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Sustainable Business in an Unsustainable World: Three Companies that Show the Impact of Corporate Shared Value
In the U.S., 95% of college grads consider a sense of purpose important in their work, while globally, two-thirds of people are willing to pay more for products from companies committed to positive impact. William Towns of Benefit Chicago discusses the implications of this shifting mentality, and explores how it's being put into practice by several social enterprises across the Chicagoland region.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Scaling a Social Enterprise: How to Get Ready for Take-Off (And Landing)
When it comes to scaling a social enterprise, many believe that "big is beautiful" – and that growing fast is inherently better than going slowly. After all, what entrepreneur wants to delay putting their world-changing innovations into practice? But as Christina Moehrle at Roots of Impact sees it, social entrepreneurs should think twice about their need for speed. She offers three essential tips for aspiring changemakers, based on learnings from their "Scalerator" scaling support program.
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- Entrepreneurship
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Funding Beyond the Straight and Narrow: Overcoming Obstacles to Fund a New Breed of Entrepreneurs
A new breed of social innovators is exploring innovative business models and unconventional approaches in India. But since their models are not traditional or proven, most funders are unwilling to bet on them. Anshu Bhartia, CEO of UnLtd India, has a few suggestions for how these entrepreneurs can compete in a funding market that is "traditional, restrictive and governed by rules that serve the conformists." As the leader of an incubator working with Indian entrepreneurs confronting pressing social issues, Bhartia shares her vision of the road ahead.
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- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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Learning to Think Like a Social Entrepreneur: How Nordic Rebels’ ‘Cooking Slam’ Enhances Entrepreneurship Education
Entrepreneurship is characterized by uncertainty – especially when it's tackling some of society’s biggest challenges. So how can social entrepreneurs learn to navigate this unpredictability as they work to create successful ventures? Nordic Rebels prepares entrepreneurs for these challenges through a unique education program that features a cooking contest. Adithya Varadarajan and Katharina Schilli discuss this innovative approach.
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- Education, Entrepreneurship
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Chronic, Not Acute: The Refugee Crisis Needs Long-Term Solutions – And Social Enterprise Can Help
It’s time to stop addressing the global refugee crisis with short-term emergency measures, and to start seeking long-term solutions, says Thane Kreiner at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship. One of those solutions is entrepreneurship, and Kreiner shares five lessons from the Center's Social Entrepreneurship at the Margins (SEM) accelerator program for businesses serving or led by refugees and other displaced people. The Center is selecting its second SEM accelerator cohort, and applications are open worldwide until August 23, 2019.
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- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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Social Stock Exchange Idea Highlights India’s Move Away From Foreign Aid
Proposal could provide cheaper funding for charities, says finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but critics warn against greater government control of welfare projects.
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Turning Impact Measurement on its Head: A Q&A with 60 Decibels Co-Founders Sasha Dichter and Tom Adams
How should a social business measure its impact? The sector has always struggled to answer that question, leaving many enterprises and investors without useful data about the impact of their work. Acumen is addressing this issue by spinning out a standalone social enterprise called 60 Decibels, which leverages mobile technology to quickly and easily acquire impact data from low-income customers and beneficiaries. Co-founders Sasha Dichter and Tom Adams discuss its innovative model, and the potential it offers to investors, enterprises and the people they serve.
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- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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India’s Demographic Dividend: The Impact Opportunity in Student-Led Social Business
India's social enterprise sector is growing fast, but its overall startup ecosystem doesn’t support social businesses as much it does “commercial” enterprises. And the support it does offer tends to be directed toward larger, more established companies, hampering the sector's broader growth. According to Geet Kalra at Yunus Social Business and Nandan Luthra at Novartis, India can turn this around by leveraging its huge youth population to build multiple small enterprises, through a model called student-led social business. They discuss the potential impact of this innovative approach.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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