Impact of Social Entrepreneurship on Youth Economic Empowerment in Kaduna Meropolis, Kaduna-Nigeria

Abstract

There are certain kinds of people who garner enormous satisfaction from successfully taking on a “mission impossible” and, by so doing, actually manage to change the world, or wherever they live, sometimes in surprising ways. Such individuals are rare, and when we become aware of them and their astonishing achievements, we observe that they cannot easily be ignored. Such individuals are the products of rural as well as urban areas; of developing as well as developed countries; of large cities as well as remote areas; they may be Hausas/Fulanis from Northern Nigeria, or Yorubas from the South-Western Nigeria, or Igbos from the Souh-Eastern Nigeria, or other tribes like the Tivs, Gwaris and Nupes from north-entral Nigeria,  Kanuris from the northeastern Nigeria. They may be well- known figures, such as Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Gen. TY Danjuma, Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (Wazirin Adamawa), Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, or anonymous, unrecognized individuals from cities and small villages in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a contemporary issue in the social arena. It is a concept well suited for our age because it makes a call for entrepreneurial activities to spearhead the resolving of social issues in our communities; since many governmental and charitable efforts have failed to meet the existing social needs (Dees, 2001). Societies are dealing with social challenges such as youth unemployment, poverty, hunger, terrorism, floods, health care challenges, infrastructural inadequacies, and maternal mortality, among others. All these challenges are capable of affecting the social wellbeing of individuals. Life can only be interesting if there are tools and strategies readily available for dealing with these challenges. Social challenges at different levels (global, national or regional) require special strategies and tools for handling them. The complexities of social challenges experienced in most parts of Nigeria, especially Kaduna metropolis demands a more creative and innovative approach in balancing these pressures and constraints geared towards overcoming these challenges as well as initializing sustainable development in our communities.