Social Entrepreneurs

The growing field of social entrepreneurship sits between purpose-built start-ups that pursue a traditional for-profit business model, and the conventional non-profit models that depend on grants, charity and public funding. Because of their position, social entrepreneurs face a unique challenge to balance social impact with financial returns, and must replicate and scale their business models when seeking to internationalize.

This book, the fifth in the Actions and Insights series under the auspices of AIB-MENA, explores how various start-up models, whether private sector-led, private sector-incubated, or more traditional non-profit ventures, have built a business model and, in some cases, succeeded in scaling and internationalizing their businesses.

Cases here reflect the challenges that social entrepreneurs face, both personal and organizational, and take a variety of perspectives, such as entrepreneurial motivation, ‘doing good well’, empowerment, funding, governance, impact measurement, and understanding the challenges and opportunities that go with scaling.