List of social entrepreneurs
Encyclopedia
A social entrepreneur
is an entrepreneur
who works to increase social capital
, often by founding humanitarian organizations.
Social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship is the work of social entrepreneurs. A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change . While a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a...
is an entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
who works to increase social capital
Social capital
Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The concept of social capital highlights the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective or economic results. The term social capital is frequently...
, often by founding humanitarian organizations.
Historical examples of leading social entrepreneurs
- Susan B. AnthonySusan B. AnthonySusan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
(U.S.) - Fought for women's rights in the United States, including the right to control property, and helped spearhead adoption of the 19th amendmentNineteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
.
- Vinoba BhaveVinoba BhaveVinoba Bhave , born Vinayak Narahari Bhave often called Acharya , was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. He is best known for the Bhoodan Andolan...
(India) - Founder and leader of the Land Gift Movement, he caused the redistribution of more than 7,000,000 acres (28,000 km²) of land to aid India's untouchablesDalitDalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...
and landless. Mahatma GandhiMahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
described him as his mentor.
- David Brower (U.S.) - Environmentalist and conservationist, he served as the Sierra Club's first executive director and built it into a worldwide network for environmental issues. He also founded Friends of the EarthFriends of the EarthFriends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
, the League of Conservation VotersLeague of Conservation VotersThe League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
and The Earth Island InstituteEarth Island InstituteThe Earth Island Institute was founded in 1982 by environmentalist David Brower. It organizes and encourages activism around environmental issues and provides public education. Funding comes from individual members and supporting organizations...
.
- Akhtar Hameed KhanAkhtar Hameed KhanAkhtar Hameed Khan was a Pakistani development activist and social scientist credited for pioneering microcredit and microfinance initiatives, farmers' cooperatives, and rural training programmes in the developing world. He promoted participatory rural development in Pakistan and other developing...
(Pakistan) - Founder of grassroots movement for rural communities Comilla ModelComilla ModelThe Comilla Model was a rural development programme launched in 1959 by the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development...
, and low-cost sanitationSanitationSanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
programmes (Orangi Pilot ProjectOrangi Pilot ProjectThe Orangi Pilot Project refers to a socially innovative project carried out in 1980s in the squatter areas of Orangi Town, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It was initiated by Akhtar Hameed Khan, and involved the local residents solving their own sanitation problems...
) for squatter settlements.
- Maria MontessoriMaria MontessoriMaria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...
(Italy) - Developed the Montessori approach to early childhood education.
- John MuirJohn MuirJohn Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
(U.S.) - Naturalist and conservationist, he established the National Park System and helped found The Sierra Club.
- Florence NightingaleFlorence NightingaleFlorence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
(UK) - Founder of modern nursing, she established the first school for nurses and fought to improve hospital conditions.
- Frederick Law OlmstedFrederick Law OlmstedFrederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
(U.S.) - Creator of major urban parks, including Rock Creek ParkRock Creek ParkRock Creek Park is a large urban natural area with public park facilities that bisects Washington, D.C. The park is administered by the National Park Service.-Rock Creek Park:The main section of the park contains , or , along the Rock Creek Valley...
in Washington DC, Central ParkCentral ParkCentral Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
in NYC, and Mount Royal Park in Montreal, he is generally considered to have developed the profession of landscape architectureLandscape architectureLandscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
in America.
- Gifford PinchotGifford PinchotGifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania...
(U.S.) - Champion of the forest as a multiple use environment, he helped found the Yale School of Forestry and created the U.S. Forest ServiceUnited States Forest ServiceThe United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
, serving as its first chief.
- Friedrich Wilhelm RaiffeisenFriedrich Wilhelm RaiffeisenFriedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen was a German mayor and cooperative pioneer. Several credit union systems and cooperative banks have been named after Raiffeisen, who pioneered rural credit unions.- Life :...
(Germany) - Pioneer of the rural bond of associationBond of associationThe bond of association or common bond is the social connection among the members of credit unions and co-operative banks. Common bonds substitute for collateral in the early stages of financial system development...
as a substitute for collateral in microfinanceMicrofinanceMicrofinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
, and a principal founder of the credit union and cooperative bankCooperative bankingCooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world....
sectors that now form a major segment of the European banking system.
