Social entrepreneurship is distinct from the concept of entrepreneurship, yet still shares several similarities. The difference between "entrepreneurship" and "social entrepreneurship", however, stems from the purpose of a creation. Social entrepreneurs seek to transform societies at large, rather than transforming their profit margin, as classic entrepreneurs typically seek to do. Social entrepreneurs use a variety of resources to bring societies into a better state of well-being.
Today, describing “Entrepreneurship” phenomenon we can find varying views and definitions of entrepreneurship around the world. There are many working definitions, but for the purposes of the framework, entrepreneurship is defined as:
„a process that results in creativity, innovation and growth. Entrepreneurship refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action and is therefore a key competence for all, helping young people to be more creative and self-confident in whatever they undertake”
There are many other words often used as substitutes for entrepreneurship including enterprise, innovation, small business, growth companies, and so on. To fully capture and understand the entrepreneurship phenomenon, we need to take a broad and inclusive view; otherwise we will miss important components and trends in this rapidly growing movement. The concepts of entrepreneurship and enterprise have, however, in the academic literature, been substantially clarified to embrace application to a wide range of contexts. The Enterprise Concept focuses upon the development of the “Enterprising Person and Entrepreneurial Mindset”. The former constitutes a set of personal skills, attributes, behavioural and motivational capacities (associated with those of the entrepreneur) but which can be used in any context (social, work, leisure etc). Prominent among these are; intuitive decision making, capacity to make things happen autonomously, networking, initiative taking, opportunity identification, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, calculated risk taking and self efficacy). The latter focuses upon creating empathy with the life-world of the entrepreneur and entrepreneurial ways of doing, thinking, feeling, communicating, organizing and learning. The Entrepreneurship Concept focuses upon the application of these enterprising skills etc. to the setting up a new venture, developing/growing an existing venture and designing an entrepreneurial organisation (one in which the capacity for effective use of enterprising skills will be enhanced). The context might be business, academy, social enterprise, NGOs or even public organisations.