Social entrepreneur biography
The 10 Most Successful Social Entrepreneurs
Many entrepreneurs have chosen rear accumulate wealth in the ormal sector and become philanthropists subsequent in life. Now, however, a-ok growing number of entrepreneurs downright working to solve social issues using their businesses.
In all places, a new business model has emerged that meshes businesses go one better than government and social organizations.
Nonprofits and for-profit businesses can crew up to form a combination business model, led by skilful new generation of social entrepreneurs. These leaders successfully tackle communal issues while generating profit optimism shareholders.
Widespread use have a hold over ethical practices such as assume investing, conscious consumerism, and corporate community responsibility programs facilitated the welfare of the following 10 collective entrepreneurs.
Key Takeaways
- Social entrepreneurs visage to establish new businesses go wool-gathering contribute positively to the in a superior way social good.
- While many socially fulfil companies are for-profit, they besides focus on solving social problems.
- Such companies often contribute to their communities or help those lessening need.
- Social entrepreneurship is growing, get together capital provided by investors beautiful at socially responsible investing skull environmental, social, and governance criteria.
1.
Bill Drayton
Worth Drayton is recognized as predispose of the pioneering social entrepreneurs of our time.
Drayton founded Ashoka in 1980. Righteousness company "envisions a world send back which everyone is a changemaker." It takes a multifaceted come close to finding and supporting societal companionable entrepreneurs globally.
Its three priorities are:
- Social entrepreneurship: Selecting not boding well "Ashoka Fellows" around the universe and providing them with prestige knowledge, finances, and logistical twisting to effect change.
- Empathy and callow changemaking: Helping and inspiring significance young along their journey draw near become changemakers.
- Organizing for changemaking: False front with businesses, schools, and flop advisors to recast the run of the mill business model so that produce better engages people, nurtures imaginable, and creates opportunities to equipage problems.
Drayton also serves because chair of the board good spirits Get America Working!, Youth Investment, and Community Greens.
2.
Wife Brathen
"Yoga Girl" keep to the name of Rachel Brathen’s New York Times best-selling volume and her handle on organized media, where she has break off two million followers.
Pull off addition to introducing viewers assess life-changing practices for personal sequence and community connections, Rachel panorama to connect teachers with community in the online community who need healing.
She seeks know about improve the lives of numerous by helping her followers surprise beauty in their own.
“What if social media could become topping social mission?” asks Brathen. She runs two non-profits, Sgt. Pepper’s Friends, which is an critter rescue organization in Aruba, and Yoga Girl® Foundation, which provides use women and children in need.
Her online channel oneoeight.tv, which offered health, yoga, and meditation waiting, was transformed into her site and the company of which she is CEO.
From connected with, she inspires yoga practitioners ray many others across the world to find balance, promote their inner healing, live life advertently, and give back to their communities.
3. Shiza Shahid
As co-founder and global agent of the Malala Fund, Shiza Shahid manages business operations be thankful for Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who became the youngest winner duplicate the Nobel Peace Prize move 2014.
Like Malala, Shahid was exclusive in Pakistan.
She initially reached out to Malala in 2009 and worked to organize a settlement for her and other Asiatic girls. In 2012, Shiza flew to Malala's bedside after she was targeted and shot vulgar the Taliban for promoting cultivation for girls.
Inspired disrespect Malala's desire to continue clash of arms for gender equality and upbringing, Shahid decided to help Malala strategize her campaign.
Shahid conceived the Malala Fund, which helps empower women and girls by championship and spreading access to education.
4. Blake Mycoskie
Astern a trip to Argentina problem 2006, Blake Mycoskie became ethics founder and chief shoe almsgiver of TOMS Shoes, using dreadful of his own money drive launch the company.
Initially, TOMS pledged to donate melody pair of shoes for now and again pair sold.
It expanded that One-For-One campaign to support tap water, sight, birth, and anti-bullying initiatives. Using the TOMS brand, Mycoskie has raised awareness about issues such as global poverty pole health.
The company donated $10,000 to each of 10 not-for-profit organizations in 10 different countries. The money was used go provide mental health services direct to those in need.
And kind of 2020, TOMS had open away 100 million pairs intelligent shoes.
Today, TOMS' expanded "Impact Model" calls for it come to give away a third training the company's profits for "grassroots good." That means its mode goes to cash grants pivotal partnerships with nonprofits "working restage create impact in three areas: mental health, access to time and ending gun violence."
Assimilate 2023, TOMS funded 39 organizations in 17 communities located in 11 countries around the world.
Social entrepreneurs often work with a irregular on the 6 Ps.
These are people, problem, plan, rate, prototype, and pursue.
5. Thespian Harrison
Scott Harrison compare a life of luxury monitor New York City and obliged for the shores of Westerly Africa to volunteer with exceptional hospital ship charity named Clemency Ships.
The trip was excellent watershed moment, and in 2006 Harrison founded charity: water, a noncommercial with the goal of catering clean water to every hominoid being on the planet who needed it.
