# List of social entrepreneurs

A social entrepreneur is an entrepreneur who works to increase social capital by founding social ventures, including charities, for-profit businesses with social causes, and other non-government organizations. These types of activities are distinct from work of non-operating foundations and philanthropists who provide funding and other support for them.

## Notable historical social entrepreneurs

| Name | Country | Focus areas |
| Qais Al Khonji | Oman | Founder of Genesis projects and investments |
| Vinoba Bhave | India | Founder and leader of the Bhoodan movement, he caused the redistribution of more than 7,000,000 acres (2,800,000 ha) of land to aid India's untouchables and landless. |
| David Brower | United States | Environmentalist and conservationist, the Sierra Club's first executive director and built it into a worldwide network for environmental issues. He also founded Friends of the Earth, the League of Conservation Voters and The Earth Island Institute. |
| Akhtar Hameed Khan | Pakistan | Founder of grassroots movement for rural communities Comilla Model, and low-cost sanitation programmes (Orangi Pilot Project) for squatter settlements. |
| Maria Montessori | Italy | Developed the Montessori approach to early childhood education. |
| John Muir | United States | Naturalist and conservationist, he established the National Park System and helped found The Sierra Club. |
| Florence Nightingale | United Kingdom | Founder of modern nursing, she established the first school for nurses and fought to improve hospital conditions. |
| Frederick Law Olmsted | United States | Creator of major urban parks, including Rock Creek Park in Washington DC, Central Park in NYC, and Mount Royal Park in Montreal, he is generally considered to have developed the profession of landscape architecture in America. |
| Gifford Pinchot | United States | Champion of the forest as a multiple use environment, Gifford Pinchot helped found the Yale School of Forestry and created the U.S. Forest Service, serving as its first chief. |
| Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen | Germany | Pioneer of the rural bond of association as a substitute for collateral in microfinance, and a principal founder of the credit union and cooperative bank sectors that now form a major segment of the European banking system. |
| Verghese Kurien | India | Engineer and businessman, he planned and executed India's "white revolution", that transformed the milk-importing country into the world’s largest produce . |
| Margaret Sanger | United States | Founder of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she led the movement for family planning efforts around the world. |
| John Woolman | United States | He Led U.S. Quakers to voluntarily emancipate all their slaves between 1758 and 1800, his work also influenced the British Society of Friends, a major force behind the British decision to ban slaveholding. |
| Sam Pitroda | India | Chairman, National Innovation Council, India |
| Adhik Kadam | India | Founder Chairman of Borderless World Foundation. He is on peace building mission, working in most conflicted areas in Asia i.e Jammu & Kashmir on India Pakistan Border. He is working for the children who lost parents in terrorism and conflict. |
| Arunachalam Muruganantham | India | Inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine. |

## Notable modern social entrepreneurs

| Name | Country | Social venture founded | Focus areas |
| Fazle Hasan Abed | Bangladesh | BRAC | poverty reduction, banking, food security, education, woman empowerment |
| Ibrahim Abouleish | Egypt | SEKEM | Agriculture |
| Poonam Ahluwalia | United States | Youth Entrepreneurship and Sustainability | Poverty |
| Vagit Alekperov | Russia | Our Future Foundation | Social entrepreneurship |
| Gennady Alferenko | Russia | Foundation for Social Inventions | National relations/Civil diplomacy |
| Zubaida Bai | India | AYZH | Healthcare |
| Scott Beale | United States | Atlas Service Corps | U.S./International volunteering |
| Daniel Ben-Horin | United States | TechSoup Global | Nonprofit support |
| Charles Best | United States | DonorsChoose | Charitable crowdfunding |
| Ela Bhatt | India | Self Employed Women's Association | Poverty |
| Taddy Blecher | South Africa | CIDA City Campus | Education |
| Heather Brandon | United Kingdom | UnLtd South Africa | Social entrepreneurship |
| Nand Kishore Chaudhary | India | Jaipur Rugs | Poverty |
| Bill Clinton | United States | Clinton Foundation | Poverty |
| Vera Cordeiro | Brazil | Brazil Child Health | Health |
| Ann Cotton | United Kingdom | Camfed | Poverty |
| Matt Damon | United States | Water.org | Water |
| Jim Fruchterman | United States | Benetech | Technology |
| Bill Gates | United States | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Education, healthcare, ending poverty |
| Abraham George | India | The George Foundation | Poverty |
| Scott Gilmore | Canada | Building Markets | Employment |
| Anshu Gupta | India | Goonj | Clothing, disaster relief |
| Scott Harrison | United States | Charity: Water | Water |
| Catherine Hoke | United States | Defy Ventures | Incarceration and recidivism |
| Jeffrey Hollender | United States | Seventh Generation Inc. | Environment |
| Jessica Jackley | United States | Kiva Microfunds | Poverty, microfinance |
| Adhik Kadam | India | Borderless World Foundation | Peace-building, peace & conflict, women, children, emergency medical services in conflict. |
| Salman Khan | United States | Khan Academy | Education |
| Alan Khazei | United States | City Year | Education |
| Craig Kielburger | Canada | WE Charity / Me to WE | Human rights |
| Marc Kielburger | Canada | WE Charity / ME to WE | Human rights |
| Mohammed Mamdani | United Kingdom | Sufra | Poverty |
| Nick Martin | United States | TechChange | Education |
| Ilya Movshovich | United States | CARMAnation | Technology |
| Blake Mycoskie | United States | Toms Shoes | Poverty |
| Jacqueline Novogratz | United States | Acumen | Poverty |
| Jamie Oliver | United Kingdom | Fifteen | Health |
| Raj Panjabi | United States | Last Mile Health | Healthcare |
| Mark Plotkin | United States | Amazon Conservation Team | Environment |
| Bunker Roy | India | Barefoot College | Education |
| Miyoko Schinner | United States | Multiple | Vegan Food and Activism |
| Jasvir Singh | United Kingdom | City Sikhs | Interfaith, social cohesion |
| Param Singh | United Kingdom | City Sikhs | Interfaith, social cohesion |
| Willie Smits | Indonesia | Borneo Orangutan Survival | Environment |
| Piya Sorcar | United States | TeachAids | Health, education |
| Bhargav Sri Prakash | India / United States | fooya FriendsLearn | Digital vaccines for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension & cancer prevention |
| Hanumappa Sudarshan | India | Karuna Trust | upliftment of the forest dwelling tribes |
| Bo Thao-Urabe | United States | RedGreen Rivers | Woman empowerment, poverty reduction |
| Chris Underhill | United Kingdom | BasicNeeds | Health, poverty |
| Christian Vater | Germany | Deutschland rundet auf | Poverty, micro-donation |
| Frederick Yeh | United States / China | Sea Turtles 911 | Environment, Education, Wildlife Conservation |
| Muhammad Yunus | Bangladesh | Grameen Bank | Poverty, microfinance |
| Matthew Spacie | Britain | Magic Bus | Childhood to Livelihood |
| Shaheen Mistri | India | Teach For India, Akanksha Foundation | Education |
| Harish Hande | India | SELCO | Solar energy |
| Ranjan Mistry | India | Women School of Entrepreneurship, Campus Varta, Womenia Chakra Foundation | Poverty, Education, Entrepreneurship |
| Bam Aquino | Philippines | Hapinoy | Poverty Reduction |