Fostering Rural Development through Social Entrepreneurship: Lessons Learned of the Grameen Bank

Many issues of rural communities have social nature and therefore their solution requires innovative social solutions. From this perspective, social entrepreneurship can help to solve problems in rural communities, especially help to reduce poverty and inequality in these communities. Social entrepreneurship in rural areas is a means to alleviate social problems by creating innovative solutions and mobilizing the ideas, capacities, resources, and social institutions required for balance social transformation of rural communities. Social entrepreneurs can aid in developing an entrepreneurship ecosystem and sustainable business development model in rural areas while finding the right opportunities unique to the real needs of rural communities. The world has witnessed many successful experiences in the field of social entrepreneurship. Many of these social businesses have a significant contribution too empowerment of poor in local communities. Awareness of these experiences can inspire policy makers to formulate pro-poor enabling policies as well as entrepreneurs and investors to set up social enterprises in deprived areas. In this article as result of a case study review, concept of social entrepreneurship and its appropriateness for fostering development of rural communities has been introduced and a brief experience of Grameen Bank as one of the success stories of social entrepreneurship in the world is illustrated.