Like all entrepreneurs, the restrictions and obstacles that present themselves and to some extent even the recognition of failure itself, are somewhat perceived differently, if not dismissed altogether as a temporary setback. True entrepreneurs will quickly adapt to changes in commercial environment and continue with their ‘driven’ characteristics. It is this rather unique quality that has recently attracted the interests of certain senior UK Government departments and agencies responsible for regeneration and addressing the problems of worklessness.
During the 1990’s a social entrepreneur was usually a person that had seen considerable personal success and had a desire to spend their later years in business addressing certain social issues, that they had noticed as flawed during their earlier entrepreneurial years. Quite often social entrepreneurs were older members of the entrepreneurial sect and practiced the art of “I will never retire” doing work that had a differing set or rewards to them.
With the frequent advantage of social entrepreneurs often having accumulated reasonable if not considerable personal wealth, the need for personal financial gain was reduced; and so the definition of social entrepreneurialism in the 1990’s was measured less in profits and more in terms of social change. This is still very evident even today, but in addition to these early social entrepreneurs, we are now seeing an influx of new and younger social entrepreneurs entering the realms of social enterprise.
As with many current social and economic perceptions, the categories of Social Enterprise and of the Social Entrepreneur are under much scrutiny which, in the same vein as entrepreneurialism itself, is inevitably leading to change.
With greater appreciation from Government and from local authorities, more and more entrepreneurs are now embracing a wider spectrum of objectives and opportunities. In what seems to be a peace treaty between the authorities and the countries entrepreneurs, the UK seems to have found middle ground in so much as Government and local authorities have accepted that entrepreneurs need to make money, and entrepreneurs have started to consider more than just profits in order to enjoy this mutual embrace.
The by-product seems to be one of the biggest success stories of the new millennia, in that many entrepreneurs are becoming social entrepreneurs earlier in their personal development. Clearly profits are and should be a priority of the new social entrepreneurs, but in addition to this, real social benefit is taking place. Social Enterprise is responsible for significant local job creation and community stimulation, and it is the social entrepreneurship is it’s champion.