Social entrepreneurship is the fastest growing sector of the economy according to a new study by Opportunity International Australia. But, what is social entrepreneurship? If you are already considering starting a social enterprise, read on for information on how you can use your MBA to change the world.
Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship applies entrepreneurial principles to solving social problems by creating ventures for social change. While business entrepreneurs have revolutionized entire industries, social entrepreneurs are out to transform society. Social enterprises are usually associated with the non-profit sector.
Social entrepreneurs implement change by improving systems, creating and applying new approaches, and advancing sustainable solutions that create social value. According to social entrepreneurship expert David Bornstein, "Social entrepreneurs identify resources where people only see problems. They view the villagers as the solution, not the passive beneficiary. They begin with the assumption of competence and unleash resources in the communities they're serving."
As a social entrepreneur, it's your job to identify societal problems and find ways to fix them. In order to solve the problem, you need to not only change the system, but convince entire societies to change as well. That level of change requires long hours and a lot of hard work. A successful entrepreneur is someone who has the determination to work through all the obstacles in their way.
While social entrepreneurship may seem like a new phenomenon, examples of social entrepreneurship can be found throughout history. PBS Heroes has a slideshow with several examples of early social entrepreneurs, who you probably learned about in your grade school history classes. Florence Nightingale, for example, is considered the founder of modern nursing since she started the first nursing school and developed modern nursing practices.
The term "social entrepreneurship" was coined by Bill Drayton, who founded Ashoka: Innovators for the Public in 1980. Launched with only $50,000, Ashoka had a $30.5 million budget and 1,600 fellows in 60 countries in 2005. While you may expect a social entrepreneur to be a freewheeling hippie, Drayton is a Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law Schol graduate who worked at McKinsey. Like most social entrepreneurs, Drayton views social change as a strategic mission rather than a romantic notion. In 2005, Drayton told U.S. News & World Report "[Social entrepreneurship is] not a poem; it's not like Xanadu. There are many people who are creative and altruistic, but they are never going to change a pattern across a continent."
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