Social Enterprise
What is meant by the term 'social enterprise' and what do social enterprises contribute to society and the economies in which they operate?
The acceleration with which the world is changing day by day is continuous. A majority of organizations that have a motto of 'not-for-profit' are looking out for prospects with the help of which they can begin or widen their projects in order to get their missions fulfilled and offer the needy the earned profits. Thus, any organization or scheme that brings about the mentioned twofold objectives is considered a social enterprise. Social enterprises sell mission-related goods or services and by doing so they try to create a more impartial and fair environment through specific market-based strategies (Bornstein & Davis 2010).
In other words, a business is regarded as a social enterprise when the main objective is to cope up with the prevailing societal problems and bringing improvement in communal life, peoples' circumstances and positive environmental change. Though it seems that social enterprises work as charities, they do not. They are businesses but of different sorts. Just like other businesses, social enterprises create and accomplish things that produce capital and generate earnings.
However, their objective is different i.e. they aim to work for making bigger differences in society by reinvesting the generated money to do more good in a number of ways. Social enterprises create employment opportunities for people who are jobless otherwise. They reinvest the earned revenue to accomplish community schemes. They also use the generated money to improve and save the environment.
Above all, social enterprises offer significant services for the destitute and impoverished individuals/families in the society (Borzaga & Defourny 2001). For all these reasons, social enterprise can be categorized among the most exhilarating and rapidly developing movements all over the world. There are both big and small social enterprises ranging from cafes to multinational organizations. They are, in general, started by an individual or a group of passionate, dedicated and determined members.
Social enterprise, if truth be told, is a subdivision of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship can be defined as "an innovative, social value creating activity that can occur within or across the not-for-profit, business, or government sectors and have tried to distinguish it from commercial entrepreneurship in terms of four variables -- market failure, mission, resource mobilization and performance measurement" (Kickul & Bacq 2012). In simple words, it is the ability by which resources can be leveraged to get benefit from marketplace opportunities for the acquirement of social change that is sustainable.
An introduction and short biography of Professor Muhammad Yunus
Professor Muhammad Yunus is considered as the father of microcredit, social business. He is also the founder of worldwide renowned Grameen Bank. Other than that, he has also founded over fifty other companies in Bangladesh. He has been named as one of twelve greatest entrepreneurs of the contemporary times by the Fortune Magazine because of his constant innovation and services in social enterprise.
Professor Yunus was born in 1940 in Bangladesh. In 1965, he received the Fulbright Scholarship for studying economics at Vandervilt University (USA). Afterwards, he completed his Ph.D. In Economics. He then returned to his country in 1972 and joined the department of Economics as Chairman in University of Chittagong. In 1976, Professor Yunus started experimenting with the facility of loans for poor. The project was initially called Grameen Bank Project. However, later in 1983, the project became a full-fledged bank for providing the facility of loans to the poor (Gupta 2006).
The focus was on providing the loans to the women living in rural area of Bangladesh. Grameen Bank has over 8.4 million borrowers today, 97% of which are women and Grameen Bank disburses over one and a half million U.S. dollars on an annual basis. Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in year 2006.
From universities across more than a dozen countries, Professor Yunus has received more than fifty 50 honorary degrees. This doesn't end here. Professor's exceptional services have also helped him to receive more than hundred awards from 26 countries that also include state honors from ten countries. He is among the seven individuals who received the Nobel Prize, the United States Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Professor Yunus had the honor of getting Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1984, The World Food Prize in 1994, Sydney Peace Prize in 1998, and The Prince of Austurias Award for Concord in 1998 and many...
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