Clarification of concepts As this was felt necessary by participants (expressed in the evaluation of the seminar), here is our intent to have a short definition of social entrepreneurship and a long one with examples (full article to download) Social entrepreneurship: The case for definitionBy Roger L. Martin & Sally OsbergThe term “social entrepreneurship” is not clearly defined today. In order to understand it, we should start by looking at the characteristics of entrepreneurship. Continue reading →
The following posts here below provide you with four examples of social entrepreneursip:↓ Biohof Schüpenried walks the participants through the farm facilities and explains how the farm diversified its income sources.↓ Christian Hiss explains his model of Regionalwert AG, a people’s owned stock company that invests into local agricultural value chain.↓ Madison Ayer talks about his challenges and solutions providing the right tools for higher yields to small farmers in Kenya.↓ Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya explains his IT platform ekgaon for small farmers in India: A mobile phone service at their fingertips! Ashoka is the largest network of social entrepreneurs worldwide, with nearly 3000 Ashoka Fellows in 70 countries putting their transformative ideas on a large scale. Founded in 1981, it has provided start-up financing, professional support services, and connections to a global network across the business and social sectors. It has also been a platform for people dedicated to changing the world.We had the pleasure of hearing how Stephanie Schmidt at Ashoka in North America sees social entrepreneurship, what she thinks social entrepreneurship is about, as well as find out from her about some of the challenges social entrepreneurs face in the near future. Continue reading →
Making Markets Work for Small Farmers Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, CEO ekgaonVijay Pratap Singh Aditya presented its social enterprise ekgaon. The enterprise offers small farmers in the Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh region of India an IT platform that provides them with services throughout the agricultural production chain.An IT solution for farmers who:Live in geographically very remote areasRely on mono crop agricultureLive of very low incomesAbandon their agricultural activity for the search of better paid jobsAre illiterate (literacy level at 20%) But to a large extent own mobile phones!Own the land they work onThe solution ekgaon proposes is as follows: Continue reading →
Farm Shops in Kenya: Can a Delivery System for Agricultural Inputs to Small Producers Enhance Crops? ”When you put the right tools in farmers’ hands, the results can be magical” – Bill Gates Madison Ayer, CEO FarmShopMeet Madison Ayer, who started his career as a venture capitalist in the United States, where he founded two companies. With this experience, Madison chose to move to Kenya where he now lives, to focus on problems more ”on the ground”. It is there that Madison founded ”Farm Shop”, a social enterprise selling agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers, and other agricultural input products) to farmers. Continue reading →
Supporting and Scaling Up Organic Farming – The Story of Christian Hiss Christian Hiss, CEO Regionalwert AGImagine growing up on an organic farm, and seeing with your own eyes not just the great benefits of organic farming to the preservation and sustainability of our planet’s ecosystems, but also the challenges to organic farming growth, scaling up and profitability. This is exactly what Christian Hiss did. And he chose to address these challenges by creating – in 2006 – his own company, RegionalWert AG. Continue reading →
Organic Farming in Action – What They Did at Biohof Schüpfenried We started Day 1 of our workshop on how social entrepreneurship can contribute to market systems development in agriculture by having a tour of the Biohof Schüpenried – a ”cluster” of organic farming businesses close to Bern in Switzerland.Roland Münger and Markus Wüthrich – two local entrepreneurs working on the Biohof Schüpenried – showed us around the farm various facilities. Continue reading →