The World from Entrepreneurship to Social Entrepreneurship

“The Rise of Social Entrepreneur” by Charles Leadbeater made social entrepreneurship popular in the world of academic research and society. The term social entrepreneurship became widespread in 1980s and 1990s is quite distinct from the classic concept of entrepreneurship, yet it shares some similarities.

Social entrepreneurship tries to address a social concern or problem while at the  same time maintain profits. Their purpose of existence is to transform society rather than focus on increasing profits. There is still debate on who precisely comes under the umbrella of social entrepreneur but a social entrepreneur has the characteristics of being innovative and determinent in solving the society’s pressing issues. Thus, social entrepreneurs act as agents of change, coming up with innovative solutions to change the face of business. So one might ask, ” Why social entrepreneurship and what’s in it for you?” The answer is that you will have more visibility amongst your customers with a positive corporate image. People will be more interested in working for you which makes recruitment easier and certainly a stronger team of individuals who have similar goals as your business.

One amazing thing about social entrepreneurship is that it views profit on three dimensions. The concept triple bottom line is what social entrepreneurs aim for which includes people, planet and profit. Therefore, social entrepreneurs make sure whatever they do positively impacts all the stakeholders(people), planet and the profit.

Social Entrepreneurs realize the potential of social media as a tool to market their ventures to the general public. They realize social media is a great platform to create awareness , reach a wider audience all at low costs compared to traditional form of marketing.

One social entrepreneurship venture which is using social media as a great form of educating the local masses is Send A Cow” in Africa. This venture aims at increasing the productivity of African farmers, teach techniques on how to improve the daily work cycle and hence generate a steady revenue to improve the living standards. The organization remains active on Facebook and Twitter, sharing pictures of their contributions in the lives of these farmers and through “supporter of the week,” generate buzz and responses on their social media. Moreover, they have a very active youtube page which is a great medium to increase the awareness of this program.

Gear up social entrepreneurs to use the world of social media to create ever lasting ventures.

Here is one of the videos that Send A Cow has on its youtube page.