`Social Enterprise' is a paradigm emerged, based on sustainability and social entrepreneurship. As an alternative to grant-seeking model, it allows firms to operate as a `for-profit' organization by offering at-cost services or charging a fee for the much-needed services, to ensure a continued stream of income. Success of this `for profit, for cause,' model relies on operational excellence, cost containment, transfers and application of knowledge, confidence, focus on people (internal and external) and branding executed based on the factors such as - identifying opportunities, developing innovations, accepting and managing risk.

Two great leaders have taught the world - how to sustain, through their actions. To liberate India and make it self-sustainable, Mahatma Gandhi understood that, transforming his fellow citizens into economically productive individuals (by spinning their own fabric and extracting salt from the sea) is the key. Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged his fellow African-Americans to develop their own credit societies and community organizations. These great actions clearly reveal that the secret to sustain and develop is to finance the revolution by ourselves. Inspired by the actions of these two great leaders, a specific organization type or model has emerged, based on the principle - `for profit, for cause', known as `Social Enterprise'.

`Social Enterprise' is not a new concept. Social organizations such as Grameen Bank, Scojo Foundation, Age Concern, etc., have been following this for a few decades. Even the Nobel Prize acceptance speech of Mohammad Yunus covers this concept and his books have been covering this theme, time and again. In India, organizations like Basix, Mart, etc. have been following this. Concepts like `social entrepreneurship' has link to social enterprise in terms of entrepreneurial practice for social cause by the socially inclined profiles. However, `social enterprise,' is an organization-oriented concept, unlike individual-orientation in case of `social entrepreneurship.' This article is an attempt to present and explore the macro-level `social enterprise' concept as such. Through practical illustrations/examples, this article takes you through the basic concept, nature, significance, emergence, issues, risks, management and governance challenges, potential, future directions, etc.

liberate, self-sustainable, economically, economically productive individuals, Social Enterprise, Social organizations, social entrepreneurship, organization-oriented concept, governance challenges, potential, future directions.