Meet the World's Top Social Entrepreneurs

What is a social entrepreneur?

Social entrepreneurs stand as a transformative force in the global economy, who innovate and build businesses by blending the pursuit of financial sustainability with the mission to address social, cultural, or environmental issues. This innovative approach to business is characterized by a commitment to generating social value, where success is measured not only in terms of profit but also by the positive impact on society. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), about five in every ten individuals engaged in broad social entrepreneurship activity choose to reinvest their profits into the social goals set by their activity, organization, or initiative. This reinvestment strategy underscores the core principle of social entrepreneurship: to foster a cycle of positive change and sustainable solutions through entrepreneurial ventures.

The demographic split of social entrepreneurs worldwide presents a relatively balanced gender distribution, with GEM estimating 55% male and 45% female. This diversity enriches the field of social entrepreneurship, bringing a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and solutions to the forefront of tackling global challenges. Social entrepreneurs are also higher among young professionals aged 18 to 34 who want to make a positive change, as reported in the ‘Youth Social Entrepreneurship and the 2030 Agenda.’ As the sector grows, it serves as a platform for the next generation to lead and innovate, driving the agenda for a more equitable and sustainable world.

10 Examples of Social Entrepreneurs: Stories of Impact

This section dives into some inspiring examples of social entrepreneurs, highlighting their transformative stories and impactful work building social enterprises.

Muhammad Yunus - Grameen Bank

Muhammad Yunus, the Father of Microfinance, founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh to provide small loans to people experiencing poverty. At the beginning of the 1970s, Yunus completed his Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, after which he moved back to Bangladesh to head Chittagong University's economics department. Around the time Yunus returned, the country faced a severe famine, making him realize that the poor needed accessible capital to start a small business and have a stable livelihood, but banks were not the solution. 

To help people avoid economic hardship, he wanted to provide affordable loans. Yunus demonstrated how microloans could empower low-income individuals and spark their entrepreneurial spirit, starting with a personal loan of just $27 to 42 women in Jobra village. Today, his organization, Grameen Bank, is revolutionizing banking for 10.52 million borrowers in 81,678 villages, 97% of whom are female members. The Grameen model has gained global recognition, earning Yunus and the bank the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Veronica Colondam - YCAB Foundation

Veronica Colondam founded the YCAB Foundation to address the urgent needs of Indonesian urban poor communities, initially focusing on youth education, life skills, and vocational training. Despite early efforts, Colondam observed a persistent high dropout rate due to the economic burden on families, realizing that the root issue was financial rather than purely educational. Inspired by the transformative potential of microfinance, Colondam pivoted YCAB’s focus towards economic empowerment through inclusive financing and on the transformative power of education. As of 2021, the YCAB Foundation trained over 4 million young people and provided micro-loans to more than 200,000 mothers with school-going children, helping them grow their small businesses and send their children to school.

Eric Reynolds - Inyenyeri

Eric Reynolds, a California-based serial entrepreneur known for founding eco-conscious companies like Marmot and Nau, took a transformative step in 2008 by moving to Rwanda to start Inyenyeri. After a couple of visits to Rwanda in 2007, Reynolds had been learning about the region and was particularly drawn to the pressing issues of household air pollution and rampant deforestation due to traditional cooking methods. That’s how Inyenyeri was born, offering a novel solution of distributing high-efficiency cookstoves and biomass fuel pellets to replace firewood or charcoal. This initiative aims to improve public health by reducing exposure to harmful emissions and mitigating environmental degradation.

By late 2019, Inyenyeri served 25,000 households, leveraging a business model emphasizing sustainability and accessibility. The endeavor attracted significant backing, including an $8.75 million loan from Althelia Ecosphere and a $3.28 million grant from the IKEA Foundation, facilitated by the World Bank’s Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev). Inyenyeri's approach extends beyond environmental and health benefits, reaching into communities to offer clean cooking solutions to some of Rwanda's most vulnerable populations, including refugees.

