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Social Entrepreneurs on the Periphery: Uncovering Emerging Pioneers of Regional Development

Abstract As a result of the bad economic situation and the infrastructural deficits in structurally weak rural regions of Europe, a downward spiral has started and ever more people are moving away, thus further reducing the economic opportunities of these regions. The support of such regions typically happens through top-down approaches, for example, by EU programs. All too often, however, experience has shown that such projects come to a halt when funding ends because the support needed from local actors was insufficient to bring on further development. Meanwhile, top-down approaches, such as the EU LEADER initiative, are building on this insight. The ideal of including committed citizens, however, is being confronted with a sobering reality: Often these groups suffer from a lack of institutional embeddedness, know-how, professionalism and necessary reputation. Against this background, social entrepreneurs might be helpful in empowering civil society actors. Social entrepreneurs are key figures who, through an entrepreneurial approach, develop and implement innovative solutions for social problems. These actors may be seen as intermediaries acting at the interface of policy measures and local citizen engagement. In this contribution, I will deal with the initiatives of social entrepreneurs who are particularly breaking new ground in the field of regional development – an item that has not yet been discussed in literature. On the basis of an exploratory study, I will analyze four selected projects in Europe (Spain and Germany) where social entrepreneurs started bottom-up initiatives in regional development. In this context, I will mainly pursue the questions of how the entrepreneurs managed to do this, that is, how they addressed existing problems, how they acted, how their (innovative) projects worked, and what implications their projects have for socio-spatial development. It will be shown how social entrepreneurs try to empower (entrepreneurial) citizens by providing help for self-help, particularly by way of educational offers, counseling and coaching, and by supporting citizens to establish useful contacts and social networks; not least by organizing financial means, usually in the form of micro-loans.