From Melinda Marcus:

As an intern with Handshake 2.0 in search of a definition of local social entrepreneurship, the first question for me to answer is this:

What is social entrepreneurship to me?

I see social entrepreneurship as a way of using a business, whether not-for-profit or for-profit, within a community to promote the welfare of a certain group with a certain need. Social entrepreneurship comes from a passion for social justice combined with the desire to help people lead better lives.

That's my definition.  Then I began to look elsewhere for other definitions.

When I e-mailed Patricia M. McCarthy, Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business, she directed me to Wikipedia:

“A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change. Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impact s/he has on society. While social entrepreneurs often work through nonprofits and citizen groups, many work in the private and governmental sectors.”

Ms. McCarthy added, “Implementing this definition at VT looks like this: VT business school students will be asked to apply their IT skills to projects from regional not-for-profit organizations through VT-ENGAGE and the YMCA@VT . Prof. [Christopher] Zobel of Pamplin’s Business Information Technology Department is coordinating the match ups between students and organizations.”

Change is the goal of a social entrepreneur. Every day, new companies are being established under the title of social entrepreneurship and old companies are focusing on the social impact of their businesses.

National and international leaders exist in the social entrepreneurship (SE) field. The term first came into being in the 1970s and 1980s reflecting the need for social change. Bill Dayton of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public was the main advocate of this social movement.  Social entrepreneurs are rising up all over the world - from India to the States.

Even here in the Blue Ridge region of Virginia, many social entrepreneurs have goals for better lives in Southwestern Virginia.  One example is the non-profit organization, NewVa Corridor Technology Council, NCTC, whose goal is “to help make this region - already one of the best places to live - one of the best places to build a technology enterprise."

I’ve just started my research on local social entrepreneurship.  There are so many companies that I have not even heard of yet!  I welcome your suggestions and your ideas about companies that are working for the social betterment of our area, the New River Valley.

So far, I’ve defined social entrepreneurship for myself and begun to seek other definitions.

I want to ask companies, organizations, and individuals the following questions over the next few weeks:

1. What is your definition of social entrepreneurship?
2. How are you focused on change and in what area?  What is the problem you want to address?
3. Where does your passion stem from?
4.  What advice would you give a person wanting to enter into the business of social entrepreneurship?
5. And in keeping with a social entrepreneurship goal of Handshake 2.0 – to contribute to local community and economic development - how has the community here in the New River Valley helped further your cause?