Five years ago, when Filipe Santos asked the MBA students in his “New Business Ventures” class at INSEAD how many aspired to become a social entrepreneur, only about 5 percent raised their hands. Today, at least 25 percent plan to create a business dedicated to generating both social and economic benefits, and five years from now, Santos expects even more budding social entrepreneurs in his class.

“I receive an email a week from people interested in social entrepreneurship,” says Santos, academic director of INSEAD’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative. “These people are coming to business school with a different mindset. They aren’t just seeking a career leap.” INSEAD, which has campuses in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, has offered executive education in social entrepreneurship for five years and will launch a social entrepreneurship course for MBA students this fall.

For my book The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace, I interviewed dozens of students and recent graduates and was struck by the fact that virtually all of them think beyond their own pocketbooks. They don’t intend to wait until they’re old and wealthy and merely write a big check to charity; they want meaningful jobs now that will benefit their communities—and even the world. Unlike the rebellious baby boomers and the cynical Gen Xers, many young people today see business careers as the most powerful way to deal with the pressing problems they are inheriting—from world poverty to AIDS to global warming. Some hope to build their own enterprises dedicated to social and environmental causes, while others favor working in areas such as renewable energy and health care for large, profit-driven companies, which have far greater financial resources and managerial talent than government, NGOs, and charities.

“I am massively excited about this generation,” says Pamela Hartigan, director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. “Some of them have had a Road to Damascus moment and believe they can combine markets with their values to use business for good.”