India’s gig economy is scaling newer heights thanks to the surge of innovative start-ups and young

entrepreneurs who are changing the rules of how businesses functioned. These young achievers do
not only dream to achieve big in life, but they also nurture their passion to resolve the social
inequities gripping our country. India too is in much need of this new breed of Sociopreneurs to
come out with unconventional business models to address the environmental and social issues.

Being an entrepreneur in itself is challenging, and addressing a social cause through it is undoubtedly
going to make the journey more difficult. As social entrepreneurs in India, you are on a mission to
generate business for a social cause. Their work is to implement a low-cost business solution for
socio-causes while dealing with the shortage of funds, manpower, resources and many more. The
hurdles in the way are endless but the idea to transform lives for collective good is the driving force
that helps such social entrepreneurs in India to navigate the turbulent waters of social
entrepreneurship.

If you are wondering who these new age heroes are, here is the list of the most renowned social
entrepreneurs in India to watch out for!

1. URVASHI SAHNI

Talking about the best of social entrepreneurs in India, Urvashi Sahni definitely tops the list. She is
the founder and CEO of SHEF (Study Hall Education Foundation), an organization dedicated to
offering education to the most disadvantaged girls in India. Urvashi Sahni has worked with over 900
schools and changed the life of 150,000 girls (directly) and 270,000 girls (indirectly) with her
program. She was rightly felicitated with the ‘Social Entrepreneur Of The Year‘ award in 2017 for her
selfless act of dedication and passion.

2. HARISH HANDE

Harish Hande is another pioneering social entrepreneur of India and a remarkable committed one.
He is the CEO & Founder of Selco, a company rendering sustainable energy source to rural regions of
the country. This project was the first rural solar financing program in India. Till date, Selco has
contributed over 120,000 installations and has more than 25 operating retail and service centres in
Karnataka alone.

3. JEROO BILLMORIA

Jeroo Billmoria is one of the renowned social entrepreneurs of India who is supervising several
International NGOs for the betterment of society. She initiated the ‘Childline’ that aims to provide
help in form of healthcare and police assistance, especially to street children. Right from her
childhood, she had a vision of giving back to the underprivileged in the society. She also believed in
self-empowerment of women in India.  Jeroo Billmoria was felicitated with the Skoll Award for Social
Entrepreneurship and is a Schwab and Ashoka Fellow as well.

4. ANSHU GUPTA

Born in a middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh, took media as a profession and while as an intern he
witnessed the need of proper clothing for the poor in rural India. Anshu then founded Goonj, a social
enterprise that collects used clothing from the urban crowd, sort them, fix and later distribute
among the poor and needy. The relief work was done by Goonj during the times of natural
calamities in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been highly acknowledged.

5. SANTOSH PARULEKAR
Santosh Parulekar worked to create job opportunities for the unemployed youth in rural India. He
started ‘Pipal Tree’, a company that aims to impart formal training to the youth and provides them
with reputable jobs in companies across the country. Operating since 2007, Pipal Tree has trained
over 1,500 workers and intends to open training centres pan India in the coming years.

6. SUMITA GHOSE

Sushmita Ghosh is the founder of Ashoka Changemakers, an open-ended platform for social
innovation that was one-of-its-kind in the world. Sushmita aims to revive the craftsmanship and
talent that is unharnessed in rural India and aims to provide them with their deserving recognition.
She started with ‘Rangasutra’, a retail chain from FabIndia and it turned out to be a huge success.

7. AJAITA SHAH

Ajaita Shah works with a mission to empower rural India. She started at the gross level and aims to
provide the best of technological solutions to the remote villages in India at the cheapest price
possible. Ajaita Shah is the Founder & CEO of Frontier Markets that supplies solar energy powered
products to rural India at an extremely affordable cost. The company has sold over 10,000 solar
solutions until now and there is no stopping them until they light the remotest corners of the
country.

8. TRILOCHAN SHASTRY

Trilochan Shastry proved that nothing is impossible to achieve in this world if you have the zeal and
fervour to pursue it. A renowned professor in IIM Bangalore, he was pained to the state of political
affairs in the country. What started as a PIL against the politicians led to the foundation of
the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an organization that scrutinizes election procedure in
India. Besides this Trilochan Shastry also heads NGOs for the upliftment of the farmers.