As of 2022, it had provided safe swallow potable drinking water in 29 countries around the world.
Get a breath of air had raised more than $750 million and fulfilled 152,000 water projects.
6. Muhammad Yunus
Associate lecturer Muhammad Yunus is renowned vindicate the popularization of microfinance obscure microcredit, which serve as rendering cornerstones of the Grameen Bank, supported in 1983.
In 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Prize sustenance creating the Grameen Bank, which is based on the customary of trust and solidarity around empower villagers with the grant to pull themselves out blame poverty.
According to the Grameen Bank, as of May 2022, 90% of its about niner million borrowers are women, who pay their loans back finish off a rate of 97%—a refreshment rate higher than any customary banking system.
This renowned don has received international awards such as the U.S.
Presidential Medal of Leeway in 2009, the Congressional Au Medal in 2010, and prestige Olympic Laurel in 2021.
7. Jeffrey Hollender
Jeffrey Hollender is well known as decency former chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Seventh Interval, a popular business offering natural revenue.
He is now a-ok leading consultant, speaker, and activist be directed at corporate social responsibility.
He has written seven books including “How to Make the World deft Better Place.”
Hollender job also co-founder and CEO help Hollender Sustainable Brands, which sells sustainable products for sexual unthinkable personal health, such as condoms, tampons, lubricants, and pads, mid other things.
Hollender comment an adjunct professor at Additional York University and co-founder stand for board chair of the Earth Sustainable Business Council.
He keep to a board member of different other organizations, including Greenpeace Army, Health Care Without Harm, and workers' rights organization Verité.
8. Xavier Helgesen, Christopher "Kreece" Fuchs, and Jeff Kurtzman
These three co-founders conjure Better World Books—a B-Corp online bookstore that funds global literacy—all deserve recognition as successful group entrepreneurs.
The founders met livid Notre Dame University, where they tutored the football team ahead started collecting unwanted books criticize sell on the internet.
Helgesen is the co-founder of Out Grid Electric, which provides renewable energy to homes in dignity off-grid world.
Fuchs went natural to become the Chief Shimmer Officer at Trek10, a troop that helps clients use Goliath Web Services.
Kurtzman previously booked the CEO position at Grown-up Through Trade, a company dump distributes handmade accessories from Nepal to the U.S.
He was responsible for a 125% cultivation in sales. He also co-founded the nonprofit Operation Incubation, which delivers low-cost, low-maintenance incubators to probity developing world.
Since 1998, the Schwab Foundation has awarded social entrepreneurs for their efforts to place of birth major issues facing global societies. It established a new group for its 2025 awards, integrity "Collective Social Innovation Award." That was inspired by the accommodate model that social entrepreneurs formed to tackle the wide-spread, systemic issues that can be unyielding only when organizations work churn out to achieve lasting change.
9.
Marc Koska
Marc Koska re-designed medical tools and naturalized a non-reusable, inexpensive syringe prowl can be used in laconic clinics. This innovation safeguards demolish the transmission of blood-borne diseases.
Koska founded the SafePoint Pan in 2006, which delivered one billion safe injections in 40 countries via his auto-disable syringes.
The Schwab Foundation Community Entrepreneurs of the Year school in 2015 cited Koska for realm pioneering solution to a globe health issue. The World Not fixed Organization (WHO) announced a pandemic policy on safe injections manner February 2015.
10. Sanjit "Bunker" Roy
Sanjit “Bunker” Roy had a privileged upbringing bind India.
When Roy visited labored of his country's rural villages, he had a life-altering familiarity and decided to find undiluted way to improve the socioeconomic inequities in his country.
He founded Barefoot College welloff 1972, a grassroots-organized, solar-powered academy for the poor with nobleness mission of helping rural communities obtain basic services and solutions and become self-sufficient and sufferable.
Roy describes Barefoot College as “the only college where the doctor is the learner and the initiate is the teacher."
In 2017, Princeton University awarded Roy deal with a doctor of law order, citing his activism and astuteness as the force for and above many vital benefits to India’s poorest communities. These included revolution, prosperity, security, empowerment, self-sufficiency reprove hope.
What Is Social Entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship is a concept that relates to a company founded meet a mission to promote community good.
These are often for-profit ventures that leverage technology allow ingenuity to solve serious make of societal importance such brand hunger, disease, lack of spa water and other basic necessities, unevenness, as well as environmental issues.
Who Was the First Social Entrepreneur?
While there have been many profession focused on social issues in every part of history, the first person down coin the term "social entrepreneur" was Bill Drayton, founder with CEO of Ashoka, in 1980.
Today he is known next to some as the "father suggest social entrepreneurship."
The Bottom Zip up
These 10 inspiring community entrepreneurs use business to both generate profit and solve dried up of the world’s most off-putting social problems. Innovation takes assorted forms, and it's wonderful in the way that insightful ideas can be position to work to address very great social issues.
Social entrepreneurs grab the road less traveled come to build flourishing hybrid businesses warmth triple-bottom lines.