Social Entrepreneurship: an alternative solution to reduce social problems

The rising of social entrepreneurship has now become a new trend in most Less Developed of social entrepreneurship has been increased since  Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh became the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2006. His expertise in managing Grameen Bank and empowering the poor in Bangladesh has opened up millions of eyes of the global community on the importance of social entrepreneurship. In Indonesia, the social entrepreneurship was driven by Bambang Ismawan, founder of the Bina Swadaya Foundation. His efforts have empowered the poor through microfinance and enterprise (micro business) activities by prioritizing member education, fostering self, and social abilities. Nowadays, in addition to the Bina Swadaya Foundation, many organizations or individuals have concerns in the field of social entrepreneurship respectively by empowering the community and optimizing the local potential of the empowered community. 

The social entrepreneurship is considered as a solution to accelerate the decline in unemployment and poverty. It is because social entrepreneurship offers advantages over creating jobs. The social entrepreneurship has broad usefulness because entrepreneurs are not only dealing with employees who are partners but also the wider community. As the trend is quite new in Indonesia, each province faces different challenges related to the establishment of social entrepreneurship. Compared to other provinces, Bali can be categorized as a potential area to develop the sector of social entrepreneurship. Bali also has entrepreneur community that belongs to one of the largest entrepreneur community in Indonesia.

One of unique and social enterprises in Bali is Bali Tangi, founded in 2000, by Wayan Sukhana. The company aims to invite people to return and use the products from nature. It creates the natural products for beauty care. In 2007, Bali Tangi opened a spa to answer the increasing number of customers' requests, to introduce the Balinese massage technique and Tantra Massage's traditional technical development, which combines chakra massage and yoga massage. Another company that is  a not for profit aims.

Regarding the existence of this social enterprise, organizations, and such kinds, there are also government programs in the form of the conference, workshop, and seminar. These events are held to introduce and educate Balinese people more about the importance of social entrepreneurship. For example, in 2017, the International event for entrepreneurship, the second SEAL-ASIA was held in Bali. This international event was made for social entrepreneurs, academics, non-profit institutions, UN agencies, and others. The participants came from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, India, Japan, Nepal, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Spain. This event is expected as a place to exchange experiences from researchers and social entrepreneurs to enrich and strengthen the pattern of developing social entrepreneurial management. 

Udayana University, one of the biggest universities in Bali also has some short classes, programs, and lectures that are related to social entrepreneurship. Those programs offer young generation to visit a range of successful social enterprises in Bali and see their approach to tackling a range of local challenges, know the inspiring first-hand accounts of the journeys of successful social entrepreneurs from Bali and beyond, and gain a deeper understanding of Bali’s unique culture through immersion experiences.

The potential of social entrepreneurship in Bali is quite high. For instance is Endek Bali, which is one of the Balinese products that represent so much of the culture and identity of Balinese people. By developing the production of Endek Bali as a home industry or even larger, it can give many benefits to society. In the view of social life, Balinese people will get the chance to work in the field of culture that is very close to them. In the view of Balinese people’s cultural life, it can be considered a way to preserve the culture that is also the identity of the society. Finally yet importantly, there are still much more social entrepreneurship targets in the future in Bali. The other samples of Bali cultural highlight are traditional healer, Balinese arts through woodcarving, Gamelan Music, and Legong Dance

The Senang Hati Foundation, also known as Yayasan Senang Hati, is a non-profit organization in Bali that assists people living with disabilities.