Entrepreneurs are revolutionists who take the initiative to solve a demand-supply gap by devising a business model around it. Entrepreneurs are different from conventional businessmen in the sense they use technological or other means of innovation to come up with viable solutions to solve problems. A similar category that has recently risen in the entrepreneurship domain is a social entrepreneur who uses his or her innovative thinking to devise solutions and startups that solve social issues, ultimately finding a way to directly impact the society positively.

A social entrepreneur usually tends to bring a wide scale change by his or her innovation in a particular sector of the society that eases the process of living for the citizens of the region concerned. The model for a social entrepreneurship business can take on various shapes but usually has one thing in common, that is, optimizing social returns. A social entrepreneurship business model does not have its priority set to accumulate wealth or generate profits, but rather to improve the social structure and reinvest earnings in the same objective. Most social entrepreneurship ventures connect with investors and philanthropists who are more concerned about the social return on their investment rather than financial returns.

Social entrepreneurship is indeed a need in the society to ensure the less privileged members of the society have access to necessities like education, food, clothing, etc. They also tend to focus on issues where a government fails to address the issue and therefore, with the cross-sectional efforts of the public and private sector, devise plans and models that lead to effective dealing with the social problem at hand by devising an innovative, implementable solution to bring about social change.

Young minds are encouraged to be involved in social works and civic problems to learn more about the ongoing issues and use their minds to come up with revolutionary ideas to bring about economic and social changes.

<Won Victoria Roh HKU 12th>