For many years, there has been talk about social entrepreneurship and it has been a topic of discussion all around the world.
To begin we have to clarify what is social entrepreneurship according to some authors: “Social entrepreneurship is a business technique used by companies, startups, profit or non-profit organizations and even governments to finance the development of solutions to social, cultural and environmental problems. They are not business people in the most traditional sense of the term. Instead, they are ideologists who adhere to their vision and refer mainly to the transformation of society and the elimination of their problems. Social entrepreneurs are essentially problem solvers that help eliminate or mitigate the difficult situations that societies face.”
For many people it’s something impossible yet right now it’s at an all time high. In today’s society, social entrepreneurship it’s something quite common, even if it fails. The problem lies on giving up at the first struggle. Social entrepreneurship lies in making a change in society, we all know that society nowadays is confused about many things and we know that many people just need a sense of direction in order to make a change, so that’s where social entrepreneurs enter the formula, with the increase of popularity of social networks, reaching millions of people has become accessible to most people, you just need an idea, a desire to turn that idea into something tangible and to know how to share it to the world. It sounds easy right? Well… it isn’t.
Even tho social entrepreneurship is on the rise, that doesn’t mean that every Project that starts eventually comes to an end, most of them just get forgotten or people just quit them because they take too much time or they are too hard to mantain. So people need to know exactly what social entrepreneurship is and how to do it correctly, also they need to know what to expect from it and how to handle adversity.
We should start by saying that not everyone is an entrepreneur and that’s okay, you have to accept that you may lack qualities of an entrepreneur and that you maybe be better off doing something else but if you are still interested in this then you have to be able to have some unique traits that of course can be developed in time for the Project and that will come in Handy in the later stages, but the main characteristic of an entrepreneur is responsibility.
An entrepreneur most of the time it’s his own boss and for that he has to manage many things in his or her life, he has to understand that even tho he has a lot of time, most of it must be managed carefully and with the intent to maximize quality time for the Project, if he fails to do this then he becomes overwhelmed by work and the different aspects of life..
So time management is an essential asset of the social entrepreneur and must be use on a daily basis.
A social entrepreneur must be clear that his main objective is to generate benefits and not increase the profits of the shareholders. It is difficult to maintain this position and pursue the search to maximize social benefits and create a social goal, carry it out and not lose the way to fulfill it.
Being a social entrepreneur has many advantages such as the legacy you can leave behind, you can be at the forefront of the industry in which you decide to work and offer solutions, use creativity to establish a niche in the business world and society in general , the innovation they bring creates respect.
Social entrepreneurs are known as innovators, since they create industries where previously it was not possible for them to exist and thus create job opportunities for many people.
So you have both worlds of a social entrepreneur, and that thin line that determines whether you really are one or not.