In Smichov, companies that have claimed their territory include Skype, Google, and startup incubators and accelerators such as StartupYard and Node5.

Social innovators are also making their mark in the area.

The Hub, a collaborative space and community for social innovators which began in London in 2005, has come to Prague.  Located in Smichov, Hub Prague was founded in 2010 by Petr Baše, Zdeněk Rudolský, Jakub Mareš, and Petr Vítek.

Why Hub Prague?          

“Our common idea was that society would need something to connect the good aims of NGOs and the effectiveness and ability of corporates,” said Mareš.

Before starting Hub Prague, the four co-founders had experience working for non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International as well as working in the corporate sector.  Mareš worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

What they noticed was that unlike Western Europe, the Czech Republic lacks even a co-working space for people to use.

So in 2009, the four of them started looking for a suitable space in Prague and found the current location in Smichov.  With support from the foundation of one of the largest Czech banks, they invested 4 million crowns (approximately $200,000) through private financing to found Hub Prague.

Hub Prague’s operations      

Today, similar to other co-working spaces around the world, Hub Prague relies on three sources of income: membership, meeting room and conference space rentals, and office space rentals.

But Mareš reveals that many of Hub Prague’s members do not work on social innovation projects or things that he would define as something interesting, done differently, or good for the society and nature.

“Here it’s different than in Western Europe when the first Hubs came into being.  When Jonathan Robinson started the first Hub, there were dozens of similar co-working spaces connecting people.  He wanted to do something different so when he founded The Hub, he said it’s a space for social innovators and social enterprises.”

“We were in a different situation,” said Mareš.  “There were a few co-working spaces shared by six to ten people.  So we started the first big co-working space and that’s why we have many normal businesses here.”

Mareš estimates that about 75 percent of Hub Prague’s operations and members fall outside the social innovation and social enterprise space.  He credits traditional businesses for allowing Hub Prague to be sustainable, and for bringing something to the table.

“It’s good that we have a majority of normal businesses here for two reasons.  First it makes Hub Prague sustainable and second, they mingle.”

Social Impact Award

Three years later, other co-working spaces have emerged throughout the city and Hub Prague wants to expand the social enterprise and innovation section of the business pie.  To do this, they came up with an idea last year to launch an annual Social Impact Award (SIA).

Open to university students in Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia, the SIA is designed to encourage and help those who want to try to start a social business.  Winners of the SIA are provided with a stipend and membership at The Hub to grow their ideas.  Last year, the winners were Pragulic, a blossoming social business that employs homeless people to give walking tours of Prague.

Social enterprise in the Czech Republic

The fact that few of Hub Prague’s members work in the social innovation space gives an image of the sector in the Czech Republic.

To understand its slow growth, one has to look no further than the term itself.  When translated into Czech language, “social enterprise” gives a bad connotation because of the word “social”.  Up until 1990, Czechoslovakia was official called Česká socialistická republika or Czech Socialist Republic.

“People think social enterprise is connected with state support for people who can’t earn money themselves,” said Mareš.  “What can be a challenge is the definition of social enterprise and the understanding among the society of what it is.”

In addition, social enterprise in reality is often narrowly tied to businesses that employ disadvantaged groups.

“We had discussions on what’s social entrepreneurship here in this country, and it’s perceived as businesses who employ people who have difficulty getting employment.  It’s very narrow, and we say no it’s everything,” said Mareš.

Agnese Lesinska, who has done research on social entrepreneurship with a Latvian think-tank, also found that certain groups view social enterprises as merely businesses that help disadvantaged people get employment.  A majority of Latvia’s current social enterprises are considered work integration social enterprises.

When analyzing how this narrow view came about, Mareš explains that in the Czech Republic, there are two main uses and players of social enterprises trying to promote inclusion into the workforce.  One of which are NGOs who want to help their target group by generating their own income independent of state.

“It’s a very big problem,” said Mareš, “because NGOs are very bad at doing business.  They are able to get money from the European Union, they invest into coffee shops, employ three disabled people and maybe two others to take care of the business, but when money runs out, the project is finished.  They have a big problem to continue to sustain.  So usually they vanish.  It’s the same anywhere in the world.”

“95 percent of NGOs think that social entrepreneurship is employing difficult-to-employ people,” added Mareš.

