Defining Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship sits at the intersection of business discipline and mission. The hard part is not intent—it’s design choices that survive reality.
Explain what distinguishes a social entrepreneur from a traditional entrepreneur, charity, or CSR program—and why the difference matters strategically.
Core Teachings
Key concepts with source texts
A social entrepreneur recognizes a social or environmental problem and uses entrepreneurial methods to build a venture that creates measurable change.
What makes it *not* just charity or CSR: 1) Mission lock: mission is structurally protected (not optional branding) 2) Systems thinking: targets root causes, not only symptoms 3) Scalable design: replicable + fundable pathway to reach many 4) Sustainable engine: a financial model that can persist
From the Source Texts
"Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."
Commentary
System change is the tell. If your idea can’t plausibly alter incentives, behavior, or institutions at scale, it might still be valuable—but it’s not the same game.
"A changemaker is someone who is taking creative action to solve a social problem. Changemaking involves empathy, thoughtfulness, creativity, taking action and collaborative leadership."
Commentary
This frames social entrepreneurship as a learnable capability set, not a heroic founder identity.
When assessing an idea, ask: (1) what’s the system you’re trying to change? (2) what mechanism changes it? (3) what would scaling actually look like?
Mislabeling leads to wrong funding, wrong metrics, wrong strategy, and eventually mission drift or collapse.
- דSocial entrepreneurship = nonprofit” (not necessarily)
- דAny give-back brand = social enterprise” (usually not; impact must be core, not bolted on)
- דPurpose and profit can’t coexist” (they can; the hard part is governance + incentives)
Study Materials
Primary sources with guided reading
Changemaker Skills Collection
Solid grounding on the core skills that show up across real-world changemakers.
Additional Resources
A direct example of mission lock via ownership structure and governance choices.
Write your thoughts before revealing answers
Consider these points:
- •What system currently produces the problem?
- •Who benefits from the status quo?
- •What would a better system reward?
- •What proof would convince others to adopt it?
Your Thoughts
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What best signals ‘systems change’ thinking?