A Brief Assessment of Social Entrepreneurs and Social Entrepreneurship: A New Wave for Better Humanity with a Case Study of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh

Abstract

In this paper, an attempt has been made to briefly highlight the fast emerging and widely spreading movement of social entrepreneurship (SE) in terms of its clear conception, past nature, present manifestation & popularity, a few examples of social entrepreneurs, the growth of SE organization and, of course, their contribution to our society and humanity at large Subsequently, the above matters are traced out with the support of a well-known SE organization, viz, Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, where with sincere but consistent intentions and endeavours, the Bank and its founder Prof. Muhammad Yunus, both Nobel Peace Award winners of 2006, have rendered their excellent social service, which neither governments nor corporate bodies could do, in spite of enough resources at their disposal. With over 2260 branches, the Bank has made its services available in more than 72833 villages (covering more than 86% of villages) during last 30 years through a simple but very strategic economic mechanism, viz, micro-credit or micro finance method. While great economists and bankers confine such method to their seminars, speeches, books, interviews etc., Prof. Yunus brought it to the doors of those needy poorest in the rural areas and improved the quality of lives of millions, over 6.7 million, of such marginalized population, by providing over $7 billion despite several suspicions, constraints and criticism. Prof. Yunus identified one simple problem: People were poor because financial institutions failed to extend credit to them. He sorted out this problem and succeeded to bring happiness and civilized living through the power and practice of social entrepreneurship.