Social Entrepreneurship Concept and Reality: An Indian Perspective

SMART JOURNAL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT STUDIES	VOL. 16	NO. 2	PAPER 10
10.5958/2321-2012.2020.00020.2
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CONCEPT AND REALITY: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

P. Sheela* SG. Rama Rao *
* GITAM Institute of Management, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam

Social entrepreneurship is a buzz word in India and around the world. People have found this concept to be a mixture of social service and entrepreneurship and this combination makes it most attractive and also it is the need of the hour. Globalization, on one hand, did strengthen economic activities but ignored social benefits or societal wellbeing on the other hand. Social entrepreneurship, as a concept, has been on the rise in India and around the world, focusing on serving the society in a more meaningful manner than ever before. Social entrepreneurship is not a recent concept but the importance of the concept has risen to new heights in recent times. Good number of prominent social entrepreneurs in India have recognized the significance of the term and accepted this form of doing business, that helped in shaping the society, in a very positive manner. This research paper is a detailed study on the conceptual clarity, to help in understanding and exploring the characteristic features of social entrepreneurs, analyzing the challenges experienced by social entrepreneurs, and finally, draws out the contributions made by successful social entrepreneurs, from the Indian perspective.

KEYWORDS: Social Entrepreneurs, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise, Characteristic, and Challenges

JEL CLASSIFICATIONS: L31