Introduction
Social entrepreneurship is business concept in which the entrepreneurs engages in the innovation or creating products in the market while eat the same considering the social responsibility as well as the welfare of the people. It mainly concerns the social responsibility of the people in the society. The foundation or the basic principles of the social business are different with the normal business goal that mainly aims at profit maximization other than social responsibility. Social entrepreneurship therefore involves the social business where the main goal is the social welfare or philanthropic rather than profit maximization. The non-profit making organizations shows the true reflection of the social entrepreneurship because the business operates and make profits but the main activities of that business involves charity to the people.
Social entrepreneurship is out of the competitive world of maximizing profits but mainly focus on solving the social problems that affect the people but it uses the business techniques and approaches to solve such social problems. This is possible through sale of goods and services as well as creation of unique products that can solve the problems in the market. Social entrepreneurship may involve the selling a product or service that terminate a specific problem, for instance, malnutrition in the community (Rosabeth 2010: 25). Some social entrepreneurs engage in the projects or businesses s to offer water services to the community in order to ensure provision of clean water to the community thereby the society is free from diseases related to the unhygienic water as well as curbing the water shortages by supplying clean water to the people. The sell of clean drinking water will help the people while at the same time, the business is making profits but the main fundamentals of the business are provision of clean and safe drinking water.
Other examples of social entrepreneurship are the provision of mosquito treated nets in order to protect the people from malaria. The main aim of the business is to protect the society from the effects of malaria by selling mosquito treated nets while making profits through the sale of the nets. The price of the products sold by the social entrepreneurs is always affordable to the majority of the people in the society including the poor people (Rosabeth 2010: 40).
Social businesses arise in two ways. It may arise where the investors put their funds in an enterprise to provide products and services for the social betterment of the society. The investors aim at providing the social services or products to solve various social problems in the society while at the same time make profits from the provision of those services to the people. In this kind of social business, investors do not earn dividends or profits (Rosabeth 2010: 55). The investors reinvest their resources in expanding and improving the provision of both products and services in a manner that can curb the social problems and the people can live a comfortable life.
The poor people may also unite to pool their resource together such they form trusts which are meant to solve the social problems facing these people. The returns from this kind of business are often channeled to the poor people in order to improve their living standards as well as provision finances in order to alleviate poverty and other social problems that affect them due lack of funds. This will help boost the lives of the poor in the society. An example of this business is Grameen Bank where the main depositors and owners are the poor people. The proceeds of this bank are used to solve poverty related issue in the society and mostly among the members (Rosabeth 2010: 85).
A social business differs from a non-profit making organization in that it has both owners and investors. The investors in social businesses may opt to withdraw their investments from the business when the social welfare goal or the social problem is curbed. If the amount of money going to investors increase more than the amount of social benefit or the amount invested initially, that business will cease to be a social business. Social business does not even adjust their prices due to the adjustments in the dollar but they just maintain their prices at fair levels for affordability of the poor (Muhammmed 2013: 35). The changes in inflation are usually not adjusted by the social businesses since their goals and objectives are not profit maximization but social responsibility. The financial benefit is therefore not a major goal in the social business.
Social entrepreneurship mainly aims at solving poverty related issues and social problems in society especially those related to threats to the lives of the people. Problems related to issues like education, technology access, water and health issues are always the focus of social business or entrepreneurship. Through this social goals and responsibilities, the social business attains its goals of both economic and financial stability (Muhammmed 2013: 65).
Social businesses only take back the initial amount invested in business but the profits are usually used to expand the social business to solve more problems in the society. The investors can only claim the original amount invested in business since the main goal of the business (Mohammed 2013: 98). The social problems in this field of social entrepreneurship vary with the kind of business or activity being undertaken. They mainly arise from the fact the main goal is the interest of the society and not profit making.
This profession experience professionals since when they cannot adjust their prices with respect to changes in market interest rates. This therefore leads to a problem of continuously low levels of profits as compared to those of competitors.
The social entrepreneurs face challenges in balancing profits and the social life because they will face difficulties due the fact that the community must be given priority. The social entrepreneurs are not protected from competition therefore they can easily fail in performing their goals and objectives.
Other social problems include dealing with various social problems like food insecurity which is a threat to many countries in the world to lack of good regulation in the agricultural sector. This therefore poses a great difficulty to the asocial entrepreneurs.
The internal security of a country also affects social entrepreneurship as dictated by the political stability of a country. This is a great issue affecting social entrepreneurs in many parts of the world.
In conclusion, social entrepreneurship mainly focuses on solving social problems in the society through business approaches and techniques. Social entrepreneurship main goal is not profit maximization like other businesses. Social problems in Social entrepreneurship profession:
References
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, (2010),It’s Time to Take Full Responsibility; Social Entrepreneurship, Hult International Business School - Boston from April 2013 to September 2013.
Muhammmed Yunnus, (2013), Why Social Business?, public affairs, pursues books group
