Saturday, September 23, 2006

Social vs. Business Entrepreneurship

I had my first class for the Social Entrepreneurship course, last evening. The following were the key points that came out from discussions:

1. Like any business entrepreneur, social entrepreneurs also find gaps and create a venture to serve the unserved 'markets'.

2. The primary difference between the business and the social entrepreneurs is the purpose for setting up the venture. While the business entrepreneurs' efforts focus on building a business and earning profits, the social entrepreneurs's purpose is to create social change.

3. A business entrepreneur may create changes in the society, but that is not the primary purpose of starting the venture. Similarly, a social entrepreneur may generate profits, but for him/her that is not the primary reason for starting the venture.

4. Profitability - not 'profit-making' - however, is important for the social entrepeneur. Being 'profitable' helps self-sustainability of the venture, and also works as a mechanism for self-monitoring. To quote from Dr Yunus (Grameen Bank):
"Grameen's central focus is to help poor borrower move out of poverty, not making money. Making profit is always recognised as a necessary condition of success to show that we are covering costs. Volume of profit is not important in Grameen in money-making sense, but important as an indicator of efficiency."

5. Another key difference between the social and the business entrepreneur is in the meaning of wealth creation. For the business entrepreneur, 'wealth' is same as profits. For the social entrepreneur, however, wealth also encompasses creation/sustenance of the social and environmental capital. Therefore, to be viable, a social entrepreneurship venture must show a positive Social and/or Environmental ROI.

16 comments:

Pradeep Biswal said...

Fantastic. I am moved after getting what is social entrepreneurship.
Both are two sides of a coin.

Pradeep Biswal said...

Hi, I am a software engineer from Bangalore.
Could you please suggest me some good university for PG in social entrepreneurship.

Thanks,
Pradeep

madhukar said...

Hello
the only univ which is offering a full-time PG in Social Entrepreeneurship is TISS,Mumbai"
http://www.tiss.edu/Admissions/masters-programmes.php#5

Pradeep Biswal said...

Thanks u so much :)

Alain Kongo said...

Great Post!
What a Beautiful presentation of Social Entrepreneurship!
A Social Enterprise can indeed be defined as any enterprise generating profits for both the business and the society (the World Around).

For a more thorough presentation of Social Entrepreneurship, I strongly recommend a recent book, Social Entrepreneurship, The Secret to Starting a Business Worth Living For.

A good review of the book can be found Here.

Alex moner said...

Entrepreneurship course, last evening. The following were the key points that came out from discussions.startups

Anonymous said...

wow. what a good summary beween the two topics. but which of the two is more advisable to go for?

Unknown said...

When you want to be successful entrepreneur, be sure to put on heart and mind on the business that you will build.
Business Entrepreneur

Unknown said...

@ Pradeep Biswal I,m current PG student of social Innovation and entrepreneurship course TISS Tuljapur campus, this campus and specially course focus on social entrepreneurship In rural development, and Mumbai campus focus on social entrepreneurship in Social work

rishabh said...

Christ University

rishabh said...

Christ University

Hill said...

Great and simple post you shared. Business Process Outsourcing has such a mythology about it, but it really is just making a common sense! Thanks for pointing that in your post.

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Abhinav Kumar Singh said...

It's not easy to start with Social Entrepreneurship due to lack of profitability. But as said, "it should be profitable' helps self-sustainability of the venture".
Cricket startup

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