Do you think businesses are just meant for shareholders and stakeholders? Well, in business and technology, definitions are often created for concepts that actually originated many years in the past. For example, the cloud is one example of technology that has been around since at least the early 1990’s but today social entrepreneurship has been labeled and popularized but has been around for many, many years.
Who is a social entrepreneur?
Visionaries who try to bring about positive change in the society by practically applying their ideas obviously in the context of social entrepreneurship and strategies to resolve social problems in the society. Problems being vast and diverse in nature offer threats that are not only limited to a particular community or region but they are also global in nature. Some problems include inadequate education and health facilities and system, environmental threats, declining and inefficient political systems and governance, poverty, unemployment, inequality based on gender, caste and creed; increase in crime rates and so on. Being a social entrepreneur, individual works with an initiative to develop pioneering ideas and solutions for the existing social problems and issues faced by the society. All they do is try to resolve such problems by changing the system of working and mindset of people, by spreading awareness about how to tackle these problems, etc.
Some social entrepreneurship can be categorized into:
- Community-based enterprises- Based on societal ventures, the community-based enterprises utilize the whole capital to empower itself.
- Socially conscience enterprises- these enterprises focus on sustainable development through social gains.
- Social service organizations and professionals- These work to expand social capital for individuals, community, and organizations.
- Socio economic enterprises- these focus upon bringing about profits to the individuals and nonprofit social change in the community
Down below I would like to mention a few mobile apps taking social entrepreneurship to the whole new level
Atlas Run
As the name suggests, Atlas Run is an app that makes your everyday walk or run not just about your health but even supporting a good social cause. What I mean is with each and every mile you run, the app raises money for the charity that you have chosen to support. Apart from making money, the app in particular builds community promotes a healthy lifestyle and helps people to actively engage in making a change in the world… one sweat at a time
Micro Hero
Do you want to make quick bucks online? Conducting online surveys is one of the best methods to take into consideration. But what if the sparkle of making money online dies off? Micro Hero offers people a chance to contribute while answering surveys. All they need to do is simply download the app, choose a cause that you will like to help, and start answering questions to earn real money for it.
Much like Atlas Run, companies can not only set up the entire survey but also decide how much money they want to be awarded per survey and question.
Fotition
There are many of us who are obsessed with clicking selfies. Are you among those who can’t go for a day without taking a selfie then this app is absolutely meant for you. Fotition lets you help out a charity by simply uploading photos. Social media really is one of the best tools available to spread awareness about any issue, and Fotition has found a great way to utilize it. Companies across the globe are making use of the app to donate money to a charity. It’s more like each and every time a user uploads a photo using their filter, the company donates a fixed amount to their chosen charity.
We Day App
You know what are the two hardest parts of doing something big? It’s getting started and sticking to it. How many of you have wished to contribute to something big, making our lives more meaningful? The app helps us do just that, in a fun way.
This is how it works. A company or charity creates a challenge on the app. Each and every time a user completes the challenge, funds are donated to the charity. Because the company behind has partnered with many brands, starting from educational to charitable organizations that are committed to social change, anyone can create a challenge on the app.