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How Your Company Can Become a Social Innovator
The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social innovation defines social innovation as “the application of innovative, practical, sustainable, market-based approaches to benefit society in general, and low-income or under-served populations in particular." Traditionally associated with social entrepreneurs, this tool is increasingly being adopted by business. This is a trend to be welcomed, supported and replicated as companies – big or small, multinational or national – can contribute to taking the practice of social innovation to a significantly larger scale.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Necessity Breeds Lifesaving Invention – and a Hub to Launch More Innovation
Dr. Dayo Olakulehin, a young doctor in Lagos, Nigeria, fell asleep while manually ventilating a 5-year-old boy with breathing difficulties. That led him to invent D-Box, a cheap, portable, rechargeable ventilator – and then he helped develop a company to launch the device and other medical innovations in Africa.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Young Women Social Entrepreneurs Inspire Optimism in Sierra Leone
The Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship's Global Social Benefit Institute works with passionate social entrepreneurs, whose work ranges from using drones to do last-mile distribution of medicines, to working with high school kids to help them solve problems they see in their communities. Pamela Roussos, senior director at the Miller Center, shares two women-led enterprises from their Sierra Leone workshop that stood out as especially inspiring.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Tags
- academia
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The Leap from Social Sector to Social Enterprise
Almost every day, I engage with professionals who are hoping to land a new type of job in a completely new discipline, region or sector. However, in our experience, you’re likely to be most successful at landing a job if you aim for roles that leverage your strengths and then seek ways to pivot into new areas of responsibility. Here are some tips for transitioning from the development, government or NGO sectors to a social business.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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The Personal Connection: The Value of In-Person Training for Women Business Owners
As part of his continuing series, Nathan Rauh-Bieri checks back in with participants in the year-long Vital Voices GROW Fellowship. He learned that, in a world growing more "virtual" by the day, there's still plenty of value in entrepreneurs meeting face to face.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
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Sloppy Numbers About Poor Households
Affordability – the ratio between price and household income – matters and gets insufficient attention. While there has been a huge effort to sell quality goods and services at a low price point, there's been relatively little effort to understand incomes and spending patterns in poor households.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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NexThought Monday: Enough With Impact; Focus on Entrepreneurs
Rather than celebrating better metrics, definitions, research and structures, we as a sector need to focus on the entrepreneurs behind each enterprise, and the motivations behind each entrepreneur.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Calling All Failures: Failing is a Big Part of Social Entrepreneurship. F*ckUp Nights Wants You to Talk About It
Though most new companies shut down, entrepreneurs rarely talk about their failures. This is counterproductive, especially in challenging sectors like social enterprise. That’s why F*ckUp Nights is building a movement to discuss and research business failure. This exclusive series with NextBillion will feature some of their top failure stories from would-be social entrepreneurs. And if your social business has failed, you’re welcome to add your story.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
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