The importance of social entrepreneurship has been growing for the last 3 decades and is recently accelerating. South Africa presents one of the most mature social entrepreneurial sectors among developing countries and the magnitude of its impact has become critical to national economic growth and society as a whole. Many roles have risen through the spreading of this particular way of conceiving business, the role of mentors being a particularly meaningful one. Mentoring is usually related to the difficulties social entrepreneurs and operators within the field have in dealing with the variables present in a free market. Most studies concerning mentoring have been focused on business organizations or entrepreneurs. Literature approaches various interesting themes within these two contexts that can help as a guide to explore the nature of mentoring in the social entrepreneurial field. This study puts its focus on the nature of mentoring in the sole social entrepreneurial field as it is understood by its prime actors: the mentors. In doing so it adopts a qualitative approach characterised by semi-structured and open ended interviews with eight experienced mentors from as many different organizations. The final results indicate that differences with the business sector are not extreme and the two fields often intertwine, with many beneficial outcomes for the social sector. However, they also illustrate that there are some aspects very specific to the sole social entrepreneurial field. Among those are the stronger sensibility toward others, the energy infused, the type of relationships, the unique motivations and a broader reach of outcomes for the mentoring activity itself. All these aspects lead mentoring in the social entrepreneurial field not only to be a useful phenomenon for involved entrepreneurs, but potentially an activity spreading its beneficial consequences to entire communities.

Sustainability and sustainable development is slowly gathering momentum in public discourse, and greater attention and reverence in academic research. While there still appears to be no consensus defining sustainability, which has lead to hampered discussion, this should not impede nor hinder a greater call for dialogue of how to ultimately change the world, and for the global economy to consider what type of individual will address environmental and social issues simultaneously. We consider ‘traditional’ entrepreneurship still necessary and vital to the continuing development of disruptive innovation and market change, however, a new breed of entrepreneur must now achieve greater focus. A sustainable shift in societies development is required to guarantee a capacity to endure. Sustainable development is critical to not only the environments long-term well-being, but also a necessity to curve the ultimate slow demise of the human race. Economic responsibly toward the environment and society is imperative. Sustainable development meets at the confluence of three constituent parts - environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and socio-political sustainability, the foundations to an emerging new field of entrepreneurship - Sustainable Entrepreneurship.Sustainable Entrepreneurs enact a holistic approach to a venture start-up that embeds environmental, economic and social sustainability dimensions. Sustainable Entrepreneurs have received insufficient attention by the media, policy makers and have failed to grab the attention of academics to test theory in an exploratory cross-case analysis approach. Previous research has mainly been conceptual and theoretical. Literature is lacking practical insights into how entrepreneurs conduct sustainable entrepreneurial initiatives and whether such definitions hold true. A cross-case analysis of five entrepreneurs operating in the renewable energy industry is conducted, evaluating theory against real life. We fill this gap by conducting exploratory research in Sustainable Entrepreneurship, identifying the entrepreneurs motivations to start-up their unique venture, challenges faced throughout the venture development process and their impact within their defined market. It is evident throughout the five case studies all our entrepreneurs have encountered some sort of antecedent exposure to an environmental concern; leading to our belief that prior exposure to a sustainability related market failure has resulted in these entrepreneurs to pursue their business initiative. Leading from this analysis, it is evident Sustainable Entrepreneurs are highly motivated to solve environmental and/ or social related problems (sustainability-related market failures). Customer perceptions and unawareness for alternative sustainable products remain a considerable challenge. It is proposed that patents, cooperating with educational institutions, establishment of an international network and organisational culture, are all important practices that assist in the business development.

