Social Entrepreneurship ─ New Models of Sustainable Social Change

"Social Entrepreneurship" is a term that has come to be applied to the activities of grass-roots activists, NGOs, policy makers, international institutions, and corporations, amongst others, which address a range of social issues in innovative and creative ways.

Themed around the emerging agendas for developing new, sustainable models of social sector excellence and systemic impact, Social Entrepreneurship offers, for the first time, a wide-ranging, internationally-focused selection of cutting-edge work from leading academics, policy makers, and practitioners. Together they seek to clarify some of the ambiguity around this term, describe a range of social entrepreneurship projects, and establish a clear set of frameworks with which to understand it.

Included in the volume are contributions from Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and the father of microfinance, Geoff Mulgan, former head of the British prime minister's policy unit, and Bill Drayton, founder of the Ashoka network of social entrepreneurs. Jeff Skoll, founder of the Skoll Foundation, and first president of eBay, provides a preface. Alex Nicholls provides a substantial new preface to this paperback edition, reflecting on the latest developments in the study and practice of social entrepreneurship.

Dr. Alex Nicholls originally trained in medieval hagiography and lexicography, but has more recently converted a lifelong passion for social justice and societal innovation into an academic focus on social entrepreneurship. As a writer, researcher, and consultant, he has been actively involved with social entrepreneurs for more than ten years. Nicholls has published a major research book on Fair Trade as well as a range of academic journal articles on the relationship between business, society, and social innovation. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and policy workshops. Having previously held posts at four other universities, Nicholls is currently the University Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship at the Skoll Centre for

Social Entrepreneurship, University of Oxford, where he leads the development of several research projects and teaches a range of social entrepreneurship courses.