[The weekly wrap] The top social entrepreneurship stories from the week that went by
Every week we bring you the best social entrepreneurship stories from around the world. This week we have stories about The Guradian’s launch of social enterprise soapbox, the missing voices of social enterprise, Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande goal to start social incubation hubs and Gregory Dees, the person who defined social entrepreneurship.
1) Social enterprise soapbox: your chance to speak to the sector
The Guradian has launched a social enterprise soapbox, a platform for professionals to discuss the latest news and challenges in the sector. The soapbox will act as an online community for social enterprise professionals and offer members a way to interact with one another.
2) The missing voices of social enterprise:
The social enterprise industry is known for many firsts. Diversity in top leadership is one of them. Here are some stats from the UK: 38% of chief executives are women, less than 10% of social enterprises have male-only leadership teams, and 15% of social enterprises are led by people from a black or minority ethnic community.
3) Deshpande’s Sandbox to inspire social innovation hubs:
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, founder of Sycamore Networks plans to replicate the success of his technology enterprise in India’s social enterprise sector through the creation of social innovation hubs.
4) XLRI to hold the first-ever Dr. Verghese Kurien Memorial Oration
XLRI- Xavier School of Management is organizing the first-ever “Dr Verghese Kurien Memorial Oration on Sustainable Development” in memory of the Founder of AMUL Dr. Verghese Kurien, on 31st January, 2014 at the XLRI Campus, Jamshedpur.
5) New York boasts boldest pay for success program yet:
New York has launched a new *social impact bond (SIB) with Merrill Lynch and Social Finance. It claims to include three innovations never seen before in a social finance partnership. The first four year program (SIB) was launched in 2012 by Goldman Sachs by providing a $9.6 million loan.
6) Gregory Dees: The Man Who Defined Social Entrepreneurship:
Professor Gregory Dees died recently at age 63. Dees is best-known for writing The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship, when the phrase was barely known, not even by those running “social ventures” at that time. This article contains excerpts from his seminal article written while teaching at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
7) Five tips for becoming a social entrepreneur in 2014:
Zack Rosenberg’s recommends some tips to becoming a social entrepreneur. Some of them are investigate business incubators and be prepared to embrace constant change. He says that individuals like Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes, and the late Paul Newman, founder of Newman’s Own, have proven that businesses can meet financial goals and have social impact.
8) The future of the voluntary sector: the social enterprise case study:
Does the voluntary sector need to adopt a business mindset as an answer to its woes? Social enterprises, Walker says are set apart from private sector organizations, because of their willingness to work in partnerships.
9) Five minutes with … Gandys flip flops’ co-founders, Rob and Paul:
Rob and Paul Forkan were orphaned after the 2004 Tsunami. They decided to do something about it by starting a social enterprise to help orphans in developing countries. In this article they talk about their journey of starting the social venture.