Over the last decade, social entrepreneurship has become increasingly prevalent both in entrepreneurial and research settings. Plenty of research has been conducted on the topic for over two decades. However, research on the development of this phenomenon in the Central American region is still scarce. This paper focuses on El Salvador, a country with severe institutional voids, as well as economic and social deficiencies. Despite the challenges, entrepreneurial efforts are abundant and have become one of the main sources of income in the smallest country in Central America. Entrepreneurship has been omnipresent both in the formal and the informal economies in the country for years, yet very few research efforts have focused on the social value creation of social entrepreneurship.
Based on nine in-depth interviews with insiders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem that include incubators, aid agencies, social entrepreneurs and universities; the current paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of the development of social entrepreneurship in the country, depicts its current state, and delves into the opportunities and obstacles for development while aiming to serve as a basis for future research in the region. The key results were coupled with the theoretical foundation gathered during the study of available sources and literature, resulting in the work's assumptions, conceptual theories, and the model of social entrepreneurship in El Salvador.
Main findings include that there is a lack of understanding of the term social entrepreneurship as it is usually associated with non-governmental and charitable organizations, partly due to its novelty in the country. International cooperation plays a big role in the promotion of social entrepreneurship both in the educational and funding areas. Incubators play an important role in the dissemination of information and education towards social entrepreneurs. The government does not possess a formal strategy nor laws on social entrepreneurship which force social entrepreneurs to register as either NGOs or for-profit businesses. In the country, there are social entrepreneurs that are hard to track given that they operate in the informal economy. Social entrepreneurship in El Salvador is in its initial stage of development, and the obstacles that hinder the creation of social value have been identified.

CHAPTER I: Introduction .......................................................................................................10 CHAPTER II: Literature Review .............................................................................................11 2.1 Definition of Social Entrepreneurship ...........................................................................11
2.2 Social entrepreneurship across economic and cultural contexts....................................14 2.3 Social Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies .........................................................15
2.4 El Salvador Socio-economic Context ............................................................................16 2.5 Entrepreneurship in El Salvador ....................................................................................17
2.6 The informal economy in El Salvador ...........................................................................18
2.7 Institutional Voids in El Salvador ..................................................................................19 CHAPTER III: Research Methodology....................................................................................20
3.1 Research Objectives.......................................................................................................20
3.2 Design ......................................................................................................................21
3.3 Sample description.........................................................................................................22
3.4 Data Collection ..............................................................................................................25
3.5 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................26
CHAPTER 4: Findings ............................................................................................................26 4.1 Exposure to the term Social Entrepreneurship...............................................................26 4.2 The role of NGOS and aid agencies in Social Entrepreneurship...................................27
4.3 Incubators role towards the development of Social Entrepreneurship ..........................28 4.4 The role of the government in the promotion of Social Entrepreneurship ....................29
CHAPTER 5: Discussion .........................................................................................................30 CHAPTER 6: Conclusion ........................................................................................................33 6.1 Limitations and Future Research ......................................................................................34 References ..............................................................................................................................35

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