ business model has its pitfalls. As author Anne Bland points out in an article for the Green European Journal ,
“It is often associated with lack of labour rights, damage to the environment and huge profits for shareholders at the expense of everything else..”
So what is the solution? Most believe the solution lies in Social Entrepreneurship.
American Scientist Gregory Dees defined Social Entrepreneurship as,
” The field in which entrepreneurs tailor their activities to be directly tied with the ultimate goal of creating social value. In doing so, they often act with little or no intention to gain personal profit. A social entrepreneur “combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination commonly associated with, for instance, the high-tech pioneers of Silicon Valley “
Social Entrepreneurs do not measure their success in terms of profit alone but in the amount of impact they have made in the society. They sacrifice margin for market scale. In the developing world, social entrepreneurs play a particularly important role as they implement widespread improvements in society and in turn significantly contribute to the continent’s economic growth and development objectives. This hybrid form of entrepreneurship really is a win-win situation as impact actions benefit the community as well as sustain the “heroes” that come up with the innovative ideas that result in an improved society.
