Abstract
Social entrepreneurs convert social problems into opportunities, create businesses, and transform entrepreneurial experience into social changes. Therefore, it is important to understand the formation of social entrepreneurs as creators of social innovations. This chapter tries to understand how the formation of social entrepreneurs occurs. The authors analyzed the narratives of the life stories of social entrepreneurs in Brazil. The results showed that the formation of social entrepreneurs is linked to their learning spaces and contexts, their leadership trajectory, and their motivations to undertake social entrepreneurship, as these factors are permeated by formal and non-formal education. The formation of social entrepreneurs results in the development of innovative products, processes, or methods that improve the quality of life and reduce inequality, leading to exponential social innovations.
TopIntroduction
The scientific and technological endeavors that occur at higher education institutions can be used by the Third Sector and be transformed into social innovations for the good of all society (Oliveira, 2004, Gohn, 2006; Costa et al., 2011; Mariano, 2012; Itelvino et al., 2018). An effective way of streamlining this transfer is to encourage the creation and development of enterprises that focus on socio-environmental issues (Gast, Gundolf, & Cesinger, 2017; Porter & Kramer, 2019).
Normally, these companies that operate in the Third Sector are founded by entrepreneurs who generate social innovations and, consequently, are referred to as social entrepreneurs (Alvord et al., 2004; Mair & Ignasi, 2006; Austin et al., 2006; Gohn, 2006; Yunus, 2017). Their professional growth over the years may require a structure that consists of interactions between knowledge, professional experiences and partnerships that are crucial to the development of impactful social innovations (Certo & Miller, 2008; Hoogendoorn et al., 2010; Tondolo et al., 2013; Sloan et al., 2014; Edwards-Schachter & Wallace, 2017).
Thus, the formation of social entrepreneurs plays an important role in promoting and sustaining Third Sector companies and generating social innovations (Fleury, 2001; Bandura, 2002; Friedlaender, 2004; Murphy, Lião, & Welsch, 2006), as the development of these individuals can determine the social values, network of partners and technical and interpersonal procedures adopted in the projects of social enterprises (Farfus & Rocha, 2007; Parente et al., 2011; Sousa et al., 2013; Akhmetshin et al., 2018).
It should also be highlighted that the formation of social entrepreneurs is linked not only to their social leadership trajectory, i.e., the full exercise of social entrepreneurship (Yukl, Gordon, & Taber, 2002; Oliveira, 2004; Nassif et al., 2004; David, 2004; Urban & Kujinga, 2017), but may also be determined by the learning spaces and contexts that they have experienced during their life story, as well as their individual motivations for generating social innovations (Minuzzi, Belinazo, & Lezana, 2005; Macêdo & Boava, 2008; Navarro, Climent, & Palacio, 2011; Lajqi & Krasniqi, 2017).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Merula Anargyrou: Entrepreneur of the Brazilian Thalassemia, Leukemia and Lymphoma Association and winner of the Social Entrepreneur prize awarded by Folha and the Schwab Foundation in 2013.
Social Value: The value generated by the development or combination of innovative products, processes and methods that leads to improvements in the quality of life of other people and/or reduced inequality.
Cybele Oliveira: Entrepreneur of the Chapada Educational Project and Institute and winner of the Social Entrepreneur prize awarded by Folha and the Schwab Foundation in 2012.
Social Motivation: Creating and maximizing social value through innovative and potentially replicable actions.
Learning Spaces and Contexts: Collective formal and/or informal spaces where individuals learn by participating in academic, professional and/or everyday contexts with a view to the socialization and sharing of knowledge and experiences.
Life Story: Precious autobiographical material on life and professional experiences which, being narrated by the social subject, reveals tacit knowledge and reflects non-separation of thought and action.
Entrepreneurial Socialization: Socializing exponential social innovations, i.e., those that have the potential for replication in other contexts and communities.
Leadership Trajectory: Set of actions related to the common good that directly affect a group or organization through values and projects, provoking and inspiring new changes in social relationships.