Social entrepreneurs or changemakers are persons who combine entrepreneurial and social initiatives to achieve a positive change in society. They implement ideas in fields such as education, job creation for disabled people or environmental protection. While convential entrepreneurs look for economic profit, social entrepreneurship focuses on social return. Social entreprises can aim to make money or be not for profit, as long as profits are reinvested into the benefit of society.
Social entreprises are characterised by the following:
- They have a clear public or community mission (social, environmental, cultural, economic)
- They mainly reinvest their profits into achieving the mission
- Their activities are guided by ethical values
- They can take a number of different legal forms
A social enterprise is also characterized by the fact that social value is created in at least one area of the three cornerstones:
- Social added value in the production – This can be reached by a particularly resource-conserving production or the achievement of a circular economy, e.g. Garbarage is a successful social business in Vienna in which beautifully designed products are handmade from old materials by disadvantaged people.
- Social added value for the customer – A previously unavailable service is provided for a specific target group in order to improve their situation, e.g. products who improve the situation of disadvantaged people in developing countries
- Social added value in the offer – These are often products or services that did not exist in this from before, e.g. the reorganisation of care for the elderly by time banks or a platform for the formation of intergenerational residential communities
This information was part of the SASSI LLC training materials. If you want to learn more, visit the Guide to becoming an Olderpreneur on the SASSI Hub.
