Introduction
Entrepreneurship is setting enterprises that generate income. Social entrepreneurship is setting up social enterprises that help the society. It involves social entrepreneurs that help the society solve its issues. With their ambitiousness, social entrepreneurs persistently tackle the issues affecting the society using new ideas. This paper examines social entrepreneurship in the society.
Social entrepreneurship as defined above is a form of entrepreneurship that is concerned with the issues affecting the society. It is about the recognition and pursuing opportunities that exist in the society using new resources in order to create value in the society. Social entrepreneurs are very creative and innovative (Light 2). Their objective is to make the world a better place by solving social problems in creative and innovative ways. They establish social enterprises for these purposes. the society is affected by some social issues that are solved by social firms such as Avon Corporation that carries out breast cancer awareness, Seventh Generation that manufactures eco-friendly products for home use and Best Friend’s, that helps injured people or unadoptable animals. Other social enterprises include Ben & Jerry’s that flavors products for a certain cause, Surfrider Foundation that protects oceans and its inhabitants and lastly, the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters that uses fair trade coffee. Social entrepreneurs want to make the world a better place (Horsnell para 1).
Social entrepreneurs act as change agents in the society. They get hold of chances that other firms have failed to spot in the society, use them for system development, and make up approaches that are new while creating new solutions to issues affecting the society. They usually come up with new solutions for the issues affecting the society and implement the solution on a large scale. The ideas they present are friendly to users, easily understood, ethical and they engage widespread support (Light 3).
There are varieties of social enterprises that help in solving the problems of the society. Some of the enterprises include firms in micro financing industry that provide small businesses with small loans. Cause marketing is also a form of social entrepreneurship that involves profit and non-profit organization working together for a common cause to help the society. Firms may also be involved in corporate social responsibility to increase social awareness. Corporate social responsibility are social activities that firms involve themselves with to help the society as well as caring for the environment. For instance, some organizations are involved in educating the society on how to recycle products and planting trees (Ashoka para 1).
Social entrepreneurship also involves companies and individuals that engage in philanthropic activities. Such firms and individuals donate funds and other products to the needy in the society. Philanthropic activities usually help reduce poverty among other social benefits. Lastly, social entrepreneurship includes foundations that provide funding for issues affecting the society.
Social Entrepreneur case studies
There are various case studies for social entrepreneurship. The case organizations are involved in various activities for a certain purpose that is of importance to the society. For instance, a problem in the society could be the environment that needs to be taken care of. Many social entrepreneurs have embraced the opportunity to maintain the environment by innovating environmental friendly products. For instance, there are natural products that are sold in beauty shops that are not only user friendly, but also environmental friendly. Additionally, the products support fair trade with no restrictions. Evergreen environmental movements promote environmental safety by recycling products and carrying out environmental businesses such as tree planting (Horsnell para 2).
Newman’s own is another organization that pursues common good of the society by manufacturing products and selling them to the community. However, the profits earned by the company are given back to the society through charities in order to help reduce social problems. Devine Chocolate is a manufacturer of differentiated chocolate products that it sells to different markets in the world. The company promotes fair trade by supplying its products freely without tariffs to its retailers who are distributed in different countries. The company bears for tariff charges on goods while it does not want the sellers to bear the cost (Ashoka para 2).
Green buildings council is another organization that is involved with social entrepreneurship by certifying green buildings. The company aims at improving the built environment in the society by transforming the way buildings are planned and constructed. Goodwill Corporation is a non-profit organization that is community-based and is affiliated to improving the life of the disabled people in the society. The company sells merchandise at fair prices to the society thus avoiding exploiting the society. Lastly, Indigo Africa organization supports fair trade by helping women in Rwanda to be self-sufficient.
Cause marketing is another form of social entrepreneurship that involves activities that are for a good cause in the society. The activities involved help the less fortunate in the society. For instance, cause marketing can be too used to help people suffering from HIV AIDs, cancer and TB or helping the low self-esteem individuals in the society.
Works Cited
Ashoka, “What is a Social entrepreneur?” n.d. 2010. Web.
Horsnell, Andy. “Social enterprise.” Free management Library. n.d. 2010.
Light, Paul. “Reshaping Social Entrepreneurship.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. 2006.