Action Guide > Action > Social Entrepreneurship
A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial
principles to organize, create, and manage a venture which effects social change. Just as business entrepreneurs create and transform whole industries, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunitties others miss in order to improve systems, invent and disseminate new approaches, and advance sustainable solutions that create social value.
Unlike traditional business entrepreneurs, the primary goal of a social entreprenneur is to generate “social value” rather than profits. Their work is targeted not only towards immediate, small-scale effects, but also toward sweeping, longterm change.
The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it un-stuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and moving society in a new direction.
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Some noteworthy social entrepreneurs:
John Muir
John Muir was a naturalist, conservationist, inventor, and writer living in the late 19th century. His readers were inspired and often moved to action by Muir’s love of nature. In 1890, after Muir lobbied against the devastation in the Sierra Nevada caused by ranching, Congress created Yosemite, America’s first national park. Muir then helped found The Sierra Club and worked with President Roosevelt to establish the U.S. national park system. Muir was personally involved in the establishment of Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon national parks.
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammed Yunus is the founder and manager of Grameen Bank, which developed the concept of microcredit. Microcredit is the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
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Web Resources
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
www.ashoka.org
Ashoka is a global organization that identifies and invests in leading social
entrepreneurs.
Echoing Green
www.echoinggreen.org
Foundation that provides seed money and support to young social
entrepreneurs.
Youth Venture
www.youthventure.org
Encourages young people (ages 12-20) to start and lead their own organizations for the betterment of their communities.
Bikkurim: an Incubator for New Jewish Ideas
www.bikkurim.org
Energizes and enriches the Jewish community by finding innovative Jewish ideas and nurturing them to sustainability. Matching entrepreneurial drive with organizational know-how, Bikkurim transforms the dreams of visionaries into a tide of initiatives that contribute meaningfully to Jewish life and expand the nature of Jewish community.
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Books
Bill Shore, Revolution of the Heart: A New Strategy for Creating Wealth
and Meaningful Change (DIANE Publishing, 1999)
David Bornstein, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the
Power of New Ideas, (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Joanna Mair, Jeffrey Robinson, and Kai Hockerts, Social Entrepreneurship
(Palgrave, 2006)
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