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

Monday, March 30, 2015

Prossy Sebunya has a passion for clean cook stoves — a technology that’s critical in third-world countries, where fuel is an expensive commodity, wood fires lead to deforestation and unhealthy conditions prevent sanitary food preparation.

But it’s not just her passion. It’s her business.

She’s a social entrepreneur with the goal of spreading these stoves throughout Uganda. Through Boost, a training program for clean cook stove entrepreneurs that’s run by the Global Social Benefit Institute Accelerator, she’s fortified her business model.

Startup accelerators play a critical role in helping social entrepreneurs like Sebunya attract investors. Of course, accelerators are important in the for-profit world, but players in the expanding realm of “business with a mission” could use some help, too.

These idealistic but inexperienced entrepreneurs need more organizations willing to work with them until they’re ready to accept multimillion-dollar investments to scale their impactful projects.

The maturation of later-stage social investing

There’s been an influx of infrastructure to make it easier for large investment funds to move into social investing at later stages.