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Dec 11, 2008

"Social entrepreneurs have existed throughout history. St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order, would qualify as a social entrepreneur -- having built multiple organizations that advanced pattern changes in his "field." Similarly, Florence Nightingale created the first professional school for nurses and established standards for hygiene and hospital care that have shaped norms worldwide. What is different today is that social entrepreneurship is developing into a mainstream vocation." --David Bornstein

Today's Change Agents: Social Entrepreneurs

In the '60s, perhaps the most remarkable change agents were the civil rights workers and antiwar protesters. Today the most remarkable young people are the social entrepreneurs, those who see a problem in society and roll up their sleeves to address it in new ways. Take Andrew Klaber, a 26-year-old playing hooky from Harvard Business School, who is an example of the social entrepreneur. He spent the summer after his sophomore year in college in Thailand and was aghast to see teenage girls being forced into prostitution after their parents had died of AIDS. So he started Orphans Against AIDS, which pays school-related expenses for hundreds of children who have been orphaned or otherwise affected by AIDS in poor countries. This NY Times article reflects on the growing numbers of young people finding creating ways to serve the world.