A social enterprise is nothing more than a project of a company or organization with or without profit or non-profit whose purpose is to improve the community in which it is inserted. There are different types of social enterprises; Next, we will see the most important ones. First of all, it is worth doing a brief review of what are the essential qualities of a social enterprise. In addition to the social, ethical, environmental and also financial purpose, it is distinguished by its way of acting. Despite not having profit generation as its central objective, it uses a strategic market model to achieve its goals. In other words, it acts like a company, but intends to contribute to solving a social problem. Of course, it needs resources to survive, so it sells goods and services without detriment to its nature.
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What types of social enterprises exist?
Although a high level of social awareness predominates in all of them, the truth is that notable differences can be perceived between the different kinds of social enterprises . These are the types that can be found the most:
1. Professional entrepreneurship
In this first case, we include experts who dedicate their knowledge and skills to solving a lack or problem in a community. They can be part of their own venture, an organization or even a private project; what sets them apart is their aptitude. For example, we can talk about a psychologist who offers activities for children and young people in a poor neighborhood, or an organization or company that has a hygiene professional to give training talks in schools and public entities.
2. Awareness venture
Surely you run into them more often than you think. These ventures are made up of people with very firm ideals, who seek to convince and persuade others of their arguments to change a certain behavior or lifestyle. Here we could cite environmental groups as an example, who do not intend (mostly) to sell a good or a service, but seek to promote a change to improve the sustainability of resources and the quality of life on the planet.
3. Social entrepreneurship born from a private
When a soft drink company decides to give its customers a discount for taking an already used container to recycle it later, we are in the presence of a third type of social enterprise. What is characteristic here is that a company is dedicated to doing good directly for society, but its employees or customers do not necessarily have to share it . They are simply ‘secondary’ actors in the process, since they might not even agree or be interested in the social action that their employers promote. So, it is not intended to convince, but rather a benefit is offered to someone to contribute to the cause. The same happens with the workers who participate in production: what is sought from them is efficiency in meeting objectives. Of course, a balance is needed; the stronger the social impact, the more the financial return decreases.
4. Entrepreneurship dependent on a corporate model
In this type of social enterprise, it is not said organization that is in charge of producing its own resources and at the same time benefiting the community, but rather it receives contributions from a company, as sponsorship. This would be the case, for example, of a fast food multinational that advises and finances a non-profit organization for the construction of houses in low-income areas. In this case, the purpose of the company is none other than financial gain, while the social purpose is achieved through collaboration with a second party involved in the process. It is a model that is seen very often today.
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Other classifications
The one we provided above is a classification according to the organization of the social enterprise and its nature. However, we can also divide them following other criteria, such as the origin of the idea. Was the problem first found and an undertaking chosen to combat it? Or was the first action decided to undertake and then a topic was chosen? We could also differentiate between a social enterprise of innovation or one of solving a need. The first, more research-oriented, will search for new methods or theories to deal with an issue; the other, on the other hand, has the mission of creating the means to solve a problem, or resorting to others already proven.
Finally, it is possible to divide them according to the type of financing (public or private) , or even by the number of participants (individual or collective). Of course, this classification is not exhaustive and you can accept other forms of differentiation. Beyond the differences, no social entrepreneurship model is better than another . Ultimately, everything will depend on the management, resources and capacity of the professionals who are part of the process. All, however, contribute to achieving a fairer world with better conditions for its inhabitants.
