[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 hybrid model social businesses are adopting, Patanka winning a prestigious award, and Omnivore Partners investing in Eruvanka Technologies.
1) Social entrepreneurs tap hybrid business model
Increasingly non-profits are using a hybrid model of setting up both a non-profit and a for-profit to raise revenues that will help sustain those initiatives that doesn’t generate revenues. NGOs are set up as a trust or society for-profit arms are set up as a private limited company.
2) Diageo aims to empower two million women
Diageo has plans to empower two million women, including 27,000 in India, under its five-year socio-economic program in the Asia-Pacific region. In a statement the company said: “Plan W aims to reach women of all socio-economic profiles through training and skills development to empower two million women in 17 countries in Asia-Pacific over five years.”
3) Indian social enterprise wins UN award
Patanka, a Delhi-based social business enterprise of non-governmental organisation (NGO) SEEDS won the 2013 Momentum of Change Lighthouse Award. The award was given by the secretariat of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany, declared Patanka the winner of
Patanka won the award building a house in a flood-prone area of Gorakhpur, in collaboration with Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) under the Rockefeller Foundation supported Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) program.
4) Omnivore Partners buys minority stake in Eruvaka Technologies
Omnivore Partners invested an undisclosed amount, acquired a minority stake in Eruvaka Technologies, a maker of diagnostic equipment for aquaculture farmers. This is Omnivore Partner’s first transaction in the aquaculture industry and seventh overall. Eruvaka Technologies’ solar-powered product allows shrimp and fish farmers to monitor their ponds remotely and control automated equipment such as aerators and feeders.
5) Social enterprise celebrities: the good and the bad
Are celebrities a good or bad idea for social enterprises?
In the UK, because of the huge hype that surrounds social enterprises, the social business sector is attracting a lot of celebrities. Here’s the good and the bad of it.
6) Joel Mwale – bringing ‘Facebook’ education to Kenya
Social media for most students is a distraction. Joel Mwale, an uneducated 20-year-old Kenyan, might have an answer to this problem. Read about it here.
7) E-scooter maker to raise Rs 30 cr
Go Green BOV, a Bangalore-based company that claims to have developed India’s first electric scooter that gives a mileage of 100 km with a single charge is looking to raise Rs 30 crore. The company will invest Rs 18 crore to set up an integrated plant manufacturing plant.
8) Chevron’s corporate social enterprise: A new model for private sector-led development
Energy company Chevron has launched a model of private sector-led development in Nigeria. In 2010, the corporation announced an initial commitment of $50 million for a corporate social enterprise program. The company has now decided pump in another $100 million to be spent over five years into an initiative that will be invested in three indigenous economic activities — fisheries, cassava and palm oil — and promote market-driven solutions to expand them.
9) Student starts social enterprise to keep students safe at night
James Holden, a student at Plymouth University, started a social enterprise aged just 20. His company, Student Safety Ltd, makes a product that ensures that students were kept safe on the streets.
Currently he is on a year-long placement as an intern at Plymouth’s Entrepreneurship Centre, and is due to graduate in 2015.
10) The five stages of grief for a failed social entrepreneur
Dan Morrison, the ex-CEO and founder of Citizen Effect, a nonprofit crowdfunding platform for social good projects around the world talks about the five stages of grief following a failed social enterprise, and how to recover your motivation and start again. He’s currently the chief do good officer at Imagine Social Good, a strategy and marketing firm that partners with social innovators to realize the change they want to see in the world.