Social Entrepreneurship

‘Social Entrepreneurship’ nowadays is hot.
But what exactly is it?
Isn’t entrepreneurship a social phenomenon ‘par excellence’? What is the main word in this compound? Is it ‘social’ or is it ‘entrepreneurship’? Are they on par?
Or is it simply a new euphemism to say that making money while doing good is acceptable?

After all, in the past, we would have found it distasteful to ask payment for good deeds done. But the word ‘charity’ is hardly popular anymore.

Maybe it sprouts from the often heard criticism that Silicon Valley style companies aren’t creating any real value, no really valuable scientific or technological breakthroughs to improve the everyday life of humankind?

Non-profit or not-for-profit organisations, we are all familiar with. But it now seems that they have not covered all the ground there is, leaving an opening for a new hybrid kid on the block, called ‘social entrepreneurship’.

Being a hybrid seems a difficult thing to do.
‘Spread-eagled’ applies in more than one sense of the word.
To some, trusting such a hybrid apparently appears to be just as hard.
From symbiont to parasite is only a small distance to cover, it seems.

For all our sakes, let’s hope I’m proven wrong.