Achyut Nepal, Affiliated Honorary Research Fellow, Fil. Dr. Jan-U. Sandal Institute, Norway

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2597-6037
e-mail: provost@janusandal.no

Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

Introduction. An economic indicator can give an overall picture of the production, income and exchange of resources. The state practices to report the economic performance of the country is not able to depict the real picture of the overall situation of the society. Economic growth has been globally accepted to compare the status of development, but regardless of the high rate of economic growth, poverty still exists at a significant level. There are conflicting views about what actually shows real economic development. The entire results of the innovative efforts are generally attributed with the achievements of the government of the states. Although the role of the government in making innovative outcomes for the benefit of the public cannot be overlooked, it is not sufficient to merely look into the effort of the government. There are different people or communities playing roles in the development. Social entrepreneurs are self-motivated, skilled and expert people who work to bring changes to make life better for everybody in the society. They are not motivated by profit at the start; but will be rewarded with the entrepreneurial profit if their innovation is successful. Review of economic history reveals interpretation of the economic development is significantly influenced by the philosophy adopted by the state to govern. In this essay, along with the analysis of the relation between social entrepreneurship and development, core values of political theories and its relation with social entrepreneurship have been discussed. To emphasize the role of entrepreneurship in making life better as well as by facilitating the people and communities of underdeveloped geographical locations, a few cases of social entrepreneurship from Nepal are highlighted. Important findings include that social entrepreneurs are spontaneous but the state can play a encouraging role. Importantly, development cannot be found in the weight of economic indicators alone but shall be seen as the total situation of the society.

The study of economic development needs knowledge of political philosophy and political economy as well as a focus on organizing societies for the production of wealth, eradication of poverty and the arrangement of society to make it a just social order [9]. The state of economic development has to be seen not simply from the viewpoint of emerging or preceding economic conditions but from the total situation of the society, which is preceding or emerging. It is not possible to explain economic change only with the help of economic condition alone [24]. The method of calculating GDP as developed by John Maynard Keynes was a product of the Second World War. This method was initially developed by Simon Kuznets to estimate the national income of the US in 1932 to analyze fully the Great Depression. Later, in 1940, Keynes refined it by rejecting the government’s income as a part of GDP as defined by Kuznet. Keynes defines GDP as private consumption, investment, and government spending. If government spending was not included, Britain’s GDP at that time would fall despite the economic growth. This was the war time necessity seen by Keynes which continues till today. But GDP does not measure human well-being in proper sense [11].

Purpose. The objective of this study is to get insight into the circumstances leading to the emergence of social entrepreneurs and their contribution to the economy and society. In addition, the objective is to analyze the few selected cases of social entrepreneurship in Nepal and to analyze how the social entrepreneurships are proven to be the real drivers in transforming the society to equitability, with opportunities for everyone to flourish.

Result. Social entrepreneurship as a special form of management, which operates the production function with principles of ensuring increased value for all participants in the production process and the basic objective is to make the world a better place for everyone. Such a process of change is carried out by the individuals who are designated as social entrepreneurs [21]. Such individuals are skilled experts and self-motivated with a will to achieve something significant.

Conclusions. Economic growth as indicated by GDP alone is not a sign of economic development. Economic development shall be reflected in the total situation of the society where everybody has an opportunity to develop and everyone has a good life.

Keywords: Capitalism; Economic Development; Innovation; Socialism; Social Entrepreneurship.

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