DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjebm.2026.v13i09.001

Pages: 422-429

Inclusive growth is central in contemporary discourse in management and development scholarship. Entrepreneurship is promoted as a driver of inclusion and often with the assumption of ideal functioning institutions and establishments. This study reframes entrepreneurship beyond mere market expansion to recognize the presence of failed infrastructures which is common in developing economies. It interrogated the relevance of social entrepreneurship in emerging economies, which is characterised by institutional scarcity where regulatory systems, public service infrastructures and other sources of shared prosperity are weak, inadequate or unevenly distributed. The paper conceptualises that these deficits throw up structural conditions capable of drawing adaptive entrepreneurial responses for inclusion than being viewed primarily as constraints. Social enterprises emerge as substitutes to perform neglected formal responsibilities in healthcare service delivery, financial service penetration, infrastructure provision, educational services and governance coordination, thereby combining social mission with sustainability. Anchored on institutional theory, the study used qualitative data from 199 social enterprises across Nigeria and identified concrete substitution mechanisms and integrated same with marginalised and underserved groups who were historically excluded. These services were provided through community-embedded models, hybrid public-private partnerships, pro bono integration and digital financial innovation models. The paper contributes to entrepreneurship and institutional scholarship by recognizing social enterprises as meso-level governance actors that not only fill institutional voids but modify participation within emerging economies, socio-economic space. It however cautioned against its dependence on a permanent basis.