- Margaret SangerMargaret SangerMargaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
(U.S.) - Founder of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she led the movement for family planning efforts around the world.
- John WoolmanJohn WoolmanJohn Woolman was an American itinerant Quaker preacher who traveled throughout the American colonies and in England, advocating against cruelty to animals, economic injustices and oppression, conscription, military taxation, and particularly slavery and the slave trade.- Origins and early life...
(U.S.) - Led U.S. Quakers to voluntarily emancipate all their slaves between 1758 and 1800, his work also influenced the British Society of Friends, a major force behind the British decision to ban slaveholding. Quakers, of course, became a major force in the U.S. abolitionist movement as well as a key part of the infrastructure of the Underground Railroad.
Present day social entrepreneurs
- Ibrahim AbouleishIbrahim AbouleishIbrahim Abouleish began his chemistry and medicine studies at the age of 19 in Austria. He did his doctorate in 1969 in the field of pharmacology and then worked in leading positions within pharmaceutical research. During this time he was granted patents for a number of new medicines, especially...
(Egypt) - Founder of SEKEMSEKEMThe organization SEKEM was founded in 1977 by the Egyptian pharmacologist and social entrepreneur Dr...
, a biodynamicBiodynamicBiodynamic may refer to:*Biodynamic agriculture, a method of farming based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner*Biodynamic craniosacral therapy, based on the teachings of William Sutherland...
agricltural corporation, alternative medicineAlternative medicineAlternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
, and educational center located outside of Cairo.
- Ela BhattEla BhattEla Ramesh Bhatt is the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India . A lawyer by training, Bhatt is a respected leader of the international labour, cooperative, women, and micro-finance movements who has won several national and international awards.-Early life:Ela Bhatt was born in...
(India) - Founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWASEWAThe Self-Employed Women's Association of India is a trade union for poor, self-employed women workers in India. SEWA was founded in 1972 by the noted Gandhian and civil rights leader Dr Ela Bhatt. SEWA's main office is located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and it works in several states of India. SEWA...
) and the SEWA Cooperative Bank in Gujarat.
- Bill DraytonBill DraytonWilliam "Bill" Drayton is a social entrepreneur. Born in 1943 in New York City, U.S. Drayton was named by US News & World Report as one of America's 25 Best Leaders in 2005...
(U.S.) - Founded AshokaAshoka: Innovators for the PublicAshoka: Innovators for the Public is a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, VA, supporting the field of social entrepreneurship. Ashoka was founded by Bill Drayton in 1981 to identify and support leading social entrepreneurs through a Social Venture Capital approach with the goal of...
, Youth Venture, and Get America Working!
- Marian Wright EdelmanMarian Wright EdelmanMarian Wright Edelman is an American activist for the rights of children. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.-Early years:...
(U.S.) - Founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and advocate for disadvantaged Americans and children.
- Dr. Abraham M. George (India) - Founder of The George FoundationThe George FoundationThe George Foundation is a non-governmental organization established in 1995 with head office in Bangalore, India. Its founder is Dr. Abraham M...
(TGF).
- Pamela HartiganPamela HartiganPamela Hartigan is the founding partner of Volans Ventures and the founding managing director of the Schwab Foundation.She spent over a decade supporting community-based organizations and working with youth in Washington, D.C...
(U.S.) - Founding partner of Volans Ventures and founding managing director of the Schwab Foundation
- Alan KhazeiAlan KhazeiAlan Khazei is an American social entrepreneur. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Be the Change, Inc., a Boston-based group dedicated to building national coalitions of non-profit organizations and citizens to enact legislation on issues such as poverty and education...
(U.S.) - Co-Founder of City YearCity YearCity Year is an education-focused nonprofit organization that partners with public schools to provide full-time targeted intervention keeping students in school and on track to graduate...
, a leading national service program.
- Dr. Verghese KurienVerghese KurienVerghese Kurien is the founder of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation , an apex cooperative organization that manages the Amul food brand. He is recognised as the man behind the success of the Amul brand.He is credited with being the architect of Operation Flood – the largest dairy...
