“Investing in Social Innovation: Harnessing the Potential of Partnership between Corporations and Social Entrepreneurs.”

 

 

The growth in corporate responsibility and social entrepreneurship represents two of the
most exciting social trends of the past decade. Around the world there is increased
awareness of the potential to harness the core competencies, assets and resources of
corporations in helping to find new solutions to complex social and environmental
problems. At the same time, there has been a dramatic growth in awareness of, and support or the crucial leadership role played by social entrepreneurs – individuals who apply
innovative, entrepreneurial, performance-driven, and scalable approaches to solving societal
problems, and who often act as bridge-builders between different sectors, communities,
institutions and/or cultures.

 

Yet, with a few notable exceptions, relatively little analysis has been done on the linkages
between these two trends and between the corporate leaders and social entrepreneurs that rive them. This is especially the case in developing countries where there are both
enormous development needs and great opportunities for increasing engagement between
corporations and social entrepreneurs.