GoodWork Paper 28: The Business of Caring: A Study of Young Social Entrepreneurs (PDF)

Author(s): Lynn Barendsen

Editor(s): Jeff Solomon, Series Editor

Media: PDF

Description: Social entrepreneurs are individuals who approach a social problem with entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen. Social entrepreneurs are problem solvers. Other caring professionals follow more traditional paths to do their work and operate within existing structures to help others. Like business entrepreneurs, who see a void, a need for a gadget, or the promise of a new product line, social entrepreneurs see a problem and present a solution. In this paper I examine the ways in which social entrepreneurs are similar to and distinct from business entrepreneurs and those in the helping professions. The seventeen social entrepreneurs in the sample are compared to fifteen business entrepreneurs and sixteen young healthcare workers involved in the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program. All three groups express a belief in the importance of giving back to society, or in making the most of opportunities they themselves have been given. The vast majority of each group identify themselves as spiritual or religious, yet the degree to which spirituality directly informs work varies across samples. Finally, the two groups of caring professionals express a belief in the human spirit, in the potential of individuals, and in the possibility of change. Many social entrepreneurs and Schweitzer fellows experienced trauma at an early age. This is not true of the business entrepreneurs. All three groups experience “outsider” status in one form or another. In each sample, significant numbers of individuals demonstrate early interest in their future work. Three strategic approaches help social entrepreneurs in their work: the ability to reframe challenges, the willingness to adhere to a sense of obligation, and the capability to discern measures of success. Two sets of challenges are shared across all three samples: difficulty in managing the line between personal and professional and ethical concerns. In assessing the value of their work, social entrepreneurs feel the challenges of other caring professions and face these challenges with businesslike organization and methods.