The second group is entrepreneurs who have never heard of the term social entrepreneurship, but employ people who would have difficulties getting employment.

What’s true is that social entrepreneurs have long been characterized as implementers of radical ideas for society, and that a new generation of social entrepreneurs is putting their ideas into running profitable businesses that address issues such as employment.

For Mareš, the uses of social enterprise are still subject to untapped potential beyond addressing employment.  He hopes to see more people engaged in the sector, especially corporate types who have a personal connection with certain issues and who may not be content with their work.

“What we still don’t have much of are people who have the biggest probability of success.  These are people who are personally engaged in the topic and who have business skills.”

The competition aims to recognize undergraduate and graduate students’ socially innovative projects that help communities worldwide.

Solar Conduction Dryer’s solution is to tackle food spoilage so that farmers can keep more of their crops to sell.  The team revealed that 25 percent of farmers in India commit suicide as they are trapped in a cycle of poverty, and an idea as simple as saving 20 to 30 percent of their harvest will boost their income.

Because of India’s unreliable electrical infrastructure, the idea uses cost-effective dehydrators powered by solar conduction.  Using this method, farmers will also be able to sell dehydrated fruits and vegetables as another source of income.

Second place and a $40,000 prize went to Foot Soldiers which sells affordable shoes for 48 million Bangladeshi who cannot afford proper footwear and are at risk of diseases associated with bare feet.

Good-Benefits.com, a project that helps people make payroll contributions to tax-exempt micro-foundation accounts from which they can give funds over time to nonprofits, took third place and a $20,000 prize.

Two other finalists, Semka Biomedical Technologies and Citizen Power / Sunriding, received $10,000 each to launch their ideas.  Semka, a team from Mexico, is developing a device capable of performing tumor biopsies non-invasively through blood extraction.  Citizen Power, from Germany, helps ordinary people team up to plan, finance, build, and maintain urban solar installations using an online social platform.

Source and photo: Dell Inc.

Together with the Ministry of Social and Family Development, the ministry notorious for nurturing social enterprises in Singapore, DBS Bank organized this carnival to be held at the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade to celebrate and raise the profile of social enterprises.

Over twenty social enterprises will be present on the weekend of May 18-19 and May 24-25.

Among them are Circus in Motion, a circus arts company for at-youth risk, and Bamboobee, a social enterprise employing ex-offenders, at-risk youth, single mothers, and people with disability to make bicycle and bicycle related products using bamboo.

Each social enterprise will give performances or offer merchandise and food for sale.

For the average person, this box may not mean anything to them.  But for someone who is visually impaired, the box can help them judge the width of the street that they’re about to cross.

There is also a ticking sound at the crossing.  When the light turns green, the sound ticks faster, meaning it is safe to cross.

Certain aspects of a city are designed to be user-friendly for people who are visually impaired, which allow them to do the same things as anyone else, such as cross the street.

“We do this because there are people in everyday life who don’t want to talk about disability and they’re not sure – maybe they’re not allowed to ask,” said Eva-Maria Kriechbaum, co-founder of Dialogue in the Dark (DID) Vienna.

DID is a social enterprise and franchise founded in Germany in 1988 by Andreas Heinecke based on an idea to give full-sighted people an understanding of the daily routines of blind people.

Today, DID runs 15 exhibitions across the world so that people have an opportunity to understand blind people and how they perform tasks, ask questions, and get a feel for trying to function in complete darkness.

Holding a white cane, visitors are led by tour guides, who themselves are blind, through an exhibition in the dark.  At the Vienna location, they perform tasks such as crossing a street, shopping, walking through a park, crossing a bridge, and riding a boat.

More than just a business

Opened in 2009, DID Vienna now employs twenty guides and is financially sustainable.  It is the first location to have blind or visually impaired employees at all levels of the company, including their managing director.  But success didn’t come easy.  Kriechbaum and three other co-founders of DID were employees of a former venue in Austria that went bankrupt in 2008.

“The philosophy was different,” said Kriechbaum, “It’s difficult to explain why this one worked and the other one didn’t because there are a lot of aspects to it.  But one of the main reasons is we define ourselves as a social enterprise and we personally, as owners of the company, do not want to get money out of it.”

