Social enterprise

A social enterprise is a for-purpose business venture as opposed to a for-profit one. Sometimes referred to as a ‘business with a social mission’, a social enterprise normally invests financial net-gains into achieving social goals such as employment or training for disadvantaged people, poverty reduction, environmental clean-up and delivering community services, rather than enriching its owners. Social enterprises are accountable to the community that they serve; they vary in size and in scale and are classified as part of the social economy, where civic organizations earn revenues by trading as opposed to relying exclusively on grants and fundraising.