Education plays a crucial role in shaping the minds and opinions of the future generation. The idea of “social entrepreneurship” combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination.
Entrepreneurship becomes a social endeavor when it transforms social capital in a way that affects society positively.
The social entrepreneurship, before being an economic reality, constitutes a response to an ethical need, which arises from the desire for truth and justice. Nowdays, companies are increasingly aware of their ‘social responsibility’, of their being fully part of civil society. They have to take into account the environmental problem, which is assuming increasingly worrying proportions.
Social entrepreneurship has come forward to find sustainable solutions for social problems and these solutions have significant role in social progress of the society. They take on the same challenges as traditional entrepreneurs, to create a feasible business plan, form a team, find investors, and build a brand. Unlike traditional corporate businesses, social entrepreneurship ventures focus on maximizing gains in social satisfaction, rather than maximizing profit gains.
If we look to the number of courses currently being offered at universities, entrepreneurship classes within the study of business have increased in number and popularity within the last few decades, but we’re also seeing an increase in the availability of social entrepreneurship classes.
An investment in the “social” dimension, therefore, can be a useful tool to expand the motivations and perimeter of entrepreneurial education precisely because it corresponds to the pro-social motivations of the new generations and to the changes that the production of value imposes.
The challenges of modern society place an educational responsibility on the school with respect to building a model that knows how to value differences, promote integration, intercultural dialogue and build greater social cohesion. Developing students’ autonomy and initiative represents a fundamental dimension for their future job prospects.
Many researchers claim that the only way to make people more entrepreneurial is by applying a learning-by-doing approach. There is increasing consensus among researchers that letting students work in interdisciplinary teams and interact with people outside school is a particularly powerful way to develop entrepreneurial competencies. A growing number of schools offer the opportunity to delve into a focus area such as real estate, health care, or social entrepreneurship. Students can become highly motivated and engaged by creating value to other people based on the knowledge they acquire.
Social entrepreneurship education gives students a chance to experiment what is taught in the school through living in daily life, and in this way, it makes education lifelong by supporting all developmental areas.
If we want to equip students with versatile knowledge and teach things that will not only help them to be better entrepreneurs, but also contribute to environment and society, it will require teamwork and collaboration of government institutions, teachers and social entrepreneurs to make the years spent in classroom more meaningful and valuable.
C.Grieco E.Rizzi