Social Entrepreneurship

“Social enterprises are defined as businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.”
-- Office of the Third Sector

 For Student Hubs events on social entrepreneurship, click here.

Social entrepreneurship has become a bridge between charities and traditional business in the last twenty years. Government, foundations and the private sector are developing schemes to promote social entrepreneurship and thus address entrenched social problems.  

The economic downturn of 2008 has demonstrated the necessity to explore a new form of capitalism. The decades to come will hopefully see the emergence of the so-called Phoenix Economy, where business focuses beyond the bottom line to obtain social and environmental returns.

There are currently more than 55,000 social enterprises in the UK, with an annual turnover of £27bn. Social enterprise contributes £8.4 billion per year to Britain’s economy and employs 800,000 people. Therefore, Social Enterprise is becoming an increasingly important player in the economy, giving it the right to be called the third sector that connects the charitable and profit-making sectors