Entrepreneurship, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 14

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Cheap energy drove the expansion of suburbia. With exploding world populations, social entrepreneurship seeks new ways of living and protecting resources.

INTRODUCTION

Just imagine a world where malaria is eradicated, saving 655,000 lives each year¹ and where entrepreneurs in developing countries have access to 5 billion potential individual investors and lenders through access to the Internet. Imagine car-free cities that dramatically reduce respiratory disease, where food is grown locally in vertical farms and buildings are made of “green concrete” made by capturing the CO₂ emitted from coal or natural gas power plants. By the year 2020, some of these things will be possible due to dramatic changes in technology, demographics, and socio-politics. Now, further imagine a world where women in the developing world have equal access to education, resulting in a dramatic slowing of population growth and increasing economic well-being. A world where human potential is no longer ignored or marginalized based on one's race or economic background, but maximized for the benefit of all. Imagine people around the world with the ability to afford to meet their basic needs without the need for government handouts or subsidies.

Many of these social, environmental, and technological changes will be possible because of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs ...