Social Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Social entrepreneurs cleverly combine business techniques and private sector approaches in order to develop solutions to social, cultural, or environmental problems, and do so in a variety of organizations. The chapter will set the stage by first presenting some commonalities between conventional entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs, such as their internal locus of control, their zest for innovation, their ambition, and their perseverance; and subsequently discussing the most obvious differences such as their foundational structures (wealth accumulation vs. making a difference) and their performance measurement (return on investments vs. return to society). Three different social entrepreneurial business models will briefly be discussed: (1) The Leveraged Nonprofit, a business model leveraging resources in order to respond to social needs; (2) The Hybrid Nonprofit, a structure that can take on a variety of forms; and (3) The Social Business Venture, designed to create change through social means (Elkington and Hartigan 2008). The chapter will then present two exemplary social entrepreneurs: Muhamad Yunus (Grameen Bank) and Elon Musk (Tesla Electric cars, SolarCity, SpaceX, and Hyperloop). Both of these social entrepreneurs decided to address societal needs and solve social problems by changing the status quo, presenting and spreading a solution, and persuading their societies to move in a different direction. In its final section, the chapter will encourage readers to consider social entrepreneurial efforts toward a better world, by becoming society’s change agents, and either righting a wrong, creating something right, or improving on something good.