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International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Abstract

While the profit motive has significantly shaped the language and practice of business and bounded the interpretative frame of entrepreneurship, a profoundly new form of entrepreneurial organization is emerging: the social enterprise. Social entrepreneurs are reimagining the capitalist paradigm, reinventing the field of entrepreneurship, and redefining the social sector in promising new ways. Individuals fluent in the language of business are creating positive social impact and, at the same time, striving for commercial excellence. Whether by pioneering the business of micro-lending, distributing fair-trade products, or employing at-risk adults, social entrepreneurs are passionate about addressing otherwise unmet societal needs. They target the gaps made when public service and private markets fail to deliver critical goods and services, particularly for those most marginalized by society (Hartigan, 2003). Social entrepreneurs recognize that the complex and systemic problems facing society must be met by radically transformed mindsets and new institutional arrangements.

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