(India) - Founder of the AMUL Dairy Project.
- Jamie OliverJamie OliverJames "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
(U.K.) - TV chef who campaigned to improve children's diet at school. He also trained disadvantaged young people to become chefs. He created a restaurant - a social enterpriseSocial enterpriseA social enterprise is an organization that applies business strategies to achieving philanthropic goals. Social enterprises can be structured as a for-profit or non-profit....
- called Fifteen which employed these newly trained youngsters. Fifteen is now a global chain of four restaurants.
- Bunker RoyBunker RoySanjit 'Bunker' Roy is an Indian social activist and educator. In 1972 he founded the Barefoot college in Tilonia, Rajasthan. The Indian non-governmental organization was registered as the Social Work and Research Centre...
(India) - Founder of Barefoot CollegeBarefoot CollegeBarefoot college known as Social Work and Research Centre is an Non-governmental organization founded by Bunker Roy in 1972. It is a solar-powered school that teaches illiterate women from impoverished villages to become doctors, solar engineers, architects, and other such professions. The school...
, which promotes rural development through innovative education programs.
- Gennady AlferenkoGennady AlferenkoGennady Alferenko is a Soviet and Russian social innovator; in 1970 he established Terpsichore, the first local community organization registered as a legal entity in the USSR; in 1985 he established the Foundation for Social Inventions of the USSR, and in 1987, the foundation for Social...
(Russia) - Founder of the Foundation for Social InventionsFoundation for Social InventionsThe Foundation for Social Inventions of the USSR was founded in 1986 by Gennady Alferenko, a social innovator and entrepreneur, to launch initiatives for turning Russia into an open civil society....
and Foundation for Social Innovations.
- Muhammad YunusMuhammad YunusMuhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
(Bangladesh) - Founder of microcreditMicrocreditMicrocredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...
and the Grameen BankGrameen BankThe Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral...
. He was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
.
- Dr Willie SmitsWillie SmitsWillie Smits is a trained forester, a microbiologist, conservationist, animal rights activist and social entrepreneur...
(Borneo, Indonesia) - Founder of the Borneo Orangutan SurvivalBorneo Orangutan SurvivalThe Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is an Indonesian non-profit NGO founded by Dr Willie Smits in 1991 and dedicated to the conservation of the endangered Bornean Orangutan and its habitat through the involvement of local people...
Foundation, Founder and Chairperson of the Masarang FoundationMasarang FoundationMasarang Foundation , or Yayasan Masarang in Indonesian language, is an Indonesian non-profit organization. One of its programs, The Masarang Palm Sugar Factory, succeeded as one of the finalists of The World Challenge in 2007 .-History:...
- Thinlas ChorolThinlas ChorolThinlas Chorol is a social entrepreneur and writer from Ladakh, India.She founded the Ladakhi women’s travel company and has written articles on tourism in Ladakh and other issues....
(India) - Founder of the Ladadakhi Women's Travel Company, which despite social norms work to bring women into, the otherwise male-dominated LadakhiLadakhLadakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
tourism industry.
- Nand Kishore ChaudharyNand Kishore ChaudharyNand Kishore Chaudhary is an Indian social entrepreneur. He currently serves as the Chairman and Managing Director of the social enterprise Jaipur Rugs, which he founded in 1978.-Early life:...
(India) - Founder of Jaipur rugsJaipur RugsJaipur Rugs is a socio-economic business model based at Jaipur, India dealing primarily in floor coverings. It is intended to connect the rural poor of India to the Affluent World through the traditional art of carpet weaving. Headquartered in Jaipur, they have their operations encompassing a...
, which promotes rural development through capacity building of rural people in carpet weaving. - Harish HandeHarish HandeHarish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur, who founded Selco India, a solar electric light company in 1995, which over the years has lit up over 120,000 households, to emerge as India's leading solar technology firm...
(India) - Founder Selco India, a solar electric light company in 1995, which over the years has lit up over 120,000 households, to emerge as India's leading solar technology firm. Magsaysay Award 2011.