[The weekly wrap] The top social entrepreneurship stories from the week that went by

Sunday December 22, 2013 , 3 min Read

Every week we bring you the best social entrepreneurship stories from around the world. This week we have stories about why social entrepreneurs must collaborate, fostering female social entrepreneurs, IAN Impact invests in GoCoop and why scaling up is not always about growth.

1) Follow the Leader? Why Social Entrepreneurs Must Collaborate

The article asks a difficult question of whether fellowships and prizes like those offered by organizations like the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, the Schwab Foundation, Ashoka and the Skoll Foundation to individuals discourage collaboration. If collaboration is the one of the keys to success, maybe its time for a rethink on how fellowships and prizes are awarded.

2) How to get ahead … as a social entrepreneur

Here’s a new online directory for UK-based social entrepreneurs that offers information on where they can get help, start-up funds and develop their business. The guide has been launched by the charity New Entrepreneurs Foundation. More than 500 different organizations that can offer help are listed.

3) Fostering Female Social Entrepreneurs

Do women have a particular affinity to social entrepreneurship? Servane Mouazan, founder of U.K.-based organization, Ogunte, that exclusively focused on supporting, connecting and promoting women social entrepreneurs certainly thinks so. “There’s this sort of natural tendency of spotting things that are not going well around us and willingness to transform them, to fix them,” observes Mouazan.

4) Why won’t corporations invest in socially conscious startups?

Imagine of corporates were to start investing in social enterprises? It may have slowly started to happen. In 2011 General Electric invested in Burn Manufacturing, a maker of sustainable burning stoves. But more maybe needed.

5) British social impact investing has left the US playing catch-up

UK has left the US in the dust when it comes to innovating around ways to invest in social entrepreneurship. Think social impact bonds, Big Society Capital and Social Stock Exchange.

6) 3 Key Characteristics Of Great Social Business Entrepreneurs

Saskia Bruysten, co-founder and CEO of Yunus Social Business takes us through three key characteristics of great social business entrepreneurs. It may be just the pieces of wisdom required to inspire your 2014.

7) IAN Impact invests in social marketplace for cooperative enterprises GoCoop.com

IAN Impact, a sub-group of Indian Angel Network (IAN) has invested an undisclosed amount in GoCoop Solutions and Services, which owns and operates GoCoop.com, a social marketplace for co-operatives and community-based enterprises. GoCoop.com’s marketplace is based on a unique algorithm for market linkage between potential buyers and sellers and was launched in 2011.

8) Why Scaling Up Is Not Always about Growth

Scaling up is on everybody’s mind. But is scaling up always about growth? This article explores the idea that growth and scaling up may not always be the same.

9) Middle East youths tackle social problems by starting businesses

The Middle East has had some serious socio-economic problems. The youth there are leveraging the power of social entrepreneurship to change that.