Social entrepreneurship is a phenomenon of increasing economic and cultural importance. A key challenge for social enterprises is resource acquisition. However, how social entrepreneurs acquire the resources needed to grow their ventures is not clear. Moreover, social enterprises differ from traditional ventures in several key ways which suggest that research developed from studying traditional entrepreneurs does not fully apply to social entrepreneurs. The focus of this dissertation is how social entrepreneurs use narratives to gather resources. This topic is examined using a multi-study, inductive, theory-building design based on 121 interviews, observation, and archival data. In Study 1, I interview 75 entrepreneurs, investors, and ancillary participants in the social enterprise sector. In Study 2, I construct case studies of eight technology-focused social ventures. The result is a framework explaining how differences in entrepreneurs' narrative tactics and characteristics are associated with differences in their resource acquisition success. Specifically, from Study 1 I develop a typology of social enterprise narratives, identify three narrative-types (personal, social-good, and business), and show that they possess unique elements. Findings from Study 2 demonstrate that the three narrative-types serve as the building blocks for communication with external stakeholders, particularly investors and the media. I find that successful social entrepreneurs used narratives to engage in two tactics -- tailoring and linking -- and constructed narratives with a unique characteristic: multiplexity. These findings contribute to three literatures that formed the basis of the study -- social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial resource acquisition, and organizational narrative theory -- and have implications for work on competing institutional logics and emotion in stakeholder evaluations. / text

This thesis compares the Swedish and the French social entrepreneurship ecosystems. After an examination of the definitions and current legal frameworks around social enterprises in each country, their levels of social entrepreneurship activity are compared. The existing support structures providing non-financial help to social entrepreneurs (i.e. incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces and networks) are identified in Paris and in Stockholm, while perceptions from social entrepreneurs benefiting from such support were gathered through interviews. Findings show that the concept of social enterprise is more recognized and legally defined in France than in Sweden. Social entrepreneurship activity seems to be hard to quantify and compare, due to a lack of data available. Support structures appear to be well developed both in Paris and in Stockholm, while the support provided is overall quite appreciated by social entrepreneurs. Furthermore, many of them perceive their support needs as rather different from those of traditional entrepreneurs. Results tend to show that although developing in practice, social entrepreneurship remains a young academic field. Stakeholders from the field have much to gain from extended research on the topic.

Background The mindset of an individual is made up by perception and motivation. Motivation is in turn driven by personal experiences, values and goals. Many times, a personal experience can act as a ‘Gandhi-moment’ or a triggering event to take action towards achieving a specific outcome. For a social entrepreneur, this outcome is many times some type of positive social change. In order for the social entrepreneur to create this, he or she needs to be innovative and creative, and therefore stay open towards new opportunities and perspectives to not get stuck in a particular mindset. Purpose The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the role of personal experiences and a person’s mindset in the start-up of a social project. Furthermore, the study aims to explore how a change in one’s mindset can result in social projects or enterprises that are successfully able to create social change. Method The research approach of the thesis takes the form of a multiple case study; one main large case and four illustrative smaller ones. The data analysis is of abductive style, going back and forth between theory and empirical data. Conclusion It can be concluded that personal experiences can serve as a motivational platform for an individual starting a project or enterprise, aiming to create a social change. However, other elements of a person’s mindset will also influence this process, in terms motivation and perception. Furthermore, for changes in society to occur, changes first needs to be made from within. Therefore, in order for a social entrepreneur to create actual social change; he or she needs to go through a process of mindset-change.

Background: Social entrepreneurship started to appear in the academic research in the end of 1990´s and has since then been well discussed by researchers. They have come up with numerous of different definitions and meanings of the term, but agree that the goal for these kinds of entrepreneurs is to create social value. Purpose: Our objective with this study is to create an understanding of where social entrepreneurs acquire the necessary resources to start their social business. Research question: How do social entrepreneurs acquire the necessary resources to start their social business in Rio de Janeiro? Methodology: The study adopted a qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews have been done in order to gather data. An abductive approach has been used where the authors has gone back and forth between the theory and the empirical findings. Research findings: The social entrepreneurs that we interviewed used the following ways to acquire resources to start their social business: Social venture capitalists, social capital, human capital, cultural capital and volunteers.

