Social Entrepreneurship: A New Paradigm In The Field Of Development

The concept of social entrepreneurship emerged in the 1980s. It can be defined as the process of bringing social change on a more effective scale than as compared to the traditional non-governmental organisations in a socially responsible manner. It aims to bring balanced economic growth and development in a society with the ultimate objective of bringing positive social changes.

• A Social entrepreneur adopts the principles of enterprises for planning and executing social programs to create social value and social change. It seeks to create value to generate a positive impact on the society by offering services that can resolve social challenges. It has the potential to make the people self-respecting, leaders of social change, self-reliant and enterprising.

Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurship

Tackling Social Problems – The primary aim of a social entrepreneur is to tackle social problems effectively. They use the opportunities that were not successfully exploited by individuals in the private, public, or traditional non-governmental sector.

• Creation of Social Values – It can create financial, reputational as well as ethical values that can improve employment opportunities, raise the inherent value of enterprises and imbibe professional working culture among the people. It empowers the people to improve their standard of living and gain competitive advantage.
• Innovation Promotion – Social entrepreneurs promote innovative changes in the form of novel solution to a social problem which are more effective and efficient and the benefits of which accrues mainly to the society as a whole rather than just a few individuals.
• Identification and Use of Opportunities – It seeks to identify potential opportunities to solve new social problems, by providing new ideas, new types of services, searching for more efficient or even new combinations of resources. It leads to innovation and an alternative model of development is built.
• Mobilisation of Resources - Social enterprises tend to leverage existing local resources and find new ones to bring social change and address the exclusion of certain communities.
• Ethical Values – It aims to promotes and inculcate ethical values such as Integrity, Fairness, Leadership, Honesty, Accountability, Teamwork, Compassion, Loyalty etc. which improves social relations and promotes a culture of transparency and accountability.
• Risk Taking Abilities – They are proactive in their approach and take risks by bringing in newer ideas and processes of working to bring social change. Personal characteristics such as inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage, and fortitude enable high risk taking by the social entrepreneur.
• Sustainable Changes – Social entrepreneurship creates long term sustainable changes in a society. They don’t just try to optimize the imperfections in the present system with minor adjustments. They work with altruistic motives and focus upon the wellbeing of those to whom they are providing services.

Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Development

It primarily supports development efforts of Governments, NGOs, Civil Society and other commercial entities and advance sustainable development.

• It contributes to sustainable and inclusive job creation and local development. For eg. Social enterprises benefited 871 million people in nine countries in Europe and Central Asia, creating employment among the most marginalized social groups.
• It contributes to economic growth and competitiveness of countries by revitalizing their local economies and also enhancing the potential for progress in the societies.
• Social entrepreneurs establish operations in geographic areas that unattractive for commercial companies, which enable the inflow of commercial firms in the region and crowds in investments.
• Social entrepreneurs have a strong connection with the local community due to which they are able to push for expanded development in poor and marginalised regions.
• Their work has a considerable impact on poverty and underemployment, especially among the vulnerable groups. It can contribute to broader strategies and interventions by reducing unemployment and poverty. It enables social inclusion of vulnerable and marginalised communities.
• They are able to make efficient use of available resources, which enables resource conservation and promote welfare of the people with minimal investment.
• It supports the provisioning of basic goods and services that which help in improving the standard of living of communities by improving their capabilities.

Social entrepreneurship has the potential to bring transformative changes in the society through initiatives such as low cost schools, healthcare, telemedicine, basic services such as sanitation, electricity, waste collection etc. They improve productivity, create values and social changes that empower people and enable them to grasp opportunities and meet their aspirations.