NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, July 19, 2018

By Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan

Often, large-scale social problems such as poverty, energy, waste, water, education, health and jobs are the responsibility of the State. However, these problems are complex in nature and need the innovativeness and agility that an enterprise can bring to the table for it to be solved. State Institutions lack typical characteristics that enterprises have – greater focus on outcomes and ability to explore various models to solve complex problems. That is where social entrepreneurs come in. A social enterprise is a business first but has an equal interest in the social impact of their businesses as opposed to only generating revenues and profits or to only solving a social problem. However, this does not mean that a social enterprise is a not-for-profit. The social entrepreneur’s business model is sustained through profit generation, like any other business.  The difference is that profit generation is not the sole objective of these businesses, it’s the overall social impact created by the products and services of the businesses.

Photo courtesy of Maria Andersson.