Bhubaneswar: Social entrepreneur Cynthia Hellen feels young entrepreneurs of India are bent towards social change.

Hellen is the founder of SMPLCT Lab in New York, which an innovation laboratory creating sustainable products, services and meaningful human experiences.

She was in the city on Friday to host a workshop at Bakul Foundation with participants from various backgrounds. "India has churned out many social entrepreneurs in the recent times. I have been buying products from many of them. Many are also working for upliftment of women. India is gradually setting an example," said Hellen who is presently based in Brooklyn in New York.

She said social entrepreneurship was one of the best ways to bring about changes in a community. "It shows that you care. The youth going to the work in the fields and thereby coming up with solutions for various problems faced by people around them shows that these individuals are willing to take on the risk and effort to create positive changes in society through their initiatives," she said.

She said it was important to collaborate in order to make sure that the idea of social entrepreneurship flourishes.

"Cities should come together and merge the talents and focus on a particular issue so that masses benefit. It happens in a huge way in the Western countries," she said.

Talking about her first visit to India, she said: "Everyone is so beautiful inside and out. People are so welcoming."

"She affirmed that social entrepreneurship has always existed. "It has now spread to various sectors starting from governments to corporations to individuals," she said. In 2013, she launched Socentech, an online community, to study social entrepreneurship and low-cost technology for poverty reduction.

There is need to watch out for opportunities to become a successful entrepreneur, she said. Born to entrepreneur parents, she feels support from the family is needed to become a successful entrepreneur.