Development of an Effective Framework for Social Entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship is a subsector of entrepreneurship with a growing trend. This allows people to solve social or environmental issues while having an income. This concept is all about sustainability where the solution not only fixes the social issue but business entity should be continued to be sustain without losing. So it is different from both charity and traditional profits only focus businesses. In Sri Lanka Social Entrepreneurship (SE) eco system is at a very early stage and it is worthwhile discussing how SE can contribute to support the society. Even in Sri Lanka below poverty line population is 4.1%, some districts it is over 20% and during the time Samurdhi beneficiaries head count increases where people need more support which is not helpful for the economy of the country. When compared to GDP growth rate presently Sri Lanka is below some of the lower middle income countries. Therefore it important to discuss what can social entrepreneurship does to recover from current situation of Sri Lanka. This study adopts qualitative research approach and used multiple-case approach to gather data required to understand and fulfill the research gap. Eight interviews were conducted from five different sectors to collect data. Then the interviews were translated in to English whenever necessary and transcripts were prepared for further analysis. Research findings gave a clear view of the current status of social entrepreneurship in Sri Lankan context covering initial funding, challenges and how to overcome them, about profit reinvestment, future expansion plans, overall understanding of social enterprises, poverty factor, and finally reasons for failing of current social support systems. Then author discuss about contribution of social entrepreneur to the society. From the collected data from interviews author identified available social enterprise models in Sri Lanka and suggested a universal social enterprise development model that can be used by social enterprise developers. Finally effective framework has been suggested to improve social entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka.