Social Entrepreneurs - Inimitable Agents for Change and Development A Bird's Eye View
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Date
2010
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Abstract
Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social
problems. They are ambitious andpenistenty tacklingmajor social issues and offeringnew ideas
far wide-scale change. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors,
social entrepreneurs fin d what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system,
spreading the solution, andpersuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs
often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction o f their
field. They aie both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned ivith the practical implementation
o f 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 o f
local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement with it. In this context this
paper aims to analyse social entrepreneurship as a multidimensional model involving the
expression ofentrepreneurially virtuous behaviour to achieve the social mission, a coherent unity
ofpurpose and action in the face o f moral complexity, the ability to recognise social valuecreating
opportunities and key decision-making characteristics ofinnovativeness, proactiveness
and risk-taking and to compare the unique characteristics o f social entrepreneurs.