Assessing The Impact Of Youth-Led Social Enterprises On Environmental Sustainability
Name: Abhinay Gautam
Earth5R Sustainability ID: E5R682H0V93T236
Author Names: Abhinay
Name of School/College/University Affiliated: Dr. SS Bhatnagar university institute of chemical engineering and technology, Panjab university, Chandigarh
Your Earth5R Guide/ Mentor: Dr. Soniya Sharma
Abstract
Social entrepreneurship, as a practice and a field for scholarly investigation, provides a unique opportunity to challenge, question, and rethink concepts and assumptions from different fields of management and business research. This article puts forward a view of social entrepreneurship as a process that catalyzes social change and addresses important social needs in a way that is not dominated by direct financial benefits for the entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurship is seen as differing from other forms of entrepreneurship in the relatively higher priority given to promoting social value and development versus capturing economic value. To stimulate future research the authors introduce the concept of embeddedness as a nexus between theoretical perspectives for the study of social entrepreneurship.
Introduction
Introduction Social Entrepreneurship
A social entrepreneur considers social responsibility to be central to their business strategies.
Social entrepreneurship applies the principles and guidance used by start-up founders and entrepreneurs to a business that directly generates social change or impacts a social cause. A social entrepreneur is primarily motivated by a desire to alleviate some kind of systemic social or cultural problem.
Broadly speaking, social entrepreneurship is a new, innovative business venture that influences change. A social entrepreneur has a specific cause that they care about, and they develop a business model around making a positive impact. The main goal is to create lasting social change through business.
Some key areas of interest for social entrepreneurs might include:
- Economic development
- Education
- Gender equality
- Health care
- Agriculture
- Environmental sustainability
- Renewable energy
- Community development
Social entrepreneurship can operate as a non-profit, for-profit, or hybrid business (also known as a social enterprise), depending on the business model that you prefer and the availability of funding.
Materials
Entrepreneurship vs. social entrepreneurship: what’s the difference?
Like entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs aim to create a sustainable business with staying power. However, whereas an entrepreneur’s goal is to maximize profits, a social entrepreneur’s main concern is impact. Most other differences between the two types of entrepreneurship derive from that focal point.
Here’s do comparison of the two:
- Entrepreneur
- Social entrepreneur
Objective –
- Build a sustainable business
- Build a sustainable and socially impactful business
Motive – - Financially driven
- Mission-driven
Focus – - Individual consumers
- Social groups
Link to social issues –
1.Indirect - Direct
Competition/collaboration – - Competitive with related businesses
- Collaborative with related businesses
Success – - Based on sustainable profits
- Based on sustainable social impact
It’s important to note that a business can be concerned with and contribute to social causes without being a social-entrepreneurial venture. Corporate social responsibility is when a business adopts policies that positively impact society, often guided by ethics. For example, a company may donate to charitable organizations or offset their carbon emissions to mitigate environmental harm.
Social entrepreneurship in society
Social entrepreneurship works within the structures of the business world to influence social change. It’s largely associated with progress, development, and innovation. Much like start-up entrepreneurs are disruptors, social entrepreneurs disrupt the status quo of systemic inequality.
As a concept, social entrepreneurship is not new. For example, some experts may consider Florence Nightingale, who created the first nursing school in 1860 and thus reformed the health care industry, to be a social entrepreneur.
However, the term “social entrepreneurship” has only gained popularity in more recent times. As people and scholars continue to examine social entrepreneurship, we’ll learn more about how different approaches impact society and continue to develop best practices. In the meantime, social entrepreneurs are constantly reworking their business models so that they can meet their main goal of affecting social change.
Methodology
Approaches of Social Entrepreneurship
There are various approaches for studying social entrepreneurship. The approaches of social entrepreneurship are as follows:
- The Innovative School of Thought
The innovative school of thought focuses on social entrepreneurs as individuals who tackle social problems and meet social needs in an innovative manner. Since social entrepreneurs are change makers, they carry out new combinations in terms of new products or service, new methods of production, and new forms of organization. The systematic nature of innovation brought its impact at a broad part of society.
- The Social Enterprise School of Thought
The social enterprise school of thought focuses on social enterprises which are involved in various activities for generating income. The various services which is provided to society is not on a free basis but charge a certain amount of fee.
Such funds are used to serve society in terms of grants and subsidies. This school emphasizes that earning is necessary for every social enterprise for its sustainable development and continuous service to society. Charitable institutions like hospitals, schools, colleges, and NGOs are applying this approach.
