What is Social Entrepreneurship? Breaking It Down for Everyone

How Social Entrepreneurship is different from Entrepreneurship. What is the term ‘social’ emphasis.

Image courtesy: Aravind Eye care

I have often been asked, What is entrepreneurship? and

What about that term, oh yes, social entrepreneurship you always talk about?

Well, let me differentiate these. And for God’s sake, if you ask me again to explain, buy me coffee before you ask. Here’s a hack: filter coffee can make me work better.

Well, let’s get into it.

So, entrepreneurship, out of many definitions, let me take one for you.

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity regardless of the resources you currently control.

For instance, if you wish to start a clothing store.

Have you heard those stories of Instagrammers who start a page and sell clothes, making it easy for the customers they are targeting? They understood what customers need and how their page or venture can make life easy for customers. Going forward, those Instagrammers might start a physical shop, and it may or may not grow.

But feel free to call them entrepreneurs. They pursued an opportunity regardless of difficulties and competition in the market.

Now, do you think the same person who started the clothing store would work with the same zeal if the profit margin is less or without profit being a motive?

Would they start a physical shop if they didn’t find the possibility of more profit? Never, no. Why?

Are they mad?

But there are certain people who see entrepreneurship beyond profit. For them, the social mission comes before profit.

We can define social entrepreneurship as the pursuit of opportunity to create pattern-breaking social change regardless of the resources you currently control.

Complicated? Oh well, it is indeed complicated. There is no single definition of social entrepreneurship.

Have you been to McDonald’s? I am talking about that M-symbolled shop you see everywhere. The success of McDonald’s traces back to huge service efficiency. Wonderful strategy.

I had the same McDonald’s burgers from Delhi and Chennai within two days. Finger-licking? Sorry, that was KFC’s tagline. I’m Lovin’ It.

Well, once upon a time, there lived a man in Madurai named Govindappa Venkataswamy.

Google doodle honours Aravind Eye Hospitals founder Dr. Venkataswamy

Sound like a Tamil movie hero? Even I liked the name.

Our Govindappa Venkataswamy was a doctor.

He thought, why can’t we learn from McDonald’s and provide eye care treatment to millions of blind people who otherwise don’t have access to medical care.

The dedicated doctor began performing surgeries on a large scale with treatment being free or heavily subsidized for the poor, cross-subsidized by the paying patients.

Well, that is social entrepreneurship. Are they making money? YES. Is money beyond the social mission? Never. Is this charity? No, no.

Aravind Eye Care is self-sustaining, using some strategies to subsidize eye care for the poor.

Did Govindappa Venkataswamy have resources ready to begin with? No.

Now, I hope you understand what social entrepreneurship is and what the big deal is about it.

If not, scroll down.

Now, let me talk about the Nobel Prize. Oh wow, I can see the enthusiasm. Oh, don’t.

There are thousands of social entrepreneurs who have not been recognized.

But let’s talk about one who has: Muhammad Yunus. Yunus, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, founded the Grameen Bank and pioneered the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus set out with a simple but radical idea: “The poor themselves can create a poverty-free world — all we have to do is to free them from the chains that we have put around them.”

His goal was to help impoverished people escape poverty by providing small loans without requiring collateral.

This innovative approach empowered many to start small businesses, leading to self-sufficiency and improved livelihoods.

Yunus demonstrated that social entrepreneurship could tackle poverty effectively, and his work earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

But remember, he started with very limited resources, proving once again that social entrepreneurship is all about creating significant social impact with whatever you have.

As I told you at the beginning, I love filter coffee. Feel free to comment your thoughts and see how we can create some discussions around coffee — oh no, social entrepreneurship. Have a good day! Bye!