Liz Maw

Social entrepreneurs, or individuals who use business principles to create social change, are clearly on the rise. Although the term is used to describe many historical changemakers, including Florence Nightingale and John Muir, the role of the modern social entrepreneur has recently reached new heights with the help of innovative supporting organizations such as Ashoka and The Skoll Foundation.

Social entrepreneurs such as Muhammad Yunus, founder and manager of Grameen Bank, have neared celebrity status in some cases, as Yunus did when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

The growing media attention given to social entrepreneurs is rightly deserved. These new leaders are creating positive change throughout the world, and they are doing so profitably in many cases, helping to change the very definition of business.

But however successful these social enterprises have become, they still represent a small portion of revenue and employees when compared with traditional corporate structures such as those found among Fortune 500 companies. And while organizations such as Net Impact encourage the growth of social enterprise, they also understand the need to develop social and environmental “intrapreneurs,” or individuals working within a larger corporation who look beyond conventional business practices to develop economic, environmental and social value.

Who are social and environmental intrapreneurs?
Social and environmental intrapreneurs understand the role of their organization in the larger global economy and often sit outside of a traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability group, allowing them to drive grassroots-style innovation. They seek to use their deep knowledge of a particular functional area—be it product development, operations, finance or marketing—to find ways to bring about broader social and environmental change practices in their department or beyond.

Though changing corporate practices is usually a slow process, social intrapreneurs are not easily deterred. These internal entrepreneurs understand that even what seems like a small improvement can have a profound positive impact, particularly as these changes are accepted and integrated into the daily business practices of a large corporation. Most importantly, these corporate change-makers adhere to business principles of profits and return on investments, allowing the social and environmental improvements that they create to become lasting changes.