Kriechbaum reveals that she stumbled into a job with DID, thinking it was something other than what she expected.  “I haven’t heard of DID before.  I was looking for a job to get my studies financed and I wanted to have a job in the cultural sector.  I read that this was a job in the exhibition sector.”

“For a lot of people who work for DID, there’s something more behind this that keeps you doing it because you do not get a lot of money out of it and it’s a hard business,” said Kriechbaum.

Social franchising

Among the many social enterprises, DID exemplifies how social franchising can be successful.  Replicating the original model from Germany, DID locations around the world have employed 6,000 blind people and have given tours to 7 million visitors.

Kriechbaum explains that an established brand helps a lot.  “You can use the name ‘Dialogue in the Dark’,” she said.  “Another benefit is we have a global network that can help a lot because you have all the experiences that others already had.”

The tough part is finding employees.  “It’s very difficult to find employees that are able to do this job because you have to talk about your disability every single day,” she said. “You have to feel comfortable with yourself and you have to be self-confident.”

Removing barriers – there is no “us” versus “them”

An underlying philosophy of DID is to have a place where people can openly discuss the topic of blindness.

“One time we had students around the ages of 12 and 13 who asked our tour guides if they live here and if they are allowed to go out on the street,” said Kriechbaum.  “People are not sure what the abilities are of a blind person so they ask ‘How do you go shopping?’, ‘How are you able to dress yourself?’, ‘How are you able to use a computer or mobile phone?’ ”

“Our guides explain this.  It is important because if you don’t answer these questions, you won’t get people realizing that blind people are not that different, they just have to cope with their own lives.  They are the same as you and me.”

For young children, DID Vienna hosts events such as theatre, comedy, and birthday parties.

“Once we had a children’s birthday party.  There were ten kids doing the tour and eating cake in the dark.  The mother told us that when she talked to her daughter about what would happen at Dialogue in the Dark – that she would get to meet a blind person – she told me that her daughter turned off the lights in the flat and covered her eyes so she could do an exercise to know if she could cope with Dialogue in the Dark,” recalled Kriechbaum.  “She had been doing exercises for a few days before she came here to celebrate her birthday.”

For another visitor, learning to cope with blindness is a fact of life.

“There was a woman in her 80s who came alone.  She didn’t explain why she was coming here and we were asking ourselves why she was coming here alone and didn’t bring anyone,” said Kriechbaum.

“At the end of the tour she began to cry and then explained she got a diagnosis that she was going to be blind within a few weeks.”

“She said she now knows that nothing bad will happen to her.  She knows that she can cope with it and she will be prepared for it, and it’s not as horrible as she thought.”

Prague attracts millions of tourists each year.  All over the city, and especially from the beginning of spring when the weather gets warmer, tourists gather around Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, and Prague Castle.

If you ask the locals – from a city known for showing visitors its charm – whether they frequent the city centre or other landmarks that tourists are so eager to snap photos of, the answer is an unmistakable no.

In spite of this, a group of twenty locals gathered one Friday evening outside Prague main railway station and could be easily mistaken for a crowd of tourists.

They huddled around Karim, 39, one of Pragulic’s tour guides and an ex-drug addict and gay prostitute who lived on the streets.

“I learned about this tour through my school,” said one participant, who was interested in knowing more about people living on the streets.

Founded by Katarina Chalupková, Ondřej Klügl, and Tereza Jurečková, students from Charles University, Pragulic is a social business that employs homeless people to give walking tours of Prague.  The tour, costing 200 CZK (10 USD) per person, is catered to locals who are shown the side of Prague beyond picturesque architecture and who want to understand the part of their city that is little understood.

That Friday evening, Karim brought the group through much of the city’s Old Town just west of Prague main railway station.

Karim, who left Slovakia for Czech Republic as a teenager and lived on the streets in Prague for twenty years, gave the group an overview of how prostitution works.  Standing on the corner of Rytířská and Perlová, he points to where female prostitution typically occurs, and on the opposite side where their male counterparts work.

Ever since the early 1990s, after Czechoslovakia dissolved into Czech Republic and Slovakia, prostitution had been on the rise together with the number of tourists to the city.  Karim explained that many get into prostution as early as 13.

Over the last ten years, there have been increased efforts in Czech Repubic to crackdown on prostitution.  Anti-trafficking measures had been implemented.  At the same time, thousands of people remain homeless in Prague and many more are unaccounted for.

“According to official statistics there are 4,000 homeless people in Prague,” said Jurečková.

In the middle of the tour, the group stopped at Café Louvre on Národní, a main road buzzing with tourists.  During the 1990s, Café Louvre was a nightclub called Riviera where prostitution occurred.  It was also the place where Karim used to work.  That evening, he brought the group to the café for a beverage where they got the opportunity to ask him questions.

Karim revealed that he never had a good relationship with his parents – one never accepted the fact that he was gay while the other, who thought that he would live a tough life ever since he was young, was never able to communicate well with him.  Karim has a free-spirited personality and didn’t want anyone to dictate him.  He left home and started living on the streets at 15, where he got involved in prostitution and drugs for the next twenty years.

When asked what made him break the cycle, Karim explained that a client had given him HIV and that he saw his best friend die from a drug overdose.  These led him to think of the more important things in life.

Does he have any regrets?  “No,” Karim said resoundingly.  And if it wasn’t for contracting HIV, Karim said he would probably still be in prostitution.  In total, it took him two years to quit drugs.

Today, he spends most of his time working at a homeless theatre, painting, and giving people tours at Pragulic.

A young teen once asked Karim to show him how to enter prostitution.  Although he doesn’t have any regrets, Karim doesn’t want to bring anyone into the business.  So when he learned about Pragulic, he wanted to give tours to tell his story and discourage others from entering the trade.

Last year, Hub Prague launched the first Social Impact Award (SIA) for university students to encourage them to look beyond a traditional career and provide them with an opportunity to start a social enterprise.

“We had an idea that homeless people could guide people in Prague because they knew the streets in a different way,” said Klügl.

Pragulic began as a written concept on paper and, after winning the SIA, launched in March 2012.

Although the concept looked good on paper, there were many challenges and risks, such as trying to find homeless guides and wondering whether there would be reliability issues.

“We contacted charity houses and those who work with homeless people long-term,”  said Klügl.

The students gave presentations to those who were interested, among them Karim, and now employ five tour guides, each with their own story.

Honza is one guide.  “Ten years ago, he was at the top of society, had a very high salary, and was a creative director.  And then his wife left him with his money so he ended up on the street.  He went to jail because he didn’t pay for their kids.  And then he started to drink,” said Jurečková.

While Karim has experience with drugs, crime, and prostitution, Honza’s tour features second-hand bookshops.  But what the guides have in common are their willingness to be independent.

For Karim, that’s also why he’s keeping active with theatre and the arts.  He explains that no one will give you anything unless you work for it.

“The guides that we’re working with are very independent,” said Jurečková.  “For example, they sell Big Issue magazines.  They are very active.”

Karim has been off the street for four years now.  Still, if you ask about his outlook on life, he will say that he feels the worst is yet to come.

After all, the 2011 GEM Report on Social Entrepreneurship estimated the share of the population involved in social entrepreneurship to be 7.5 percent in Finland, 5.7 percent in the UK, and 4.1 percent in Belgium.  Across the EU, 1 out of 4 businesses set up are social enterprises.  In Finland, France, and Belgium, that number is 1 out of 3.

With the economic crisis looming over its head, the EU set out the agenda for the Europe 2020 growth strategy, aiming to generate smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth in the EU.

One aspect of this strategy comes from realizing that because social enterprises generate significant social, environment, and community impact, they are an integral part for achieving the objectives in the 2020 strategy.

In turn, the Social Business Initiative was set up by the European Commission to foster social businesses – another name used interchangeably with social enterprise, although “social business” was first coined by Muhammad Yunus to define more specifically a non-loss, non-dividend, socially-oriented company and can therefore be thought of as a subset of social enterprise too.

For one European country, the economy seems to have bounced back.  After registering the highest unemployment levels in the EU at 23 percent and an annual growth rate of -18 percent in 2009, the Latvian economy grew 5.5 percent in 2011 and 4.5 percent in 2012, according to the CIA World Factbook.

Austerity measures had been implemented and people were either out of a job or took a cut from their
paycheques.

Growth is also expected for 2013 but unemployment remains high.  According to the International Monetary Fund, unemployment in Latvia is largely structural rather than cyclical as was the case during the recession, so lowering unemployment will require difficult-to-implement reforms.

Social entrepreneurship gains interest

Given the recent Social Business Initiative and the desire to address some of Latvia’s stubborn issues such as unemployment, income inequality, and poverty, the Ministry of Welfare has made a commitment to develop social businesses in the country.  But this wasn’t always the case.

“Two years ago, there was a social entrepreneurship forum in Latvia that discussed what social entrepreneurship is and what it could do for society,” said Agnese Lesinska, a researcher on social entrepreneurship at Providus, a non-governmental, non-partisan think tank established in 2002.  “Our
politicians didn’t participate in the forum.”

The Ministry of Welfare had only picked up interest when Providus began doing research on social entrepreneurship and when the European Commission came up with the Social Business Initiative.

“Because of the crisis, we still have a lot of unemployed people.  We have to find the best ways to solve
this,” said Lesinska.

A newborn concept

Providus did research on social entrepreneurship which studied the experiences and legal frameworks
of 11 countries, and drew a vision for Latvia.

From the research they noticed that some may view social businesses as a tool for integrating disadvantaged people through work, while others view them as a tool to solve any social problem.

Because social entrepreneurship is a fairly new concept in Latvia, Lesinska believes the country is at an opportunistic point where they may figure out what they want to build and what they might want to put
into law.

“We are at the beginning of building the concept of social entrepreneurship.  We don’t have any legislation or funds regarding social entrepreneurship,” said Lesinska.  “In spite of that, we have several organizations that are social businesses if we look at the definitions made by Muhammad Yunus or the European Commission.”

Lesinska estimates that there are roughly 10 to 20 visibly noticeable social businesses in the country, and there may be many others that are uncounted for or do not know that they are social businesses.

Many of these businesses that can be identified are work integration social enterprises.  For example, MAMMU is a fashion company founded based on the seven principles of social business developed by Muhammad Yunus and Hans Reitz.  MAMMU employs young mothers who are unable to enter the job market.

In Latvia, many young mothers cannot enter the job market because they don’t have the option to work flexible hours in order to take care of their child.  Moreover, kindergarten spaces are limited and they cannot afford to pay for childcare.  At the same time, they do not receive enough social benefits and have to survive on income below a minimum subsistence level.

MAMMU provides young mothers with training and flexible working hours.  Using the newly acquired skills, the women can set up their own businesses making fashion products.

Can doing good and doing well really co-exist?

Despite showing lack of interest at the beginning, the Ministry of Welfare became a big supporter for developing social entrepreneurship.

Amid austerity measures, critics are concerned that social enterprises are becoming an excuse for governments to cut spending or shirk responsibility in regards to the well-being of society, or that social enterprises are simply bad businesses in disguise because there is no such thing as doing good and doing well.

“The Ministry of Welfare is really willing to promote this idea and make it happen,” said Lesinska in regards to Latvia.  “They see it as an additional tool.  It’s not like they want to cut the possibilities for charity.  They see it as a part of the whole sector.  I think this is a very positive signal and I hope we will get some good ideas for how the government can help support social entrepreneurs.”

When asked about the public’s perception, Lesinska recounts her interactions at forums and with the local media.

“The society can’t understand why somebody would want to make a business not to earn money for themselves, but to solve a social problem.  They just don’t believe it’s possible,” said Lesinska.

“I had to explain that this is a way to solve social problems, not to earn money and buy a big car.”

“We will have to work with that.”

Earlier this month, the Australian Government’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations released a report on the relevance of impact investing in Australia.

The report presents the current impact investing scenario in Australia, and also other countries like the US and UK.  Based on success stories in Australia and abroad, the publication proposes plans to develop the Australian impact investment industry.

Background

Impact investing is an investment form that generates social and/or environmental impact along with financial returns.  This financial tool allows investors to align their financial plans with their social values.  It also contributes towards the betterment of society by allocating funds towards socially innovative projects.

In Australia, impact investment provides a remedy to nonprofits that lack capital even after funding by philanthropic investors and government institutions.

But impact investing has not been fully explored in Australia yet.  In response, the Australian Government’s report provides the public assembled information on impact investing successes and its prospects in Australia.

Current activity

With the support of a robust financial sector and the need for more social-minded financial services, some Australians have entered into the field of impact investing.  These include philanthropic foundations, corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individual investors.

