Social entrepreneurship is an initiative that aims to positively impact a particular group or society as a whole. A social enterprise can be aimed at combating inequality or defending the environment, for example. What characterizes social entrepreneurship is the pursuit of social benefit above anything else, including profit.
In a more general sense, entrepreneurship can be defined as the ability to seize opportunities to create new things. Thus, the entrepreneur is one who, inspired by the opportunity, creates innovative products and services in order to meet certain needs.
In the case of conventional entrepreneurship, the purpose is to serve the market, with the purpose of obtaining financial returns. Social entrepreneurship, on the other hand, has as a value proposition generate positive transformations in society, aiming at a better future for a certain segment or for society in general. It is worth noting that a social enterprise may or may not be organized for profit, as long as its main mission is the social benefit.
Read more about the Meaning of Entrepreneurship.
Examples of social entrepreneurship
Example 1: Popular Pharmaceutical Company
Pharmaceutical scientist Victoria Hale founded the pharmaceutical company in 2000 OneWorld Health. What motivated the creation of OneWorld Health were the limitations of the pharmaceutical industry, which stops producing some drugs due to low financial returns. However, these drugs are lacking for many people, especially in poor countries.
To combat this injustice, Hale decided to act, driven by the mission of giving people access to the medicines they need, regardless of whether they can pay for them or not. OneWorld Health develops medicines that meet the needs of the poorest populations and maintains health centers in Central America and Africa. The institution has the support of partners and donations from individuals.
Example 2: low-income bank
Perhaps Bengali Muhammad Yunus is the most famous social entrepreneur in the world. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, he is the founder of Grameen Bank, in addition to other companies dedicated to social business in Bangladesh. The dream of Yunus, known as "the banker to the poor", is to end poverty in the world.
Founded in 1983, Grameen Bank is a pioneering bank in the microcredit field. It was conceived with the mission of providing credit to the poorest people, facilitating access to money and charging lower interest rates than those practiced in the market. Yunus is proud of the very low default rate, which hovers around 3%.
Example 3: socio-editorial project
THE MOL Publisher it boasts on its website that it is "the world's biggest social impact publisher." Founded in 2007 by Brazilians Rodrigo Pipponzi and Roberta Faria, MOL is dedicated to publishing magazines, calendars and books sold at affordable prices in retail stores.
In addition to democratizing access to reading, MOL stands out for donating part of the cover value of its publications to NGOs that support social causes, such as GRAAC. One of MOL's most famous magazines is He used to smile, launched in 2008 in partnership with Droga Raia.
See too:
- Meaning of Digital Entrepreneurship
- Meaning of Entrepreneur
- meaning of NGO