Social Entrepreneurship: Comparative Perspectives

Last two weeks I attended 1. EMES International Conference on Social Entrepreneurship in Trento, Italia and 2. European Summer School on Social Economy in Bologna, Italy. In the two events there were presentations from all countries in the world including USA, China, Europe and Africa.

I was interested on the aspects of the economy that lead to the emergency of the third sector and ultimately social entrepreneurs. I came to realise that in Europe with a strong tradition of the welfare state the third sector complements the welfare state. In essence it arises as a result of the state privatising some of its services. America on the other hand has a strong tradition of entrepreneurship and philanthropy. The third sector therefore emerges from the entreprise sector and raises its resources from the private resources. In Africa and Kenya for example the third sector arises out of the deep problems we have locally. Majority of the players in the third sector are very small and do suffer from a serious lack of resources... should we talk about "subsistence social entrepreneurs." Despite the serious lack of resources, they still have some small impacts on their societies.

Quite amazing, different constitutions of the third sector in each and evey place. In this case therefore Africa needs to define very well what social entrepreneurship is and should not just take the EMES, Ashoka, Asian or Even Latin American definintion. Quite a challenge, is it not???