Social entrepreneurs work to solve critical social problems and address basic unmet needs through innovation. Their entrepreneurial endeavors create system change, improving the lives of underserved or marginalized groups.
Despite the increased attention that social entrepreneurship has received in recent years, there is no precise definition. Various organizations describe social entrepreneurship differently:
Ashoka defines social entrepreneurs as “individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems” who “find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to move in different directions.”
The Skoll Foundation calls social entrepreneurs “society’s change agents, creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world.”
In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Roger L. Martin and Sally Osberg offer a more rigorous definition. A social entrepreneur is “someone who targets an unfortunate but stable equilibrium that causes the neglect, marginalization, or suffering of a segment of humanity; who brings to bear on this situation his or her inspiration, direct action, creativity, courage, and fortitude; and who aims for and ultimately affects the establishment of a new stable equilibrium that secures permanent benefit for the targeted group and society at large.”
Who are Some Examples of Social Entrepreneurs?
There are social entrepreneurs all across the world, creating impact in areas as diverse as education, health, technology and more. Examples of social entrepreneurs include:
Muhammad Yunus, who founded Grameen Bank in 1983 to provide micro-loans to the poor in his native Bangladesh and beyond.
Becca Stevens
Becca Stevens, the founder of Thistle Farms, a social enterprise that treats, supports and employs women who have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction.
Jim Fruchterman
Jim Fruchterman, chief executive officer of Benetech, which uses technology to address social needs that are often unmet in Silicon Valley.
Jîn Dawod
Jin Dawod, the founder of Peace Psychotherapy and Software , an enterprise that provides psychological support in many languages online by a mobile application and website, its social side is by providing therapy for free for refugees and people who suffer from financial problems.
