Reaching the Rich Worlds Poorest Customers

Q1. What is Social Entrepreneurship?

Social Entrepreneurship is a phenomenon wherein innovative, practical and
sustainable ideas are implemented to benefit the people in general but with a
special focus given to the people in the lower strata of the society. Social
entrepreneurship focuses not just on the mission and the objectives of helping
the needy, but the entrepreneurship challenge as well, which makes an
organization that is focused on social benefits become more like a business that
is sustainable (Greg Fairbrothers and Catalina Gorla, 2012).
It is a term that is common to most social and economic problems, is consistent
for most of the sectors. It has values common to each social entrepreneur
irrespective of whether his area of focus has been Science, Business,
Environment, etc.
Social entrepreneurship is applicable in various different circumstances,
situations and climates of economic conditions. The primary business models
that fall under social entrepreneurship are:

Leveraged Non-Profit Ventures: A non-profit organisation aimed at addressing

social issues (from marketing failures to government issues/failures) by adopting
new idea or innovation. These organisations are supported by society, public and
private organisations to elevate an innovation through multiplier effect. Most
non-profit ventures are dependent on external philanthropy and funding.
Hybrid Non-Profit Ventures: Organisations operate on selling products and
services to a large corporations such as institutions - private and public, targeted
group of populations, etc. The differentiation factor from normal businesses is
that the prices are usually lower and are affordable to lower income level society.
In order for the organisation to sustain, funds are received in the form of funds,
loans, incentives and grants from government and large corporations.
Social Business Ventures: Social business are set up to make profit ideally but not
to maximise financial returns or shareholders return. Primary aim is to cater to
people in need of the products and services easily, making it affordable. Wealth
accumulation is not considered at any cost and whereas the profits are generally
reinvested for advanced research and expansion.
Q. 2 Social businesses encourage sustainable development?
Social business is meant to serve poor people who are not able to afford
essential products on their own and need government aid to buy even
necessary things like food.
Social Business enables sustainable development by weakening social
problems and also provides one of the most efficient ways of dealing with
poverty.
In case of Social business it is not the product which is kept at the centre
but a constrained customer and the product is built around him and the
firms dont so it enables people to buy products and services which they
couldnt afford.
Also as the offers remain unchanged in social business model so poor
people get excess to good quality products for a long time.
With Social Business one of the most important part is promoting
behaviour change in people by organizing programs and workshops.

One of the ways it encourages sustainable development by always putting

social goal first and building market based solutions to the poverty issues
With the reinvestment of profits in the same company the social business
ensures that high quality and low cost products are offered in the long run
Earlier enterprises were only measured in terms of profit, but today, more
and more social enterprises are measuring their social impact and thats a
sign of sustainability.
People wanting to work in social enterprises are increasing as more and
more people seem to want more meaning from their careers and are not
only driven by the lure of money.
Social enterprises which do well at a nascent stage must look for ways to
partner with government agencies or the private sector in order to
generate capital for larger scale of operations and be sustainable in the
long run.
The notion of doing good by doing good business is emerging in a lot of
developing as well as developed countries.
Some of the causes that these social enterprises work towards are
o Persisting poverty
o Widening skills gap
o Rising unemployment
o Ageing population
o Income gaps
o Well-being of people

References
Greg Fairbrothers and Catalina Gorla. (2012, May 5). What Exactly Is Social
Entrepreneurship? Retrieved from www.forbes.com:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greggfairbrothers/2012/05/28/what-exactly-issocial-entrepreneurship/