Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation is a great educational tool for scholars and entrepreneurs to learn more about social entrepreneurship, see specific examples of social entrepreneurs, and gather information about some of the most pertinent and relevant issues that plague society today. http://www.skollfoundation.org/

In addition, the foundation also serves as one of the largest and most active supporters of social entrepreneurship today. They have awarded over 250 million dollars to over 81 organizations. This money is so important to the well being of a social enterprise because one of the biggest problems for social entrepreneurs is how to receive funding for business activities. What differentiates social entrepreneurship from the traditional economic model is a focus on the social mission, which makes investing less attractive because there is almost no chance to receive profit from the investment and no guarantee that you as an investor will receive your initial money back.

Funding is especially important to social entrepreneurs because without it, they cannot scale their enterprise to a size that is notable. With scale comes more funding, greater ease of penetration, and reputation that can ultimately lead to a more efficient social enterprise. This is why it is so important that organizations like the Skoll Foundation are so active in the social sector. They represent a primary resource for the sustainability and start-up of so many social entrepreneurs.

The New Heros

PBS has put together an extremely helpful website that has plenty of examples of social entrepreneurs.(http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/)

Each individual has created an enterprise that seeks to absolve society of an important problem. Whether it be poverty, hunger, access to education, or saving the environment, in each specific example you can see that one individual who had an idea was able to capitalize on an opportunity in a creative way. These individuals are referred to on the website as heroes because they are nothing short of the real life equivalent of superhero's. They are bringing about change and are often some of the few or only advocates who are actively trying to bring about awareness of their cause and/or are seeking to alleviate such problems.

Jeffry Timmons explains that there are two types of problems, tame ones and wicked ones. wicked problems are "characterized as malign, viscous, tricky, and aggressive." The types of problems that social entrepreneurs are seeking to come up with solutions for, are indeed wicked ones. They are not easily fixed and will take time and persistence before they can be fixed. He also points out that a social entrepreneur is one who recognizes an opportunities, as "an opportunity is merely the positive view of a problem or challenge."

Social Entrepreneurship

Welcome to the CLU (Content Learning Unit) on Social Entrepreneurs

Hopefully through this blog you will be able to gather some background information about social entrepreneurship and you will also be guided to links with more information concerning this topic of international business.

First and foremost it is important to recognize that there is not a single definition of what social entrepreneurship (SE) is. There are however some general guidelines that social entrepreneurs follow and clear definitions of what is not considered social entrepreneurship. For our purposes, we have created our own definition of SE. It is an innovative and economically sustainable enterprise created to solve an identified social or environmental problem by using business approaches.

For more information you can read the article Taking Social Entrepreneurship Seriously, where J. Gregory Dees points out that David Gergen, a Harvard professor, describes social entrepreneurs as "the new engines of reform." This article goes into detail about controversial topics in the field of SE such as the role of government as a problem solver, charity and the issues inherent in its relationship to social entrepreneurship, and the problem with today's infrastructure and institutions surrounding this topic. (http://rollins.summon.serialssolutions.com/search/results?q=Taking+Social+Entrepreneurship+Seriously%2C+J.+Gregory+Dees&spellcheck=true)