Social Entrepreneur meaning & definitions

A Social Entrepreneurship is an organization which uses business methods to address a social or

Concept of Social Entrepreneurship

In today’s times, social entrepreneurs is a revolution across the world. People from different walks of
life are creating and implementing effective, innovative, and sustainable solutions to battle social and
environmental challenges. These solutions include services and products for profit or as a non-profit
initiative.

Social Entrepreneurship Meaning and Definition

According to Greg Dees, co-founder of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at
Duke University and a member of the Impact Entrepreneurs advisory board –

‘Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems.
They are persistent and ambitious, tackle major social issues and offer new ideas for a wide-scale
change.‘
Usually, people leave the societal needs to the government or the business sectors. However, social
entrepreneurs tend to identify areas that are not working efficiently in the current system and solve the
problem by changing it, spreading the awareness about the solution, and persuading people to be a part
of the change.

As a common trait, social entrepreneurs are obsessed with their ideas and commit their lives to change.
They are visionaries since they envision a society without the problems. Further, they are realists, since
they concern themselves with the practical implementation of their vision.

They also present ideas which are user-friendly, ethical, easily understandable and engage widespread
support. This ensures that local people stand up, grab their idea and implement it. In simple words,
every leading social entrepreneur is a mass recruiter of local changemakers. He is a role model who tells
people that their action can do anything. In the last two decades, social entrepreneurship has grown
based on the understanding that a new idea in the hands of a good entrepreneur is a powerful tool.

Why Social Entrepreneur?

Like regular business entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs work as the
agents of change for the society. They seize opportunities that others miss, improve systems, invent
new approaches and also create solutions to change society for the better. A business entrepreneur can
create an entirely new industry. Similarly, a social entrepreneur can come up with new solutions to
social problems, implement them on a large scale and change the face of society. Here are some
examples of leading social entrepreneurs:

 Susan B. Anthony (U.S.) – She fought for Women’s Rights in the United States of America. Her
fight included the right to control property and helped spearhead the adoption of the 19th
Amendment to the Constitution.

 Vinoba Bhave (India) – He was the founder and leader of the Land Gift Movement. Under this
movement, he caused the redistribution of more than 7,000,000 acres of land to help India’s
untouchables and landless.

 Dr. Maria Montessori (Italy) – She developed the Montessori approach to early childhood
education.

 Florence Nightingale (U.K.) – She was the founder of modern nursing. Further, she
established the first school for nurses and fought to improve hospital conditions.

 Margaret Sanger (U.S.) – She was the founder of the Planned Parenthood Federation of
America. Under this federation, she led the movement for family planning efforts around the
world.

 John Muir (U.S.) – He was a naturalist and a conservationist. He established the National Park
system and also helped found The Sierra Club.

 Jean Monnet (France) – He was responsible for the reconstruction of the French economy
following World War II. Further, his work included the establishment of the European Coal and
Steel Community (ECSC).
How social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents?

 They adopt a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value). Further, they
recognize and relentlessly pursue new opportunities which serve the mission.

 Also, engage in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning.

 Further, act boldly without being limited by the resources in hand.

 Finally, exhibit heightened accountability to the constituencies served and also the outcomes
created.

Social entrepreneur definition:

This definition combines four factors that make social entrepreneurship distinct from other forms of
entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurs:

1. are mission-driven. They are dedicated to serve their mission of delivering a social value to
the underserved.
2. act  entrepreneurially through a combination of characteristics that set them apart from
other types of entrepreneurs (see Table 3).
3. act within  entrepreneurially oriented organizations  that have a strong culture of innovation
and openness.
4. act within  financially independent organizations that plan and execute earned-income
strategies. The objective is to deliver the intended social value while remaining financially self-
sufficient. This is achieved by blending social and profit-oriented activities to achieve self-
sufficiency, reduce reliance on donations and government funding, and increase the potential
of expanding the delivery of proposed social value (Bacq et al., 2011).

social entrepreneurs operate within the boundaries of two business strategies:

1. Non-profit with earned income strategies: a social enterprise performing hybrid social and
commercial entrepreneurial activity to achieve self-sufficiency. In this scenario, a social
entrepreneur operates an organization that is both social and commercial; revenues and profits
generated are used only to further improve the delivery of social values.
2. For-profit with mission-driven strategies: a social-purpose business performing social and
commercial entrepreneurial activities simultaneously to achieve sustainability. In this scenario,
a social entrepreneur operates an organization that is both social and commercial; the
organization is financially independent and the founders and investors can benefit from
personal monetary gain.