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Category Archives: Social Business
Business as a source of Social Innovation: part 1- New products, services or markets
In what ways can businesses be a source of social innovation? There are three broad areas where socially innovative businesses should focus their efforts: New products, services or markets; Environmental stewardship; Social well-being of their employees and the communities in which they operate. Continue reading
Posted in CSR & Sustainability, Marketing, Social Business, Social Innovation, Strategy
Tagged business, Environment, Innovation, Mohamed Yunus, social innovation
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The perils of being optimistic and overconfident
Optimism drives you to persevere in the face of adversity, when the odds are against you. It gives you resilience. There is also a negative side to optimism. Be wary. Optimism is “widespread, stubborn, and costly…the optimism bias may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases.” Continue reading
The state of Impact investing according to the Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation just released its report on impact investment titled: Accelerating Impact- Achievements, Challenges and What’s Next in Building the Impact Investing Industry. It provides a snapshot in time of the state of this emerging sector. Continue reading
How to help the poorest of the poor, C.K. Prahalad VS. Paul Collier
I believe both Paul Collier and C.K. Prahalad’s solutions to ending poverty are valid yet neither one of them, alone, will end global poverty. Combined, they can have a lasting effect on the world in which we live. Continue reading
Posted in CSR & Sustainability, Non-profits, Social Business
Tagged Africa, Bottom Billion, Brazil, business, C.K. Prahalad, Corruption, India, Paul Collier, Poverty, transparency
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Do you have what it takes to be a social entrepreneur? 5 essential qualities of a social entrepreneur
Tweet So you want to change the world and become a social entrepreneur? Before going too far in your new venture, make sure you possess these five essential qualities: 1. Unwavering Perseverance: Starting a successful business is hard. Starting a … Continue reading
Posted in Social Business, Social Innovation
Tagged business, social enterprise, social entrepreneur, social impact
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The 4 major challenges of social enterprises
Earlier this week, I attended an online webinar hosted by Stanford Social Innovation Review. The topic was “The Hybrid Ideal”. A panel of researchers presented their latest work about the rise of social enterprises, which they call hybrid organizations. Continue reading
What are the 5 top business plan pitfalls?
In this post I discuss the execution of the strategy. Business plans help articulate how new ventures enact their strategies. They include the value proposition, describe products and services offered, sales and marketing tactics, and other details about how the organization will execute the plan. Continue reading
Corporate Social Innovation: beyond CSR and Sustainability
On May 2nd, during a talk to hundreds of participants across Canada, Geoff Mulgan, CEO of NESTA, used the term Corporate Social Innovation to refer to social innovation in business. It is still too early to say if the term will “stick” but it is providing useful language to bring into the fold a neglected social innovation actor. Continue reading
Finding your passion- lessons learned from a personal journey from business to social innovation
I rarely get very personal in my blog but my son will be leaving town at the end of the summer to go to university and I thought it might be interesting to reflect on some of the good and the bad career choices I made and extract a few lessons! Continue reading
Posted in Leadership and management, Non-profits, Social Business, Social Innovation
Tagged business, Career path, non-profits
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Promoting social enterprise- appeal to the heart or the brain?
The following are a few short videos that depict two very different approaches to promoting social enterprises: first, Nobel Laureate Pr. Yunus discusses how he was able to convince Adidas to develop shoes for the poor. Then, Ian Learmonth, Director of Social Finance, Social Ventures Australia (SVA), discusses social finance and impact investing in social enterprises. Which approach do you think works better? Continue reading