THE gift was more than generous. The sheer volume of money involved was enough to keep the media busy and the general public talking about it for weeks.

In mid 2006, Warren Buffett, 77, legendary US investor and one of the world's richest men, announced he would be leaving US$37 billion - the majority of his wealth - to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

That same year, Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh, founder of Grameen Bank and inventor of the microcredit, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Both rose to prominence over the last several decades by investing in companies: Mr Buffett, by making clever, but conventional investments in conventional companies; Mr Yunus, by making micro loans to the world's marginalised and poor. What sets them apart? They employ their entrepreneurial spirit to effect positive social change.

For more than 20 years, in more than 50 countries, Ernst & Young has been honouring the world's leading entrepreneurs through our Entrepreneurs Of The Year programme. When drawing up the benchmarks for evaluating and selecting exemplary entrepreneurs, we asked several successful company founders for their views. They very quickly agreed that socially responsible behaviour was an indispensable element in the profile of an award-winning entrepreneur.

What interests us in this respect is how corporate leaders see and treat their employees; what impact their activities have on their company's environment; whether they are able to communicate their entrepreneurial spirit to their surroundings; and how they ultimately use their ingenuity, innovative capabilities, and at some stage their financial means to trigger projects and solutions that will help their neighbourhood, city, country or even the whole world.

We see many examples of entrepreneurs who have felt responsible for more than just a healthy bottom line. Corporate benevolence began with the housing developments that US and European factory owners built for their workers in the industrial boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Today this same caring attitude can be found in such leading figures as Narayana Murthy, founder of the Indian IT service provider Infosys Technologies and 2003 Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year.

Mr Murthy lives a Spartan life, and his chosen lifestyle is reflected in the corporate values of Infosys Technologies. He is convinced that personal wealth creates not only an opportunity but also an obligation to change society for the better.

Through the Infosys Foundation, Mr Murthy supports the poorest of the poor in India and encourages them to take responsibility for their own lives. The foundation takes care of orphans and street children and promotes education in remote rural areas, where it also provides funds to initiate or enhance the provision of medical care.

Social responsibility is not a luxury that a company only indulges in after several years of profitable growth, but a fundamental value from the very beginning. In the early days of business, entrepreneurs are often still closely involved with and dependent on their local neighbourhoods. Their first employees live there and perhaps their initial customers, too.

Entrepreneurial activity contributes to social prosperity simply by creating jobs, boosting local purchasing power and helping to fund community projects through taxes. But responsible entrepreneurs feel obligated to go beyond these - more or less automatic - results of their activities. They see their companies not as purely functional springboards to short-term personal wealth, but as living organisms, engaged in a vibrant process of give-and-take with the outside world; organisms that they personally control.

Their business decisions often reflect their own personal values, respect for others and sympathy for and understanding of wider social issues. The importance these entrepreneurs assign to social and moral values permeates their entire organisations, shaping the behaviour of their employees.

Each year as the independent judging panel appraises the Entrepreneur Of The Year candidates, they come across many different examples of how entrepreneurs view and meet their social responsibilities.

For example, a coffee trader from Italy helps coffee growers in Africa and South America by providing targeted advice on cultivation methods, helping to improve quality and concluding direct contracts. Both sides stand to benefit and there are many positive spin-off effects for the villages where the growers live.

Then there is an Israeli entrepreneur who encourages his employees to donate part of their stock options every year. This way he has been able to collect large sums of money for social projects in which all employees are then involved, not least at an emotional level.

In their limited spare time, two entrepreneurs from Ireland, both 2005 Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists, apply their knowledge and skills to help local people in Africa set up companies. Then they continue to support these companies from Ireland with advice and practical assistance.

Globalisation has made the world a smaller place. AIDS and poverty don't stop at national borders, nor does the impact of climate change. Today, no country and no company can afford to act like an island.

Responsibilities of companies and their leaders, not only for economic and commercial matters but also for social issues, have come under the public spotlight - with far-reaching consequences.

Many banks are increasingly making loan commitments dependent on borrowers' images as good corporate citizens. Investors want to know about social reputations before buying equity, and potential employees want to know how seriously their future employers take their ethical and moral obligations before they sign up.

In summary, corporate social responsibility has always been a factor in the selection criteria for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.

Now though, to acknowledge the emergence and importance of entrepreneurs whose organisations have an explicit social mission, many countries have chosen to recognise entrepreneurs applying practical, innovative and market-oriented approaches to benefit the marginalised and the poor. Countries who have embarked on this path hope to foster a powerful network of successful social entrepreneurs and their ideas - employing entrepreneurial spirit to effect positive social change.

Ong Yew Huat is country managing partner for Ernst & Young and Gregory K Ericksen is global vice-chair at Ernst & Young responsible for strategic growth markets including the worldwide Entrepreneur Of The Year award programme. They can be reached via e-mail at yew-huat.ong@sg.ey.com and Gregory.Ericksen@uk.ey.com

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