David Bornstein peered at the spotty crowd before him with a slight smile that betrayed a twinge of nerves -- not what you'd expect from an evangelist about to rouse a crowd about the power of giving back.

	Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Author and motivational speaker David Bornstein delivers his address yesterday at Carnegie Mellon University. Click photo for larger image.

Except he isn't your typical evangelist spreading the word of God, but rather preaching the gospel of social change the enlightened capitalist's way.

Clad in black jeans and a black sweater and looking more like a computer programmer (his former job) than a sought-after author and motivational speaker, Bornstein was at Carnegie Mellon University yesterday trying to sell a group of students on the idea that being an entrepreneur isn't all about making money.

"In 20 to 30 years, social entrepreneurship will be recognized as the force it is," said Bornstein, who promotes the idea of building businesses to create social change.

Bornstein, a Canadian who now lives in New York City, has made a career of telling the stories of people who have stepped in where governments and bureaucracies have failed by launching organizations that solve social problems. He profiled several of them in his 2004 book, "How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of Ideas."

Normally a tough sell for a pack of high-achieving, ambitious 20-somethings with student loans to pay and dollar signs in their eyes, Bornstein makes his case by likening not-for-profit innovators to those who have made their Fortune 500 companies household names.

Social entrepreneurs Muhammad Yunus and J.B. Schramm are no different from what Henry Ford did with cars and Apple's Steve Jobs did with computers -- except their organizations (Yunus runs a bank that makes loans to help women start business and Schramm operates a college preparatory service for low-income children) that generate dollars and solve social ills, Bronstein said. These "social enterprises" are self-sustaining, staying afloat without dependence on charitable and government dollars.

Social enterprises can be moneymaking machines, just like any other company, except curing social problems drives their bottom line -- not profits and shareholder demands.

Bornstein likens social entrepreneurs to white blood cells: "they are trying to deal with problems that haven't been dealt with by anybody else."

Social enterprises aren't new to Pittsburgh, but Bornstein's ideas are important because they buck the stereotype that people who work in nonprofit organizations are "do-gooders" aren't business savvy, said Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners Executive Director Terry Beggy. Her group, which helps local individuals and executives make charitable contributions, co-sponsored Bornstein's visit.

"He describes the nonprofit in a positive tone -- the term he uses is the term 'citizen sector,' '' Beggy said. "It brings out the power and scope and size of what is being done by citizens helping to make the world better."

Jeff Palmer, chief executive officer of the Coordinated Care Network, which helps low-income people obtain medical services, labeled the social enterprise movement as an "emerging industry" and Bornstein as a key advocate. "He's created a vocabulary and defined the sector," Palmer said of Bornstein.

Bornstein stumbled upon the concept of social enterprise nearly 20 years ago after abandoning his tech job in Montreal to backpack around the world. "When I graduated from college, my goal was to be a millionaire and own a Jaguar," he said to a few chuckles.

But he quickly changed his mind after coming across an article about the Grameen Bank and its chief, Yunus, whose idea to lend Bangladeshi women small sums of money and provide "micro-credit" to launch their own businesses has impacted millions in that country. "It turned banking on its head," said Bornstein.

Yunus has the skills of any other successful entrepreneur, "bold, resourceful, persuasive and visionary," Bornstein said. The only difference is that he chose not to launch a venture for his own monetary gain, but to use it to attack poverty.

That kind of ambition, if nurtured, can change the world, Bornstein said. He and his acolytes are banking on social enterprises gaining ground over the next 20 to 30 years and exploding "just as technology did in the '90s."

"The same skills that build businesses build these [nonprofit] organizations," Bornstein said.