- The EMES Approach
EMES refers to European research network. As per this approach, social enterprise should be participatory in nature. It basically focuses on three distinct dimensions of social enterprises consisting of economic and entrepreneurial dimensions, social dimensions, and participatory governance dimensions.
The focus of economic and entrepreneurial dimensions is towards continuous production and sale of goods and services taking significant levels of risk and minimum payment of workers. Similarly, social dimensions of social enterprise emphasize an explicit aim of benefitting the community.
In similar way, participatory governance of social enterprises focuses on a high degree of autonomy, decision-making power without being based on capital ownership, and participator nature of decision making.
- UK Approach
As per this approach, social enterprise’s primary objective is to fulfill social expectations. This approach emphasizes that social enterprises can be involved in various types of commercial activities to earn revenue and surplus. The major part of the surplus should not be distributed to the shareholders or investors. It should be invested in the social enterprise for its sustainability.
important factorsthat is affected social entrepreneurship
- Funding
Funding is one of the factors affecting the sustainability of social enterprises. The sustainability of social enterprises depends on the ability to manage funds. Funds can be generated through internal sources and external sources.
The internal sources include self-financing, subscriptions from members, and fees collected for service provided. In a similar way, external sources include grants, subsidies, prizes, donations, etc. There are different sources of funding for social enterprise. Some of it are:
- Management:
It is necessary to have proper management in the business for its successful functioning. The entire success or failure of an organization is totally dependent on its management system. It is essential to have effective management for the successful functioning and sustainability of social enterprises.
Results
“The impact of social entrepreneurship on society is both profound and wide-ranging. By combining the power of business with a social and environmental purpose, social entrepreneurs are able to create solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. From addressing poverty and inequality, to improving access to healthcare and education, to mitigating the effects of climate change, the impact of social entrepreneurship on society cannot be overstated. Furthermore, social entrepreneurship has the ability to bring about systemic change, transforming entire industries and challenging traditional business models.
There are given some social entrepreneurs examples that strategies and dedication help to achieve their target and social goal.
- Earth5R is a UNESCO recognized leading global environmental-tech startup based in Mumbai and the proud winner of the Google Playstore Best Apps of 2023. Earth5R is on a mission to shape a sustainable future with the help of mobile phones as a tool in over 140 countries, supported by a network of 100,000 crowdsourced environmentalists.
Our app, leveraging AI and big data, connects you to a world of environmental action, transforming urban spaces into green areas, and catalyzing impactful sustainability stories through real action from real people.
We partner with global brands to forge robust, community-driven ESG strategies, offering rewards for sustainable actions, and enhancing their journey towards impactful sustainability and significant carbon footprint reduction.
- Child Rights and You (CRY), regarded as the most reliable NGO in India, works hard to give India’s underprivileged children better and healthier childhoods. By collaborating with parents, teachers, Anganwadi workers, communities, district and state-level governments, and the kids themselves, CRY addresses the vital needs of children in the areas of healthcare, nutrition, education, and protection from child labour and child marriage. Over 3 million children in 19 Indian states have benefited from CRY’s work over the past 42 years.
Conclusion
Social entrepreneurs have a unique way of approaching problems of the community and working towards finding solutions for them. Social entrepreneurs are not only concerned about people’s livelihoods but also about their integrity and morality.
Social entrepreneurs are people who have strong knowledge of management and business skills but they also bring their passion for helping others into their work. This is why social entrepreneurship has become so popular nowadays because it helps people solve problems that they face every day such as poverty and unemployment.
In today’s fast-moving world, the importance of entrepreneurship is unavoidable. So, let’s learn about the significance of social entrepreneurship with the help of the following points-
- Creates Opportunities
- Reshape Corporate Social Responsibility
- Gain Government Attention
- Inspires Change
- Employment Opportunities
- Equality
- Social Awareness
- Inclusive Growth
- Promotes Innovation
- Optimum Resource Utilisation
- Better Standard
References
1. Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind, Revised Edition
Leadership Lessons from Three Decades of Social Entrepreneurship
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1953943039?tag=uuid10-20
- Frontiers in Social Innovation
The Essential Handbook for Creating, Deploying, and Sustaining Creative Solutions to Systemic Problems
https://www.amazon.com/dp/164782141X?tag=uuid10-20 - Sustainable Luxury and Social Entrepreneurship
Stories from the Pioneers
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1783531495?tag=uuid10-20 - Case Studies in Social Entrepreneurship
The oikos collection Vol.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1783530502?tag=uuid10-20
