Can you use a business model to not just to do well, but also to radically change a system? At Ashoka, the global network for the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, we’ve met hundreds of groundbreaking entrepreneurs around the world who have taught us that social businesses can be a powerful pathway to social change.
The fact that there are successful models for market-based social impact, however, does not mean that it’s easy. Social entrepreneurs have repeatedly asked: what are practical examples they can learn from? They want examples of how to use business models to reach greater scale of social impact, or to effect systems change, in a way that doesn’t compromise their original social mission.
To address this challenge, we selected five social entrepreneurs from diverse sectors that serve as examples of market-based models of systems-change. Each case study highlights key decisions, lessons learned, and pitfalls avoided in order to reach impact.
By Reem Rahman, Nadine Freeman, and Mark Cheng
