Formal and Non-Formal Education

Abstract

Social entrepreneurs convert social problems into opportunities, create businesses, and transform entrepreneurial experience into social changes. Therefore, it is important to understand the formation of social entrepreneurs as creators of social innovations. This chapter tries to understand how the formation of social entrepreneurs occurs. The authors analyzed the narratives of the life stories of social entrepreneurs in Brazil. The results showed that the formation of social entrepreneurs is linked to their learning spaces and contexts, their leadership trajectory, and their motivations to undertake social entrepreneurship, as these factors are permeated by formal and non-formal education. The formation of social entrepreneurs results in the development of innovative products, processes, or methods that improve the quality of life and reduce inequality, leading to exponential social innovations.