Social Entrepreneurship

The evolution of European societies in the context of the global economy has led to the emergence of new and more diversified needs expressed by young people, which demand new types of responses.

Younger generations are torn between the temptation to withdraw from social participation and the desire for a more open, active and responsible society which is also less centralised and less dependent on traditional organisational forms. The EU 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth acknowledges that, “in order to overcome the current economic crisis, the recovery cannot be based on a ‘business as usual’ approach”. Social entrepreneurs strive to solve burning issues in their local communities and national societies by positing that innovative solutions to social problems represent an important source of inspiration for a recovery.  In this context the Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship project partnership aims at examining the concepts of social entrepreneurship and social innovation, presenting the related funding programmes and a number of good practices around Europe.

Definitions

The concept of social entrepreneurship is not easy to define. On the one hand, there are many definitions and notions, as well as a multitude of initiatives that somehow are covered under “social entrepreneurship”. On the other hand, in each country the term has a different meaning. In some countries it is a concept that has been used and developed over several decades, in others it is just starting to be introduced and it is hardly used or understood, so its comprehension varies a lot, depending also on the social, political and cultural situation.

For that reason, the project partners have agreed on a more general definition that gives room to their respective particularities. In order to do so, the concept needs to be taken apart and the separate notions need to be defined, namely that of a social entrepreneur (the person), a social enterprise (an organisational entity) and social entrepreneurship (the activity or the process).

Social Entrepreneur

A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.

Social enterprise

A ‘social enterprise’ combines entrepreneurial activity with a social purpose. Its main aim is to have a social impact rather than maximise profit for owners or shareholders. Businesses providing social services and/or goods and services to vulnerable persons are a typical example of a social enterprise.  According to the latest figures available, the ‘social economy’ employs over 11 million people in the EU, accounting for 6% of total employment.

Social entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship is the creation of viable socio-economic structures, relations, institutions, organizations and practices that yield and sustain social benefits (Fowler, 2000).

Social innovation

Social innovation refers to the development of new ideas, services and models to better address social issues. It invites input from public and private actors, including civil society, to improve social services.

Social innovation encompasses the development and implementation of new ideas (such as products, services and models) to meet social needs, to create new social relationships and to put forward new responses to pressing social demands. Social innovations are innovations that are social in both their ends and their means, and they are not only good for society but also able to enhance individuals’ capacity to act. They can be seen as an opportunity both for the public sector and for the markets, so that the products and services better satisfy individual, but also collective aspirations.

The process by which new responses to social needs are developed in order to deliver better social outcomes is composed of four main elements:

  • identification of social needs;
  • development of new solutions in response to these social needs;
  • evaluation of the effectiveness of new solutions in meeting social needs;
  • scaling up of effective social innovations. 

In a separate publication developed within the project you can find information about European programmes that finance this type of initiative, as well as contexts and good practices of social entrepreneurship around Europe.