Unlike social enterprise, United Nations only handles problems at the surface. It’s an intergovernmental organization that establishes peace and security between countries and deal mostly with emergency situations.

Social entrepreneurs try to come up with innovations that address issues like educational opportunities, children health, housing, clean water, and climate change. However, they do not just fix the problems; they try to come up with methods that people could use so that they can solve the problem themselves in the future (finding the roots of the problem).

Social enterprise is a type of impact investment. It creates benefits more than just financial returns. Consider a situation in which a person wants to open a restaurant. Is it better to lend him money or is it better to equip him with proper business knowledge? Perhaps it’s better to go with the first one. However, the second option ought to be more efficient in the long term. If the man has the money but not the right business mind, he is more likely to face failure and be in debt. If he were provided with some business foundations, he would manage his restaurant better and is likely to succeed. Furthermore, the man could even teach his friends the business skills he learned so that they can open their own restaurants in the future. In this case, social entrepreneurs would do both but the money that they would lend out is not just a giveaway. It would come from a smart system like microfinance. Every decision is based on values that it would bring, be it environmental, social, or sustainability. This is why social enterprise differs from United Nations and should be highly recognized.

I’m really interested and looking forward to the Arc Initiative program that Sauder offers.

Source:
http://skollworldforum.org/about/what-is-social-entrepreneurship/
http://www.socialenterprisecanada.ca/learn/nav/whatisasocialenterprise.html