Most of the current impact investing schemes in Australia focus on debt-financing and domestic projects.  An example of an Australian impact investing pioneer would be the ‘Good Shepherd Microfinance’ organization that caters to low-income Australians.

Additionally, the field of impact investing is being extensively researched by Australian institutions such as the Queensland University of Technology and University of Melbourne.  New opportunities for impact investing, such as private capital for affordable housing, are also rising.

Challenges

Although certain groups have expressed interest in the Australian impact investing industry, few are actively engaged.  Some common concerns regarding impact investing include the high risk linked with the novel finance concept, and the difficulty associated with conducting due diligence for small impact investments.

Moreover, at this point, the Australian impact investing market does not have sufficient performance data and its models have not been stringently tested.  Among other things, there is also a lack of research studies solely focused on Australian impact investments.

Growth outlook

Despite the challenges, impact investing is expected to grow in Australia because of its local demand and international success.

One of the growth measures suggested in the report includes raising awareness about impact investing amongst the general public and finance professionals.  Others include widespread adoption of capital distribution models similar to Acumen Fund and Root Capital, and impact measurement systems such as IRIS & GIIRS.

Australian impact investing players are also encouraged to take on more investments and learn from those experiences.  Among the key players, philanthropic trusts are deemed to have one of the highest capital contribution potential in the impact investing scene.

Product innovation and standardization in impact investing are also suggested to be crucial in the sector’s development.  Along with that, emergence of more impact investment intermediaries will also assist in evolving the sector.

To read the full report, visit http://deewr.gov.au/news/deewr-releases-impact-australia-investment-social-and-economic-benefit-report

Crowdfunding platform StartSomeGood has partnered with ING DIRECT to launch ‘Dreamstarter’, which helps entrepreneurs raise additional funds for their projects, provided by ING DIRECT.

Once a month, a Dreamstarter panel made up of representatives from StartSomeGood, ING DIRECT, and the School for Social Entrepreneurs will select projects on the StartSomeGood platform to fund if they reach a “tipping point”, which is the minimum funding needed for a project to kick off.

Tom Dawkins, cofounder of StartSomeGood, said that the partnership breaks new ground in the corporate social responsibility area.

“Crowdfunding is a participatory model that democratises corporate philanthropy.  The projects that will succeed are those that have a genuine mandate from the community,” said Dawkins.

StartSomeGood launched last year to provide people with social change projects the opportunity to raise funds using crowdfunding.

For ING DIRECT, who is a pioneer in branchless banking and focuses on online delivery, it is an opportunity to tap into the crowdfunding model.

“At ING DIRECT we strongly support innovative projects that address real community needs,” said Vaughn Richtor, CEO of ING DIRECT.  “Leveraging ING DIRECT’s customers, employees and the general public’s support benefits all involved.”

To begin, ten social ventures by graduates from the School for Social Entrepreneurs Australia will launch on Dreamstarter.  The first businesses to go live include a project that connects remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs to new markets via an online store and one that helps rural communities in Malawi achieve greater self-sufficiency.

“The Dreamstarter Campaign is a fantastic way for start up social ventures to raise their profile, attract critical seed funding and inspire others to create change in their communities,” said Celia Hodson, CEO of the School for Social Entrepreneurs Australia.

So Acumen Fund created +Acumen (pronounced plus Acumen) to give people a meaningful way to “add” a little “Acumen” to their lives.  To date, there is a network of 20 +Acumen volunteer chapters around the world.  These hubs organize events in their local communities that centre on Acumen Fund’s approach to creating a world beyond poverty.

In January, +Acumen began offering a Acumen Leadership Essentials course that was free and open to everyone, and saw over 3,000 participants from 103 countries.  The course consisted of readings, online videos, and discussions and activities.  Participants signed up in teams and were encouraged to find groups of people in their local area so that they can learn from each other.

Today, Acumen Fund announced the addition of two new +Acumen courses that are currently open for registration: Lean for Social Impact (apply by April 22) and Storytelling for Change (register by May 5).  Each course features the leadership training that Acumen Fund Fellows experience.

Lean for Social Impact is a 7-week course modeled after the Lean Launchpad Class pioneered by Steve Blank.  Storytelling for Change is a 4-week course co-developed with The Ariel Group, who has trained Acumen’s Global Fellows in storytelling for the past five years.

