Social enterprise as a generator of quality of life and sustainable development in rural communities

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the mechanisms by which an indigenoussocial enterprise contributes to a rural community’s sustainable developmentand improves the quality of life of its inhabitants. The work followsa qualitative methodology and uses the case study as a research technique.The theoretical framework deployed to identify the nature of the dynamicsinvolved is social entrepreneurship, as a means of fighting poverty andchanging patterns of socio-economic exclusion. The research suggests thatsocial enterprise uses four main mechanisms to promote rural sustainabledevelopment in the community where it operates: innovation in the exploitationmethods of natural resources, labor as a source of quality of life,bonding and development of local suppliers; and the equitable sharing ofbenefits between the economic, social and environmental dimensions.