Social Entrepreneurship: What it is, Definition, Characteristics, Types and Examples. It is a new trend that reflects entrepreneurial activity that deals with the social mission first and profits second.
Therefore, social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social, cultural, and environmental challenges. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major problems and offering new ideas for systems-level change.
Social entrepreneurship consists of the satisfaction of a social or environmental need, through a company that generates economic benefits and reinvests them in achieving the main social objective.
Social Entrepreneurship: What it is, Definition, Characteristics, Types and Examples
Social entrepreneurship encompasses the entrepreneurial and innovative activities of non-profit organizations, people linked to civic activities, and companies or businesses whose programs result in both social and financial benefits; the model includes both social benefit and sustainable business principles.
What is Social Entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship is a corporate perspective from which companies direct efforts and resources to the elaboration of innovative solutions for social problems, promoting a positive impact in the community.
Definition of Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship is the start-up of a company whose final objective is not the maximization of economic benefit, but the creation of value for society.
Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurship
For a business to be classified as social entrepreneurship it must be based on social responsibility and it must have at least the following elements:
Goals
Its main objective should be social welfare and the creation of promoting work for and with society.
Benefits
Most of its profits and income must be reinvested in achieving the social objective.
Actions
His social actions go above profit.
Company
It seeks to establish itself as a company through the use of methods typical of the commercial or business field, such as marketing, advertising, and, of course, sales.
Opportunities
Provides jobs and career growth opportunities.
Establishment
It is established as a store (whether physical or virtual) and offers products or services, in the same way, that traditional commercial companies do;
Inspiring
It must be to infect the entrepreneurs internally, as well as the possible beneficiaries of the product or service resulting from the initiative.
Innovative
You must look for new utility, marketing, and benefit models for things that already exist, but that can be much better.
Solutions
It provides innovative solutions to social problems and real environments, that is, its fight against poverty, social exclusion, crime, climate change, etc.
Sustainable
It must be a project that can be achieved in time to give a benefit in time with financial profitability.
Fundamental aspects of social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship is constantly seeking to balance the three fundamental aspects of its mission, which are:
Achieve your financial success.
Its raison d'être is based on social responsibility
Commitment to the environment
Types of Social Entrepreneurship
Types of Social Entrepreneurship by its objective
Broadly speaking, social enterprises can be classified into four categories, according to their fundamental objective:
Social promotion ventures. Those whose objective is to spread a type of ideas, conduct, or behaviors, in favor of a social or ecological cause.
Social enterprises of specialists. Those made up of professionals with a high degree of specialization in a matter of social interest, fulfill the role of disseminating specialized knowledge, educating or informing the bulk of the population.
Local action social enterprises. Those who assume as their goal the solution of specific, specific problems that afflict the society in which they operate.
Long-range social ventures. Those that intend to address wide-ranging problems are considered to be of international or universal importance.
Types of Social Entrepreneurship by its financing
They could also be classified according to the origin of their financing:
Dependents. Those who receive money from some other institution, whether private (commercial) or public (state).
independent. Those who manage themselves or prefer to maintain their autonomy free of monetary rewards.
Examples of Social Entrepreneurship
Some examples of social entrepreneurship are the following:
The first example is a company that sells bottled water and allocates 100% of the profits to the creation of a system to bring drinking water to underdeveloped areas.
The second example is a crowdfunding company where only social projects are financed.
The third example is a company that employs people with disabilities and bets on human labor instead of machinery that could do the same job.