Jessica Jackley - Kiva

Jessica Jackley's journey to becoming a social entrepreneur began in the spring of 2001 when she moved to California and worked at the Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Center for Social Innovation. The exposure to lectures and discussions on campus, particularly a lecture on social entrepreneurship, sparked her interest in the field. However, Jackley struggled initially with finding a specific mission. Her turning point came in the fall of 2003 after hearing Dr. Muhammad Yunus speak about microfinance. Inspired by Yunus's work with underprivileged entrepreneurs, Jackley saw microfinance as her context to contribute to poverty alleviation. She eventually quit her job to join the Village Enterprise Fund (VEF) and moved to East Africa. Her work with VEF and the entrepreneurs she met inspired the creation of Kiva.

Kiva is the world's first online lending platform, where you can lend to an entrepreneur worldwide for as little as $25. As of 2023, Kiva facilitated $131 million in loans, directly contributing to economic growth in underserved communities. Kiva has reached over 300,000 people in 69 countries, supporting various sectors, including climate-smart projects and marginalized small business owners. The organization’s impact underscores Kiva's role in empowering entrepreneurs and promoting global financial inclusion.

David Auerbach - Sanergy

After graduating from MIT Sloan School of Management, David Auerbach moved to Nairobi with his former classmates to build Sanergy. Auerbach and his team initiated Sanergy with a mission to address the critical sanitation crisis in Nairobi's urban slums, where a majority of the population lack access to hygienic sanitation facilities, causing the spread of disease. The company was created as a franchise model, selling prefabricated toilets to local entrepreneurs, who can earn by charging users peruse. This initiative is set against a backdrop where globally, 4 billion people live in conditions where waste contaminates their environment, leading to 2 million child deaths annually and hindering economic growth. 

Sanergy's innovative circular economy approach encompasses safe sanitation systems providing quality toilets, professional waste collection services, and waste upcycling into organic fertilizer, fuels, and animal feed. These efforts aim to improve public health, reduce environmental impact, and spur economic growth by creating green jobs and supporting local agriculture. By uniting independent companies under The Sanergy Collaborative, the project exemplifies a holistic model for urban development, demonstrating how inclusive, sustainable sanitation solutions can catalyze social, environmental, and economic advancements in densely populated cities facing rapid expansion.

Tristram Stuart - Feedback

Tristram Stuart is an international award-winning author, speaker, and campaigner on food waste's environmental and social impacts. His journey into environmental activism, mainly focusing on food waste, began in his teenage years when he raised pigs and fed them on scraps he collected from local supermarkets and bakeries. This firsthand experience with repurposing food that would otherwise be wasted sparked his lifelong commitment to addressing food waste globally.

His book Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (2009) was pivotal in bringing food waste to the forefront of global environmental and social justice issues. In it, Tristram highlighted the stark contradictions within the global food system—vast amounts of food are wasted while hunger and environmental degradation persist.

Motivated by the need for systemic change, Tristram founded Feedback in 2009. The organization aims to tackle the root causes of food waste by exposing the inefficiencies in the food system at each level of the value chain. It employs a variety of approaches, including public awareness campaigns, research, and direct action, to reduce food waste at every level of the food system, from farms and manufacturers to retailers and consumers.

Through initiatives like Feeding the 5000, where 5000 people are fed food that would otherwise be wasted, Tristram and Feedback have raised awareness about the scale of food waste and inspired action among individuals, businesses, and policymakers. The company also focuses on gleaning surplus food from farms and redistributing it. Their work has contributed to significant policy reforms in the EU and UK, including commitments to halve food waste.

Blake Mycoskie - TOMS

TOMS Shoes, founded by Blake Mycoskie in 2006, exemplifies social entrepreneurship by intertwining market-based strategies with a mission to create social value. Mycoskie was inspired to start TOMS in 2006 after a trip to Argentina, where he witnessed the hardships faced by children growing up without shoes. This experience motivated him to create a business that could help address this issue. Mycoskie introduced the novel One for One business model, where each purchase of TOMS shoes leads to a pair donated to a needy child in a developing country. This approach sparked consumer enthusiasm and set a precedent for integrating social good into the core business model, challenging traditional views on business and charity boundaries.

