NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

With the world reeling from the effects of COVID-19, climate change, and social inequality, and the risks of a global supply chain crisis mounting, business is feeling the pressure to set new commitments for operating in ways that respect human rights, promote environmental sustainability, and increase social impact—but they face an enormous set of challenges to get there.

The transformation from a shareholder-focused model to a stakeholder model requires innovation, adaptation, and new partnerships on an unprecedented scale. An untapped opportunity to achieve this shift is for corporations to team up with social entrepreneurs.

Over the past two decades, social entrepreneurs have demonstrated their capacity to lead with new ideas, new business models, and new ways of operating that can accelerate the transformation required. And in the past two years, as they have stepped up as first responders to the pandemic — often filling critical gaps left by overwhelmed formal services — the value they bring has become even more obvious.