Again, the courses are free and open to everyone, but participants must sign up as a team of at least two and no more than six.

“We meet this year under the rubric ‘disruption’ – that restless search for discontinuities and sustainable innovations that improves our world, and makes us wonder how we lived before,” said Stephan Chambers, Chairman of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and MBA Director at Saïd Business School, in the opening plenary.

The Skoll World Forum kicked off yesterday in Oxford.  For the last ten years, it has brought social entrepreneurs and people from all walks of life together in one city where radical ideas, vision, and passion for a better world fill the air.

What would the world look like in 50 years?

Although it is in its 10th year, Chambers, who reprises his role as master of ceremony, begins speaking not about the last decade, but about the next 50 years.

“In the spirit of disruption, we thought we’d dwell not on the last ten years – tempting as that is – but on the next 50,” Chambers said.  “We asked some of you to speculate, and we think you may be interested in the result.”

Ten achievements signaling progress

Jeff Skoll, founder of the Skoll Foundation, took to the stage next and highlighted ten achievements from the world of social entrepreneurship that he believes represents progress over the last decade.

“We are nowhere near the finish line, but we can and should celebrate the progress of your work in recent years,” Skoll said.

#10 – Technology drives social/social drives technology

From sending money to a family member overseas to medical diagnosis and access to information, social entrepreneurs capitalize on technology to drive change.

#9 – Global commitments to scaling up innovation

Skoll mentions that the US, UK, and Canadian governments recognize the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship and empower social entrepreneurs in their own communities, which sends a strong signal around the world about government commitment.

#8 – Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank win the Nobel Peace Prize

“It doesn’t get more impressive than this.  The ultimate recognition for Muhammad Yunus – the ultimate social entrepreneur,” said Skoll.

#7 – Al Gore and IPCC win the Nobel Peace Prize

The year after Yunus wins the Nobel Peace Prize, Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) received the Nobel Peace Prize, testifying a growing wave of social entrepreneurship worldwide.

#6 – Deforestation rates decline

Less carbon is released into the atmosphere, and while there is still much more that can be done, it is a testament to progress.

#5 – Billions of people gained access to clean water

The 2015 Millennium Develop Goal of halving the number of people without access to improved water sources was met five years ahead of schedule in 2010.

#4 – ‘Social enterprise’ goes mainstream

Skoll contrasts the current state to the beginning of the last decade when there were relatively fewer players in the field.  Today, around 40 million people have careers in and 200 million volunteers work in social entrepreneurship.

#3 – Markets shift toward sustainability

No longer is profitability and sustainability thought as mutually exclusive, and they do not have to sacrifice humanity.

#2 – Progress in global health

There has been significant progress made against killer diseases.  For example, 8 million lives had been saved from HIV/AIDS and polio is on route to disappearing as well.  

#1 – Fewer people live in poverty than ever before

“Fewer people live in poverty than 10 years ago,” said Skoll.  “If we continue, we could end poverty in one generation.”

Passion and perseverance of social entrepreneurs

Passionate conversations are a key part of the three-day program at the Skoll World Forum.  In the opening plenary, a panel moderated by Mabel van Oranje, Chair of Girls Not Brides, exemplifies this with a conversation about that exact passion and perseverance needed to be a social entrepreneur.

Talking about failure

The reality is that despite all its glory and successes, the field of social entrepreneurship has its fair share of failures.

“We’re not very good at discussing failure, so could you share some of your experiences with failure?” van Oranje asked the panel.

Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, begins by sharing that she holds a long-term vision about success when looking at failure.  “I look at my life as a kind of long-term success story.  So I don’t notice the failures,” she said, adding that “I was following my values, my convictions, my vision about how I could help create a better Norway and a better international community.  On the way, there were obstacles, there were difficulties, and there were enormous criticisms.”

Brundtland had lost the 1989 election but came back as Prime Minister in 1990.

“When you are following your passions and are aware that it may take a long time, then you can take setbacks and be happy about the success that comes after,” Brundtland said.

Bill Strickland, President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, agrees.  “Don’t assume that just because you’re in a particular situation that that is the only way it can be forever.  Sometimes there is a lot of darkness before you see light.”

The Skoll World Forum is live streamed on the Skoll World Forum website until April 12. You can also follow updates via Twitter with hashtag #SkollWF.