Module 4: Social Entrepreneur and

Social Enterprises

Presented by: Prof. ARCELY L. HARIRARAMANI, DEM, MAED-AS, MLIS

 Social Entrepreneur
 A person who pursues an innovative idea with the potential to solve a community
problem, These individuals are willing to take on the risk and effort to create positive
changes in society through their initiatives.

 Examples of social entrepreneurship include microfinance institutions,

educational programs, providing banking services in underserved areas and helping
children orphaned by epidemic disease. The main goal of a social entrepreneur is not
to earn a profit, but to implement widespread improvements in society. However, a
social entrepreneur must still be financially savvy to succeed in his or her cause.
 What is a Social Entrepreneur?
 Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social
problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new
ideas for wide-scale change.
 Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to
changing the direction of their field. They are visionaries, but also realists, and are ultimately
concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else.
 Social entrepreneurs present user-friendly, understandable, and ethical ideas that engage
widespread support in order to maximize the number of citizens that will stand up, seize their
idea, and implement it. Leading social entrepreneurs are mass recruiters of local change
makers— role models proving that citizens who channel their ideas into action can do almost
anything.
Why "Social" Entrepreneur?

 as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs

act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others
miss to improve systems, invent new approaches, and create
solutions to change society for the better. While a business
entrepreneur might create entirely new industries, a social
entrepreneur develops innovative solutions to social problems and
then implements them on a large scale.
 Historical Examples of Leading Social Entrepreneurs:        

1. Susan B. Anthony (U.S.): Fought for Women's Rights in the United States, including the right to
control property and helped spearhead adoption of the 19th amendment.

2. Vinoba Bhave (India): Founder and leader of the Land Gift Movement, he caused the
redistribution of more than 7,000,000 acres of land to aid India's untouchables and landless.

3. Dr. Maria Montessori (Italy): Developed the Montessori approach to early childhood education.

4. Florence Nightingale (U.K.): Founder of modern nursing, she established the first school for
nurses and fought to improve hospital conditions.

5. John Muir (U.S.): Naturalist and conservationist, he established the National Park System and
helped found The Sierra Club.

6. Jean Monnet (France): Responsible for the reconstruction of the French economy following
World War II, including the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The
ECSC and the European Common Market were direct precursors of the European Union.
 Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition
 Social Entrepreneurship is attracting growing amounts of talent, money, and attention. But along
with its increasing popularity has come less certainty about what exactly a social entrepreneur is
and does. As a result, all sorts of activities are now being called social entrepreneurship. Some
say that a more inclusive term is all for the good, but the authors argue that it’s time for a more
rigorous definition.

 he reasons behind the popularity of social entrepreneurship are many. On the most basic level,
there’s something inherently interesting and appealing about entrepreneurs and the stories of why
and how they do what they do. People are attracted to social entrepreneurs like last year’s Nobel
Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus for many of the same reasons that they find business
entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs so compelling – these extraordinary people come up with brilliant
ideas and against all the odds succeed at creating new products and services that dramatically
improve people’s lives.
 Entrepreneurial Context
 The starting point for entrepreneurship is what we call an entrepreneurial
context.

 For Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the entrepreneurial context was a
computing system in which users were dependent on mainframe computers
controlled by a central IT staff who guarded the mainframe like a shrine. Users
got their computing tasks done, but only after waiting in line and using the
software designed by the IT staff. If users wanted a software program to do
something out of the ordinary, they were told to wait six months for the
programming to be done.
Entrepreneurial Characteristics
 These characteristics are fundamental to the process of innovation.

1. The entrepreneur is inspired to alter the unpleasant equilibrium.

2. The entrepreneur thinks creatively and develops a new solution that dramatically breaks
with the existing one.
3. Entrepreneurs demonstrate courage throughout the process of innovation, bearing the
burden of risk and staring failure squarely if not repeatedly in the face.
4. Entrepreneurs possess the fortitude to drive their creative solutions through to fruition and
market adoption. No entrepreneurial venture proceeds without setbacks or unexpected
turns, and the entrepreneur needs to be able to find creative ways around the barriers and
challenges that arise.
Reference:

 http://entrepreneurialbehavior.weebly.com/module-4-the-social-entrepreneurship-and-
social-entreprise.html