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What is Social Entrepreneurship?

Businesses develop and market a product or service that is designed to remedy an issue that the public is experiencing. While there are many factors that influence whether the problem they choose to solve is necessary or not; or whether the solution crafted by the businesses is the best fit for the problem; it is undeniably true that businesses attempt to solve a problem faced by the population through their product or service. While the launch is entirely based on recognizing an issue, the purpose to start a firm may vary from one entrepreneur to the next. Some may wish to follow a passion, while others may just want to make money. However, the type of entrepreneurship that addresses direct social issues is known as social entrepreneurship, which is discussed in this podcast episode on the Health & Veritas channel by professor Teresa Chahine, Sheila and Ron ’92 Marcelo Senior Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship at the Yale School of Management.

Teresa defines social entrepreneurship as both nonprofit and for-profit management. In her perspective, social entrepreneurship is essentially the application of entrepreneurial attitudes, skill sets, and methodologies to addressing social concerns. She says that this may be accomplished through organizations, for-profits, or even campaigns. It’s not so much about the sort of organization you work for as it is about your strategy. The distinguishing characteristic that has characterized social entrepreneurship is financial sustainability via innovation. She goes on to say that entrepreneurs must have a value offer for a payer in order to be sustainable. Although she emphasizes that organizations working on a social issue may take care of the payer’s money, they must always produce income and have clients. Since the podcast focuses solely on the healthcare sector, Teresa suggests that five factors distinguish social entrepreneurship in public health from more traditional public health approaches: innovation and design thinking, resource mobilization, financial viability, breaking silos, and systems thinking. She believes that design thinking and creativity are essential. This also indicates that you must experiment several times. And that you must be willing to fail before you can create a successful idea. She goes on to distinguish between conventional and social entrepreneurship, claiming that social entrepreneurship is completely focused on creating the best solution to a societal issue, whereas a regular business may have no purpose at all. Finally, she adds that because finding a solution to a problem is not a simple undertaking, organizations may fail at times. But what counts is that you keep looking for a solution since you are helping a social cause.

Social entrepreneurship is one of the finest fields to enter since it allows you to pursue your passion while simultaneously helping a large number of others. If you are not sure what social entrepreneurship is all about, the text above will guide you through it.

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