Social Entrepreneur and Social Entrepreneurship

Today, more and more universities, public, private and nonprofits organizations and foundations promote, support and encourage social entrepreneurship initiatives all around the world. The programs focused on educating and training of social entrepreneurs enter in big number of universities and business schools.

Organizations as Ashoka (have been funded, advised, and supported to 1,400 social entrepreneurs in 46 countries during the past 20 years) look for those who can get the challenge and can make the world a better place for everyone on our planet.

Youth organizations and programs promote these efforts through a variety of incentives to young people.
For example YouthXchange is a training kit of UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) designed to reach the 15 to 25 years old global consumer class. YouthXchange attempts to make youth aware of the global imbalances in access to the basic needs and the impact of unsustainable lifestyles on economy, society and environment. It incorporates the relationship between economics, environmental fairness, and social justice so as to encourage youth to take shared responsibility for their society and participate in the creation of a better future.

Fast Company Magazine annually publishes a list of the 25 best social entrepreneurs which they define as organizations "using the disciplines of the corporate world to tackle daunting social problems."

What's the reason for all that movement?

Let's look at statistics:
Consumption of electricity from space and water heating is on the rise, as well as paper consumption and waste generation. In 40 years, global food consumption and production increased 2, 5 times. From 1960 to 2000 water use increased 2 times and wood consumption – 3 times.
Out of 4 billion people in the south, nearly 60% lack basic sanitation, almost 30% have not access to clean water and 25% do not have adequate housing. 14% of the world population goes hungry every day and malnutrition claims 10 million lives annually. 30% of the world’s population continues to lack regular access to essential drugs, with over 50% living in Africa and Asia.
Indeed, the world’s 20% richest people consume nearly 75% of natural resources. The wealth of the world’s 225 richest individuals equals the annual income of the poorest 47% of the world’s population, or 2.5 billion people.

But what is Social Entrepreneur and what he can do?
Social entrepreneur solve social problem by creating innovative solutions to change society for the better and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, manage and then implements them on a large scale.
His ideas must be user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of local people that will stand up. (Research in bio fuels, renewable energies, Fair Trade)

So,this is a real business because social entrepreneurs must be financially sustainable and finance themselves through revenues generated from their own activities to encompass financial and social returns which attract investors.
Examples are venture-capital firms looking for investing in portfolios of businesses that deliver commercial solutions to social problems.

So, all that makes me think that is a new business challenge that develops and gains speed and have great future.