Entrepreneurs face common challenges to growing an idea into a profitable enterprise.Three successful social entrepreneurs offer their insights to Beyond Profit.

By Nisha Kumar Kulkarni

Social entrepreneurs are not very different from their counterparts in the business world when it comes to the challenges of starting, running and sustaining a business. However, when one’s business depends on offering solutions to a social problem in a profitable and sustainable manner, the question of identifying the problem is only half the battle. The other half is understanding the right product or service to take to the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). Before entering a market with a new offering, an entrepreneur should then have a clear understanding of which institutions are in place and which are missing, and how successful – determined by profitability – will the business model be.