This research paper is aimed at advancing scholarly research in social entrepreneurship. It puts forward a view of social entrepreneurship as a practice that catalyzes social change and addresses important social needs. The paper undertakes an analytical, critical and synthetic examination of social entrepreneurship in its common use, considering both the ‘social’ and the ‘entrepreneurship’ elements in the concept. The paper suggests factors associated with successful social entrepreneurship, particularly with social entrepreneurship that leads into significant changes in social, political and economic contexts for poor and marginalized groups. The paper concludes that the concept of social entrepreneurship is exercised where some person or people aim to create a social value of some kind, recognize and exploit opportunities to create this value, tolerate risks and employ innovation while declining to accept limitations in available resources.