Who is the Best Social Entrepreneur?

The term 'Social Entrepreneur' has come into our awareness and lexicon only recently. It sounds really great, but what does it mean really?  Who are Social Entrepreneurs and how do they differ from the 'conventional entrepreneurs'?


French economist Jean-Baptiste Say, described the entrepreneur as one who “shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield,”1 By extension, meaning value creation. 

We know the conventional entrepreneur aims to create profit-benefit for themselves or others out of this value creation.  By contrast, the social entrepreneur aims to create a change-benefit to society from the value creation. What distinguishes social entrepreneurship is the primacy of social benefit, what Duke University professor, Greg Dees (Deceased December 20th, 2013, may he rest in peace.) in his seminal work on the field, characterizes as the pursuit of “mission-related impact."3 

The impact is largely for the benefit of an under-served, neglected or disadvantaged population that does not have the means to produce transformation itself.  The best social entrepreneurs organize foundations or a non-profit entities with three essential components. 

-Identifying injustice 
-Developing a social value proposition to challenge the condition
-Forging a new and better equilibrium for the future

In today's world, there is almost no limit to the kinds of social causes and missions for which great social entrepreneurs can affect change. It just takes mindset, motivation, and strategic decision making. 

1 Jean-Baptiste Say, quoted in J. Gregory Dees, “The Meaning of ‘Social Entrepreneurship,’” reformatted and revised, May 30, 2001.  

3 Dees, 2.