2.2 Why the world needs more social entrepreneurs?
Key reasons:
- To make the world a better place
Considering the motto “do well by doing good”, creating social value and bringing social change are at the heart of any social enterprise. Monetary profit becomes just a tool for social entrepreneurs to accomplish people-centred goals. Certainly, social entrepreneurship is more than an economic activity, it gives society positive world-changing solutions.
Social entrepreneurship matters because it maximises social benefit. It is a way to give back to the community. To achieve that, they find unique innovative ways of creating sustainable solutions to either local or global level, addressing social issues such as healthcare, homelessness or racial inequality.
Give a voice to people
The hidden power of the social entrepreneur is in giving voice and creating broad pathways for civic action. At a time when many people are fed up with politics as usual, social entrepreneurs give people motivation and pathways to make a contribution, becoming changemakers — often cutting through the political divide that is paralyzing our democracy.
Here comes an interesting case:
Truckers Against Trafficking, is an organization that supports truck drivers linking together as part of an early-warning system to detect human trafficking. Their motto is “Everyday Heroes Needed” — and its success depends on truckers owning a piece of the mission. Once they do, they start seeing the world with a new sense of responsibility and purpose.
Social enterprises not only merge innovation with social change, but also create ways on how to galvanize citizens across the world to step in and shape societies for the better. In a sense, they provide us with a blueprint for effective action when governments, the private sector, or even philanthropists let us down. The more of them there are, the more blueprints we have, the faster we can make problems go away, and the more confident we become when we face the next problem. (Zakaras, 2018)
- It seems that now the timing is good: Investors move towards sustainable investing
We are facing numerous sustainability challenges, and investors are starting to re-evaluate traditional portfolio approaches, giving more importance to funding sustainable initiatives. Sustainable investing considers Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors that bring a positive and lasting impact on the world.
There is still a long way to go, but as more people become aware of social issues, the investment into ESG projects continues to grow. The value of global assets applying environmental, social and governance data to drive investment decisions has almost doubled over four years, and more than tripled over eight years, to nearly € 33 trillion in 2020.