The mystery of small social business ownership by the poor: Creative solutions based on the poor's potential

Abstract

Large businesses face certain limitations due to their focus on economic goals and cannot be seen as principle players in dealing with poverty issues. This chapter aims to explore how poor people with limited assets and capabilities manage to bring about creative solutions to their problems. Examination of two social businesses established and run by poor people shows that they manage innovatively to activate assets and capabilities to compensate for the lack of resources the cases reveal the importance of awareness of poverty issues and the commitment of the poor the study also highlights the need for future research to scale these models, and further stimulate the cooperation between the poor and other players in tackling poverty issues.