In 2023, TOMS made a significant global impact by reaching 105,463,049 people through its philanthropic efforts. The company also gives 1/3 of its profits for good through cash grants and deep partnerships with nonprofits working to create impact in areas like mental health, access to opportunity, and ending gun violence. The company supported 39 organizations within 17 communities across 11 countries in 2023. 

Nina Smith - GoodWeave International

Nina Smith, the founding CEO of GoodWeave International, was inspired to combat child labor in global supply chains alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi. With a background as a longstanding advocate for children’s rights and an authority on labor violations in the manufacturing industry, Smith aimed to address the critical issue of child labor by increasing visibility for workers and promoting ethical consumer and business practices. Founded in 1994, GoodWeave International is a leading global nonprofit organization committed to stopping child labor in global supply chains. Utilizing a market-based system and a holistic approach, GoodWeave brings visibility to global supply chains, protects informal and marginalized workers, and ensures products are free of child, forced, and bonded labor. Under her leadership, GoodWeave International has developed a rigorous certification process to ensure carpets and other products are made without child labor, contributing to the rescue and education of tens of thousands of children in South Asia. Smith's work has earned her recognition and awards for social entrepreneurship and leadership, underscoring her commitment to creating systemic change and inspiring others to join the fight against child labor.

Mohammed Ashour - Aspire Food Group

Mohammed Ashour, the Co-founder and CEO of Aspire Food Group, is a visionary entrepreneur who has made significant strides in addressing global food insecurity through innovative solutions. Motivated by the challenge of minimizing food insecurity in urban slums, Ashour and his team developed Aspire with a focus on insect agriculture, explicitly targeting markets that utilize insects as a sustainable protein source.

Founded after winning the Hult Prize in 2013, Aspire has rapidly advanced, raising $4.25 million in seed funding by 2015 and launching operations in Ghana and the USA. By 2017, the company raised an additional $9 million in Series A funding, enabling the construction of the first automated cricket farming facility in Austin, Texas. Recognized for its innovative approach, Aspire was named to the 2018 World Changing Ideas and secured a significant $40 million Series B funding in 2019 for a commercial facility. The launch for the world’s largest cricket production facility in London, Ontario, took place in 2020, with the project completed in 2022, the same year Aspire was acknowledged as a top AI solution for hunger. Aspire's integration of robotics, automation, and machine learning highlights its commitment to environmental sustainability, economic growth, and technological advancement in agriculture.

Ankit Agarwal - Phool.co

Ankit Agarwal started Phool.co after witnessing the issue of floral waste in the Ganges River during a visit to Kanpur in India in 2015. After a religious festival, he observed vibrant flowers being unloaded from temples and dumped into the river, which then turned into mulch, contaminating the water and harming marine life. Motivated to address this environmental hazard, Agarwal sought to repurpose the toxic floral waste from places of worship into something useful. Phool addresses flower and packaging waste by producing compostable packaging from seed paper with Tulsi seeds and vegetable dye inks. Users can plant the packaging after use to grow a Tulsi plant. Phool.co also creates employment for manual laborers by recycling worshiped flowers, considered sacred and unsuitable for landfills, into compost and items like incense sticks, soap, and vegan leather, with the help of local women collecting the flowers. As of 2023, Phool.co has upcycled 11,060 metric tonnes of floral waste, providing dignified livelihoods to over 1,300 women artisans.

Conclusion

Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a powerful force for global change, offering innovative solutions to social, environmental, and economic challenges. By blending the drive for financial sustainability with a commitment to social value creation, social entrepreneurs are redefining the landscape of business and philanthropy. Their ventures, spanning diverse sectors and regions, demonstrate the vast potential of social entrepreneurship to address critical issues and meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, from education and health to environmental sustainability and economic empowerment.

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