Social Capitalists Gain Recognition

The terms being coined to describe the growing phenomena of entrepreneurs combining revenue-generation with non-profit work within their communities and societies are multiplying. A week ago, Philanthropreneur was the "mot du jour'. The New York Times used it in a huge supplement on Giving (see our earlier posting on Philanthropreneurs).

This week, Social Capitalists are the focus of a nextbillion.net blog posting. Social Capitalists are "non-profits that are generating both financial profit and social benefit". Accion International, an NGO that specializes in training banks on how to offer microfinance services, is the winner this year.

New terms for evolving practices are exciting on several counts. A- they confer legitimacy. B- they evoke constancy (as in: not a whim or a passing fad). So where there's a term, there's a way -- one that is potentially here to stay, one that is so part of a trend, it's gone beyond and established itself as a phenom that requires a term to describe it. Social Capitalists and Philanthropreneurs are here to stay!

Comments

[Eunice Bet-Mansour]

Agreed. It is an exciting turn of events in philanthropy and agreed that we need a "new" model of philanthropy to achieve sustainable results. But, as far as my research has taken me to date, I see this being merely a concept, a "mot de jour" that sounds interesting, different and trendy. But, where is the business model? We need a business model to move this from a concept phase, where it is currently, to a framework that works!

[Derek Newberry]

Philanthropreneur is an interesting title for these new business leaders, and I agree that the fact that similar terms are getting coined and popularized shows that the concept of generating long term value through social and environmental considerations is catching on.

If you liked my nextbillion post, we actually have even more profiles of some truly outstanding "philanthropreneurs" elsewhere on our site: http://www.nextbillion.net/resources/nvcontent

The link above contains a whole series of entrepreneurs in emerging markets with the kind of holistic focus you discuss.

Hope you enjoy,

-Derek