As a result of various factors, rural areas in Saskatchewan have experienced a massive decline in its population as well as in its economics base. Industrialization of the agricultural sector has been identified as a prominent factor which has now made it possible for fewer people to perform activities previously performed by several people. In addition to this, the need to achieve efficiency in the use of mechanized farming implements has further enhanced the consolidation of smaller farms into larger ones. These events have led to the release of some farmers from farming activities and, hence, out-migration from rural areas to larger cities in search for more job opportunities. The need to strengthen the economic base and the population of rural areas have raised the question that what other economic activity is possible in rural area apart from farming, hence, manufacturing may offer some opportunities. This study has adopted a case study approach to investigate the factors influencing the location decision as well as the factors influencing the success of a rural manufacturing firm called Bourgault Industries Limited. Bourgault Industries Limited is a rural family-owned manufacturing firm established in 1974 and it is located in St. Brieux, Saskatchewan. Apart from being a commercial success, its presence has also fostered the population and economic growth of St. Brieux. It is therefore important to investigate the factors that influenced the location decision in this rural area as well as the various factors that have contributed to the company’s success. In order to conduct this investigation, a conceptual framework developed from the review of literature, location theory, X-inefficiency theory, social, family and human capital theories was adopted to explain the roles of different factors in the success of this company over the last 40 years. Outcomes from this investigation reveal that the success of Bourgault Industries Limited lies within the interwoven relationship of right timing, organizational strategies, social cohesion and family ties, location specific factors, adoption of no-till technology and continuous product development.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed June 30, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-117).

Thesis (MTech (Entrepreneurship))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Background and research problem: There have been claims in academic literature that social entrepreneurs, such as non-profit organisations and hybrid organisations that pursue social outcomes are architects or innovators of community development. However to date, there is no conclusive empirical evidence to support that claim. Main purpose of the study: The main purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the opportunities created by social entrepreneurs, as architects of community development, in communities they operate; identify the main challenges that the social entrepreneurs face and come up with recommendations of how social entrepreneurs can deal with these challenges. For the purpose of the study, the focus was on communities especially those ravaged by various social ills. Research methodology: A mixed method approach was adopted as the study was underpinned by two paradigms namely, positivist and interpretivist philosophies. The survey strategy was used in conducting the inquiry. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires which were self-administered to 150 community members selected randomly. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 respondents. Computer aided statistical method was used to analyse quantitative data while qualitative data was analysed using noncomputer aided thematic techniques. Main findings, conclusions and recommendations: The study found that the majority of social entrepreneurs studied have been making positive contributions to various aspects of community development. However, none of them has embraced the whole range of community development aspects that are needed for a holistic approach to comprehensive contribution. Reasons for failure to embrace a holistic approach include a lack of social entrepreneurship development framework, and various operational and political challenges. It is also important to mention that the research techniques used are not adequate to measure certain types of social impacts of the social entrepreneur's efforts. For these, additional social impact measuring techniques would need to be developed and employed.

This study gives a rich and detailed account of the lived experiences of social entrepreneurs in Gauteng, South Africa. The research seeks to give a better understanding of their day-to-day experiences in their journeys as social entrepreneurs. The paper also sheds light into their motivations, the key resources needed to start the enterprise, the types of support and benefits received and the challenges faced to date. A qualitative research approach was used to gather data through face-to-face in-depth interviews. Judgement and purposive sampling techniques were used to select twelve respondents for the research. Findings of the research show that social entrepreneurs are motivated by a social objective and that this takes precedence over personal wealth creation. Social entrepreneurs need both tangible and intangible resources to begin a social enterprise. Although financial capital is imperative, this does not hinder the social entrepreneur from addressing the identified social need. Social entrepreneurs often receive support from different sources, such as the community and family. A common challenge faced is the inability to balance the double bottom line comprising of social impact and financial sustainability. Despite the challenges faced, these social entrepreneurs are persistent in making a difference. They are often celebrated by their communities, family members, and, most importantly, the beneficiaries for the positive impact they have made / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted