Updated: 3 days ago
Social entrepreneurship is a way of doing business in an effort to make changes in the world through addressing social, cultural, or environmental issues. The individuals or organizations who practice social entrepreneurship develop, fund and implement opportunities to enhance social wealth in an innovative way. They start a business to make a difference.
These types of businesses share similar qualities such as:
Focus on solving a specific social, cultural, or environmental issue, and strategize innovative ways to find a solution.
Earn a profit and use a portion of that profit to support their mission.
Use feedback and community input to evolve and implement changes in the most suitable way possible.
TOMS: This company is one of the most recognizable social enterprises. TOMS started as a way to bring shoes to children in need with their one-for-one program - in other words, for every pair purchased, TOMs donates a pair. They have since expanded to address children’s health, education and economic needs around the world.
Warby Parker: This eyeglass company has distributed over five million pairs of glasses through their ‘buy a pair, give a pair’ program. By doing so, they are able to address a problem that many people across the globe struggle with: Access to proper vision care.
Hara House: This is one of the first zero waste guest houses in North India, located in Bikaner, Rajasthan. It stands as a prime example of what the tourism industry could be with the goal of one day becoming a nationwide sustainable property chain that leads impactful change.
Non-profit social venture: An organization without the goal of earning an income which uses all of its available resources in an innovative way to address social needs and challenges. Outside funding is required to run the venture, but is often mutually beneficial due to the fact that the philanthropic investors have a personal stake in the success of the venture.
For-profit social venture: An organization still focused on earning income, yet designed to impact change or solve a social problem. Social entrepreneurship ventures differ from traditional corporate businesses in that their focus is to grow the social endeavor rather than increase profit.
Hybrid social venture: A non-profit organization that is willing to generate revenue. It does so by blurring the lines between the non-profit and for-profit sectors, in order to maintain initiatives with social or community objectives. These organizations’ structures can vary depending on the degree of priority for their social and profit-based initiatives.