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The study considers how entrepreneurship and its leaders need to adapt to address the sustainability challenge.

It adopts a grounded theory style approach and is based on a case study derived from non-participant observation and secondary data.

The research findings suggest that to address the sustainability challenge requires a new approach to entrepreneurship that is based on systems thinking and the principle of harmony. It suggests the need for less emphasis to be placed on “making as much money as possible” and that there should be broader focus on the development of community entrepreneurship and the creation of civic entrepreneurs.

The research introduces a new approach to entrepreneurship in order to address the sustainability challenge and this has implications for entrepreneurial leadership.

The concept, known as Harmonious Entrepreneurship, requires the integration of the four main approaches to entrepreneurship (economic, eco, humane and social), abandonment of the Friedman (1970) mantra that the responsibility of business is to make as much money as possible and a change in the mindset and competence requirement of the entrepreneurial leader.

The findings imply the need to change the way entrepreneurship is taught and entrepreneurial leaders are trained and developed. Also they suggest the need to focus on community entrepreneurship and the creation of Civic Entrepreneurs.

The article introduces a new, more holistic approach to entrepreneurship in order to address the sustainability challenge. It is based on a study of the vision and achievement of an Islamic entrepreneur and has implications for entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial leadership and entrepreneurship education and training. It will be of interest to entrepreneurship scholars, educationalists and those concerned with the promotion and development of entrepreneurship, as well as all agencies and individuals concerned with the future of the planet and its people. Recommendations are made for further research and verification.

The purpose of this research is to examine the evolution of entrepreneurship, explain the reasons for why it is not contributing significantly to the global sustainability challenge and propose a new approach and business model to better enable it to do so.

The research adopts a grounded theory–style approach based on case study production and analysis using secondary data and, where appropriate, personal observation.

The paper concludes that entrepreneurship has failed to address the sustainability challenge because of its emphasis on “making as much money as possible” and its failure to appreciate that the planet is a system. It concludes that for any solution to be successful it must be based on systems thinking and should integrate or harmonise the traditional, separately applied approaches to entrepreneurship in order to produce a business model with a Triple Bottom Line, whereby Profit, Planet and People are in Harmony.

While the proposed model is based on a real-life case, it needs to be tested in different politico-economic contexts and industry sectors. It has the potential, though, to impact very considerably the traditional thinking on entrepreneurship and its application.

The proposed new approach will have significant implications for entrepreneurship education and training, including the adoption of a stakeholder rather than shareholder approach to management.

Sustainability is arguably the most urgent and critical problem facing contemporary society. The proposed model provides a potential solution to that problem, particularly at the local community level.

The research proposes a new approach to entrepreneurship that breaks with the Friedman (1970) mantra that the purpose of business is to “make as much money as possible”.

The article is intended to consider how entrepreneurship needs to adapt if it is to address the global sustainability challenge. The intention is to propose a new business model that recognises the interconnectedness of the global ecosystem.

The article analyses two case studies purposively written to demonstrate the difference between the traditional entrepreneurship approach, dating back to the 19th century and the proposed harmonised one. Both cases are based on secondary data and personal field observation.

While the two cases focus on wealth creation, job generation and innovation, the traditional approach is shown to have had a long-term deleterious impact on both society and the environment, whereas the proposed harmonised approach impacts positively. The article recognises the multifaceted nature of the sustainability challenge and that the three elements (economy/commerce, society and environment) are interconnected. If there is a change in the status of one the other, connected facets will change or will need to be changed. Thus any solution needs to address all three facets.

The proposed business model will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of entrepreneurship and sustainability, as well as to policy makers and educators.

Apart from proposing a new business model that will address the sustainability challenge, the article provides a definition of harmonious entrepreneurship and identifies the conditions required for it to be met, as well as the characteristics of the harmonious entrepreneur.

Although ethical custom has long recognized man’s responsibility to the environment, the contribution of traditional economic entrepreneurship to the sustainability challenge has been limited. Indeed, it can be shown to have had a negative impact at times and although new business models have been introduced, addressing environmental, humane and social issues, questions have been raised about whether entrepreneurship and sustainability are compatible. Accordingly, this chapter proposes a new business model that integrates or harmonizes these four more traditional entrepreneurship models currently applied independently. The model is founded on general systems thinking and the principle of harmony. It is based on a case study of real-life commercial startup operation, SEKEM Holding in Egypt. The case, which is based on secondary data and non-participant observation, is discussed in detail as is the resultant proposed Harmonious Entrepreneurship model. A definition is provided together with three further case examples that exemplify and demonstrate the model in different geographical and sectoral contexts. Each is based on a “bleeding edge,” innovative technological solution to the problem being addressed and the study concludes that:

• for entrepreneurship to address the sustainability challenge successfully a new entrepreneurship paradigm is needed that abandons the Friedman doctrine of being about making as much money as possible;

• the paradigm should incorporate systems thinking and operate both ethically and in accordance with the harmony principle, ensuring that profit, people and planet are harmonized; and

• the model can be implemented simultaneously, and not incrementally as previous research has suggested.

for entrepreneurship to address the sustainability challenge successfully a new entrepreneurship paradigm is needed that abandons the Friedman doctrine of being about making as much money as possible;

the paradigm should incorporate systems thinking and operate both ethically and in accordance with the harmony principle, ensuring that profit, people and planet are harmonized; and

the model can be implemented simultaneously, and not incrementally as previous research has suggested.