What is a Social Entrepreneur?

"They were a ragtag group of misfits and mavericks, heroic figures, seemingly single-handedly bringing jobs, healthcare and education to deprived communities. They were visionary and relentlessly optimistic, but practical and pragmatic. They self-consciously applied business methods to social problems, but weren't motivated by profit. This iconoclastic, inspirational, sometimes frustrating and often self-promoting group did not even have a name for themselves."
Charles Leadbeater

I looked it up and discovered that social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leaving it to the government or business, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading u to take new leaps.

Social entrepreneurs seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else.

Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement with it. In other words, every leading social entrepreneur is a mass recruiter of local changemakers—a role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything.

I think on that basis we are all social entrepreneurs!

Chris