Educating Social Entrepreneurs, Volume I

Introduction

Paul Miesing

University at Albany, State University of New York

In simple terms, a “social enterprise” is an organization created to have a specific social impact in a financially viable manner by reinvesting its profits in areas that are otherwise outside the conventional economic mainstream. These organizations are becoming increasingly popular and important as disparities increase in wealth, education, employment, clean water and sanitation, health care, technology, affordable and clean energy, and environmental degradation. Moreover, we face one of the greatest challenges the world has ever known: natural resource depletion along with the negative impact of climate change. It is important to note that there has also been significant ...