What this life looks like
You build businesses that solve social problems. Social Entrepreneurs create and lead organisations — often hybrid models between commercial enterprise and non-profit — that generate both financial returns and positive social impact. They refuse to accept that profit and purpose are incompatible, and they are building some of Africa's most innovative and sustainable responses to development challenges. As a social entrepreneur, you are simultaneously a founder, a development practitioner, and a business builder.
What she actually does
You identify a social problem that market solutions have failed to address, design a business model that addresses the problem while generating enough revenue to be financially sustainable, build a team, secure investment from impact investors and development funders, test and iterate your product or service with real users, scale what works, manage the tension between mission and margin, and communicate your impact to investors and the public.
Where you can work
| Sector | Places in Africa |
|---|---|
| Your Own Enterprise | Most social entrepreneurs build their own organisations — from grassroots CBOs to globally recognised social businesses |
| Incubators & Accelerators | Impact Hub Africa, Village Capital Africa, VC4A, GSBI (Global Social Business Incubator) — support for social enterprises |
| Impact Investors | Acumen, Omidyar Network, GSFC, Social Enterprise Fund Africa — investors who back social entrepreneurs |
| Development Organisations | Social enterprise units within NGOs and development organisations — applying business models to development challenges |
Why it matters in Africa
Africa's development challenges — lack of affordable healthcare, energy poverty, food insecurity, financial exclusion, and inadequate education — are also massive business opportunities for social entrepreneurs who can design solutions that work for low-income markets. Companies like M-Pesa, Hello Tractor, Zipline, and d.light have demonstrated that social enterprises addressing African problems can achieve global scale and impact. Africa's young, entrepreneurial population and growing impact investment ecosystem make this an extraordinary time to build social enterprises on the continent.
Your pathway in
- Build deep understanding of a specific social problem in a market you know well — the best social entrepreneurs solve problems they have personally experienced
- Study business model design and finance — social entrepreneurship requires commercial discipline as much as social commitment
- Access startup support: Acumen, Ashoka, Skoll Foundation, Village Capital, and Impact Hub Africa all support social entrepreneurs
- Develop resilience and risk tolerance — social enterprise is hard, uncertain, and often lonely, and only deeply motivated founders persist through the difficult early years
- Connect with the African Social Enterprise Network and Impact Hub Africa communities
Skills you will need
- Social problem analysis and design thinking
- Business model development
- Impact measurement
- Fundraising from impact investors
- Team building and leadership
- Resilience and adaptability
A woman in this field
Lelemba Phiri
Zambia
Lelemba is a Zambian social enterprise leader and founding partner at Africa Trust Group, which invests in and builds businesses delivering social impact across Sub-Saharan Africa. She has spent over a decade working at the intersection of entrepreneurship and development, championing women-led businesses and advocating for the African private sector to see social impact and financial sustainability as complementary rather than competing goals. She speaks internationally on impact investing and African women's economic empowerment.
Take your first step
- Research Ashoka at ashoka.org — they support social entrepreneurs globally and their Fellow profiles document some of the world's most innovative social enterprises, including many operating in Africa
- Study the social business model canvas — it adapts the standard business model canvas for organisations balancing social mission and financial sustainability, and free templates are available online
- Apply to your nearest Impact Hub co-working space — they are global communities of social entrepreneurs and attending their events connects you with the ecosystem of people doing this work
- Read 'Creating a World Without Poverty' by Muhammad Yunus — it is the foundational text for social enterprise thinking, written by the founder of Grameen Bank and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize