I don’t remember when I first heard the terms social entrepreneurship and social innovation.  Perhaps it was when I read the book Gaviotas in which some engineers in Columbia are described as making a water pump for a well that uses a children’s see-saw to generate the energy to run the pump.  The idea was to use this in developing country schools to improve water quality. It was such an elegant and beautiful solution- I was captivated.  The core ideas are so direct and compelling:

social innovation: feasible ideas to solve problems that are urgent and over-looked

social entrepreneurship: sustainable organizations that solve urgent problems.  Implicit in sustainable is generating enough resources- people, finance, knowledge, energy- to exist and grow.   [Read more…]