Social Enterprise as a Poverty Reduction Tool

Abstract

In recent years the development discourse has moved away from 'grand theories' to more pragmatic, localized responses. Coincident with this has been a proliferation of Non Government Organisations (NGOs) engaged in development interventions. These NGOs have joined government, official international agencies and corporates as operators in the development world. The relationship between these sectors is varied, unsure and changing. Recent innovations have begun to blur the boundaries between some of these players. In particular, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise have recently proliferated in the literature. While definitions remain unclear, these innovations involve for-profit businesses or business-like activities acting with primary social missions. NGOs, for a number of reasons, have looked to these innovations as solutions to intractable developmental or financial problems. As with developing fields of literature, studies to date have been largely descriptive and more critical evaluations are few and far between. This study seeks to begin to fill this gap. It examines the impact of social enterprise on poverty and marginalisation in development terms. That is, does it reduce poverty and facilitate empowerment? The thesis also examines the sustainability of the social enterprise model in relation to both financial and non-financial dimensions.