Social Entrepreneurship or CSR

Coming from a marketing background, I always thought that social entrepreneurship is related to marketing, to my surprise it is not, social entrepreneurship is not at all related to corporate social responsibility, which is an element of evolved marketing.

To make you understand Corporate Social Responsibility, is the continuing commitment by businesses to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large, please note the key terms being businesses and society, businesses primary missions are profit making, but they do so while considering the society, therefore the society well being is their secondary mission.

Social entrepreneurship on the other hand is the use of entrepreneurial skills to solve social problems, is the recognition of a social problem and the uses of entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a social venture to achieve a desired change. The primary mission of social entrepreneurship is society well being.

Looking back home in Kenya one name has become a key ingredient whenever we speak of social entrepreneurship, ie the late Prof. Wangari Maathai, the founder of Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. Her primary mission was the well being of the society and she even won Nobel peace prize in 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

With such a statement, "when I see Uhuru Park and contemplate its meaning, I feel compelled to fight for it so that my grandchildren may share that dream and that joy of freedom as they one day walk there.”Wangari Muta Maathai, you truly understand social entrepreneurship.

Conclusion, social entrepreneurship is very different from CSR, but an individual can use CSR on his social venture, in comparison  a company, cannot be a social venture for as long as the primary mission is profit making.