Social entrepreneurship examples are businesses built to solve a social or environmental problem, with commercial activity paying for the mission. This guide covers nine ventures, from Uganda to Paraguay. Latitude Craft Chocolate buys cocoa from Ugandan farmers, Raheja Solar Food Processing sells solar dryers in India, and MBOJA’O rescues surplus food in Paraguay.

Each entry gets the same treatment: the need it targets, how the venture operates, what it reports, and which Sustainable Development Goals its listing carries. The order follows business model and implies no ranking. We read each venture’s own site in November 2026, so you can check every figure yourself.

What makes social entrepreneurship examples count as the real thing?

A real example puts the social goal ahead of owner profit, and shows it in how the money moves. The European Commission offers a useful test. It describes a social enterprise as an operator whose main objective is social impact rather than profit for owners or shareholders.

The Commission’s definition gives three questions you can ask of any venture:

• Is the social objective the reason for the commercial activity?
• Are profits mainly reinvested in that objective?
• Does the ownership or organisation reflect the mission?

The Commission also notes there is no single legal form, so the label alone proves little. We report how each venture describes itself. Seven use “social enterprise” or “social business” on their own sites. The other two do not use the term on the pages we read, and we include them for their model.

How do social ventures build impact into what they sell?

These three ventures make the product itself the social intervention. A customer buys chocolate, a dryer or a solar service, and that sale connects directly to the farmer or household served. Check each one by following the sale to the person it reaches.

Latitude Craft Chocolate, Uganda

Targets: income, training and finance for Ugandan cocoa farmers. Model: Latitude Craft Chocolate calls itself a vertically integrated social enterprise, and makes chocolate in Kampala. Reported: its home page cites over 2,500 certified organic farmers. Its impact page cites women as over 50% of contracted farmers and an average farm gate price of $2.30/kg.

Raheja Solar Food Processing, India

Targets: food spoilage and access to buyers for Indian farmers. Model: Raheja Solar Food Processing calls itself a social enterprise. It sells solar dryers and connects farmers and farmer groups with buyers. Reported: its site cites more than 1,000 dryers across 23 Indian states and ₹10.05 Cr worth of food saved.

ILUMÉXICO, Mexico

Targets: homes and businesses with limited or no grid power. Model: ILUMÉXICO sells off-grid solar as a service, with an installation fee and a monthly tariff. Our listing calls it a social enterprise, though the site pages we read do not. Reported: its site cites more than 100,000 people using its solar power.

Which social entrepreneurship examples turn waste into access?

These social entrepreneurship examples take what one group discards and route it to people who lack it. Two work with old computers and one with surplus food. The approach links SDG 12 on responsible consumption to a human need such as SDG 4 on education or SDG 2 on hunger.

Close the Gap, Belgium and Kenya

Targets: affordable computers for people in developing and emerging countries. Model: Close the Gap takes donated IT equipment and offers affordable pre-owned devices. It began in Belgium and runs hubs in Belgium, Kenya and South Africa. Its history page refers to its “social enterprise positioning” in Africa. Reported: its site shows 1,818,833 devices collected and 6,682,810 people empowered.

Netspring, Hong Kong

Targets: schools that lack IT resources, and old company computers. Model: Netspring calls itself a social enterprise. Companies provide old computers to schools for three years through its Green IT Classrooms. The pages we read do not explain its revenue. Reported: its site cites digital learning for more than 78,000 children and more than 120T of e-waste.

MBOJA’O, Paraguay

Targets: surplus food at restaurants, hotels and cafés, and hunger in Paraguay. Model: MBOJA’O calls itself a social enterprise (“empresa social”). Businesses hire it to collect surplus food, which it delivers to places feeding people in need. Reported: its site shows 932,958 kg of food recovered and 5,643 people fed.

How do social ventures fund people and skills?

This group works through services, funds or teaching, and directs that activity toward people and skills. The customer often differs from the beneficiary. A large company may buy office supplies, or an investor may buy a fund, while the benefit reaches someone else. That split makes the flow of money the first thing to examine.

WildHearts, United Kingdom

Targets: free programs for young people, and support for women in low-income countries. Model: WildHearts calls itself a social business. It sells office supplies, print, brand communications and talent training. Its office and communications units say all profits fund social and environmental projects. Reported: its site cites over 3 million lives transformed.

Funds For Good, Belgium

Targets: finance and coaching for social entrepreneurs. Model: Funds For Good describes “reasoned capitalism” rather than social enterprise. Income from sustainable funds finances entrepreneurs through 0% subordinated loans and free volunteer coaching. Reported: its site says more than 900 companies are excluded from its funds.

InVento Innovation Lab, Italy

Targets: enterprise skills and gender-violence prevention for students in Italian schools. Model: InVento Innovation Lab calls itself a non-profit social enterprise (“impresa sociale”). It runs school programs and offers companies consulting. Foundations and companies are among the partners it credits for funding its B Corp School program. Reported: its 2025 impact report cites 60,204 students reached directly since its founding. The program’s eighth edition counted 1,000 students in 30 schools and 40 student startups.

Where can you find more social entrepreneurship examples by goal or country?

You can browse more social entrepreneurship examples in the Keys for Tomorrow directory, sorted by goal, category and country. It holds more than 11,000 published entries across 110 countries, as checked on 7 November 2026. Not every entry is a social enterprise, so apply the three questions above as you browse.

Start with the UN goal closest to the problem you care about. Entry counts below are from the same date:

• SDG 1, No Poverty: 417 entries
• SDG 5, Gender Equality: 523 entries
• SDG 7, Affordable and Clean Energy: 1,458 entries
• SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth: 2,135 entries
• SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities: 932 entries

Country pages show how uneven the coverage is. The directory lists 75 entries in India, 71 in Mexico and 27 in Kenya, while Uganda has fewer than 10. These counts reflect our sources, not how much social enterprise exists in each country.

What do readers commonly ask about social ventures?

What is social entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship means building a venture whose main purpose is a social or environmental result. Commercial activity funds that purpose, and profits mainly go back into it. At MBOJA’O, businesses hire the venture to collect surplus food, and that food reaches people in need.

Can a social enterprise make a profit?

Yes. The European Commission’s description says a social enterprise uses its profits primarily to achieve social objectives. It does not rule out profit. What matters is where the profit goes, which is why WildHearts states publicly that its office and communications profits fund projects.

How reliable are the impact figures in these examples?

Treat them as self-reported. We took each number from the venture’s own site and did not audit it. Definitions also differ, so “people empowered” and “lives transformed” are not comparable measures. Figures also change: some sites now show higher totals than older listings. Some totals carry no date, so they may not show current activity.

The most useful social entrepreneurship examples let you trace the money from customer to outcome. Pick a goal, open a few listings, then read each venture’s own numbers before you buy, partner or invest.