Overview
Social entrepreneurs are businesspeople who are passionate about social issues. They combine resources in innovative ways to address social, political, or environmental concerns as do all profit-making enterprises. The most important difference between a traditional business and a social enterprise is that profit is not the main motivation. The enterprise must be sustainable without incurring losses, but the overall driving force is about maximizing social impact.
Why is social entrepreneurship important now?
Solutions to global social problems need innovative and entrepreneurial approaches more than ever. Increasingly, central governments are reducing their expenditures on social issues, either unable to fund expensive programs or concluding that traditional methods have failed to have impact. At the same time, needs are becoming greater and more complex. Evidence indicates that social entrepreneurs often make a difference in areas where governments and international development have failed. In some countries, governments are looking into how social entrepreneurs are solving problems.
The scope of social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurs tackle major social issues like increasing the availability of quality education for low-income students and fighting poverty in developing countries. Social entrepreneurship takes place in both non-profit and for-profit organizations and successful social entrepreneurs must build relationships with corporations, charities, and governments alike. Social entrepreneurs must be knowledgeable about contemporary global issues, solution-oriented, and adept at mobilizing human, financial, and political resources to support their projects.
Pragmatic learning outcomes
Hult’s pioneering Master of Social Entrepreneurship (MSE) gives you the skills necessary to engage in successful issue advocacy, creative problem-solving, and project development. Graduates will be empowered to act as effective leaders of change either via new ventures of their own or through existing for-profit, non-profit, and governmental institutions. The program emphasizes building core business skills optimized for socio-political contexts.
Action Project provides hands-on experience
The capstone of Hult’s Master programs, the Action Project, calls upon students to put knowledge and skills to the test as they become consultants for actual organizations working on real-world challenges. Social entrepreneurship is about “thinking” and “doing,” and the Hult program is unique in placing you in a position to do both, in the classroom and in front of an actual client.
Become part of Hult’s commitment to social change
Hult is at the forefront of social entrepreneurship among the world’s leading business schools. As a Clinton Global Initiative member, Hult is committed to tackling the world’s toughest social challenges through crowdsourcing innovative ideas and solutions from the world’s best and brightest business school students. The annual Hult Global Case Challenge showcases the school’s commitment to social entrepreneurship. Students from business schools around the world compete in small teams to think of the best solutions to problems presented by a Clinton Global Initiative-affiliated non-profit. Recent affiliates have been One Laptop per Child and Water.org. Hult awards the non-profit USD1 million to implement the winning team’s idea.
Global career opportunities
Graduates of Hult’s MSE have an exceptional knowledge base of key business skills coupled with project design and management in the social arena. This is a highly flexible tool kit, transferable to the for-profit or non-profit sectors, especially in the development of CSR, sustainability, or innovation strategies. Graduates will be efficient collaborators, accomplished problem-solvers, and always asking: “Why don’t we fix this problem?” Employers increasingly seek graduates with the right combination of keen business mindsets, global outlooks, and awareness of the ethical dilemmas facing modern multinational managers.