ABSTRACT

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when? Hillel One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.(King, 1967, p. 171)

Be grateful for social entrepreneurs. They are driven by an overarching desire to improve society, and they create for-profit or not-for-profit ventures to do so. They identify problems and help solve them. They resolve injustices, feed the hungry, educate the illiterate, raise money for research to cure disease, and protect our environment. They are movers and shakers-people who are not satisfied with the status quo and are always trying to make things better. They care, and they are action-oriented. They act locally and globally. They work one-to-one, helping friends and strangers. They organize coalitions and institutions. They raise funds, influence decision makers, recruit volunteers, and organize resources (GSVC, 2007). Entrepreneurship is “…the scholarly examination of how, by whom, and with what effect opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered, evaluated, and exploited” (Shane & Venkataram, 2000, p. 219). Entrepreneurs establish enterprises to implement innovations (Peredo & McClean, 2006). Social entrepreneurs recognize a social problem and organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change (Leadbeater, 1997). Entrepreneurs recognize opportunities where others see chaos or confusion. They start enterprises, create jobs, support economic development, and improve quality of life (Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2004). Entrepreneurs are risk takers (Hisrich, Peters, & Shepard, 2005). Entrepreneurs discover market needs and then take necessary actions to meet those needs (Longenecker et al., 2008). They are independent, creative, hard-working, and resilient. Social entrepreneurs possess these qualities, too. Social entrepreneurs are “hybrids”: They seek profit that benefits other parties besides merely themselves. They apply approaches to social and environmental concerns that respect the bottom line (GSVC, 2007).According to management guru Peter Drucker, entrepreneurs search for change, respond to it, and exploit it as an opportunity (Dees, 1998a, 1998b). Unlike business entrepreneurship for whom the primary purpose is wealth creation, the primary goal for the social entrepreneur is mission-related impact. Wealth may be a means to an end, not a way to measure value creation (Dees, 1998b). The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Web site (https://www.scwabfound.org/whatis.htm, 2007) describes social entrepreneurship as follows: Social entrepreneurship is:

1 about applying practical, innovative, and sustainable approaches to benefit society in general, with an emphasis on those who are marginalized and poor.