Social Entrepreneurship Ideas to Fuel Your Civic Passion

Forbes

5 days ago

Young colleagues in greenhouse with solar panel.
getty
The term 'social entrepreneurship' has grown in popularity recently, but what exactly does it mean? What are the key values of social entrepreneurship? And how can you turn your civic passion into a social entrepreneurship career? Let's break it down.
Social entrepreneurship occurs when a person (or 'social entrepreneur') uses entrepreneurial principles to create a business that impacts a key societal or environmental challenge.
These people are driven by a passion to do social good and make a difference in their community.
Social entrepreneurship isn't limited to charities and not-for-profits, though. These organizations typically exist to make a profit and positively impact their chosen issue simultaneously. For example, the issue could relate to climate change, pollution, human rights, education, activism, accessibility for marginalized groups, physical or mental health, citizenship, or governance.
Whatever the mission, social entrepreneurs have a dual purpose: to create a viable business and reinvest profits back into the business while influencing social change.
If you're exploring the idea of a social entrepreneurship career, it's essential to understand some core values you'd need to adhere to. See if they line up with your own values.
Out-of-the-box, creative thinking is essential to running a successful social entrepreneurship business. You have to find unique and different ways of solving problems that traditional companies have been unable to solve. Where others have failed, you innovate and progress boldly.
A few risks are involved in becoming a social entrepreneur; you must accept them and become resilient if they arise. Risks may be financial, with the potential to lose your initial investment and your business not becoming financially viable. Risks may be economic - how susceptible is your business to economic fluctuations in your chosen market? Risks may be reputational - social entrepreneurs are held to a higher standard than traditional entrepreneurs.
At the heart of every social entrepreneur is a driving purpose and passion for their chosen cause. If you have a strong passion and desire to improve the lives of others, you're well on your way to becoming a successful social entrepreneur.
d.light, founded by Ned Tozun, provides affordable and accessible solar-powered lighting products to low-income and/or off-grid people all around the world, with a goal to transform 1 billion lives. By focusing on improving people's lives and utilizing clean energy, they're a great example of people, planet, and profit.
While Lush is a for-profit global beauty retailer, it's focused on the ethical and Fair Trade sourcing of ingredients, sustainable packaging, zero-waste initiatives, and cruelty-free practices with no animal testing at any point of the production line. Lush shows that you can create a profitable social entrepreneurship business without compromising on product quality, leaving the world 'lusher than we found it'.
While there are certainly challenges to starting and running a profitable social entrepreneurship business, there are many successful ones all around the world. In fact, research found that there are around 10 million social enterprises globally, generating $2 trillion in annual revenue and creating 200 million jobs. Here's what you need to start a career in this field:
If you're an aspiring social entrepreneur, here are a few ideas to get you thinking:
While there are many factors to consider before starting a social entrepreneurship career, making a difference in a community can be highly fulfilling and rewarding. If you have a civic passion that you can't stop thinking about, why not explore the possibility of creating a business? Surround yourself with doers, changemakers, and those with entrepreneurial mindsets, and you, too, can turn your passion into a successful and profitable social enterprise.