Social Entrepreneurship

In 2008, Belmont University became the first institution of higher education in the United States to offer an undergraduate major in Social Entrepreneurship. The program prepares students to engage and transform the world through the formation or expansion of ventures that will create social change. Our social entrepreneurs will be grounded in faith and values, shaped through experiential education and practical experience, and informed through the knowledge and skills drawn from diverse academic areas of study.

Social entrepreneurs are individuals who take on society’s most pressing problems, seeking innovative and sustainable solutions. To do this, social entrepreneurs need understanding and judgment, skills and stamina, and imagination and critical reflection. These qualities are fostered through study in the basics of entrepreneurship, study of an issue through multiple disciplinary perspectives, and extended personal reflection on goals and opportunities. The curriculum for the major combines business courses and issue-focused tracks in the liberal arts. As part of the curriculum, Social Entrepreneurship students will participate in service-learning, an internship and an extended capstone project in the senior year. Through these components, the liberal arts and entrepreneurship content is integrated with the experience and service that characterizes the practicing social entrepreneur.