It is always said that profit motive and poverty alleviation do not mix. We cannot talk about helping the poor and at the same time trying to make a profit out of it. But social entrepreneurship is changing that way of thinking. It is a poverty alleviation initiative that can be shared by the private and business sectors and the community members. This business endeavor has the potential to expand the economic earning opportunity of the community which in turn would be a great benefit to the poor and the community they live in. We need to encourage private and business sectors to be involved beyond their Corporate Social Responsibility projects because we need long term partnerships in rebuilding communities. These sectors have the resources, technology, and training among other things that poor communities lack.
Even though social entrepreneurship is making waves all over the world, it is still a young field of endeavor in our country, often introduced by foreign development workers who are determined to be agents of change through innovation. We can learn a lot from these change-makers and hopefully, raise awareness to more people about the importance of social entrepreneurship.
Social entrepreneurship encompasses different business endeavors aiming to have social impact. It is the product of any individual, organizational, or network activity that demonstrates some element of sociality, innovation, and market orientation, irrespective of its legal form (charity, business), resource strategy (for profit, not for profit, voluntary sector) or sectoral home (public, private, or civil society). Social entrepreneurship is an eclectic mix of business, charity and social movement models designed to offer solutions to social problems.
Even though social entrepreneurship is a relatively new movement, there are already efforts to widen its scope. There are international organizations that are committed to innovate and to be change-makers in response to the most urgent social problems of the world and work towards sustainable development.
