To make money or to do good? We’ve met hundreds of groundbreaking entrepreneurs around the world who have taught us that there’s no need to choose. This includes the first free provider of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that’s registered over 12 millions students and an eye care company that has treated over 32 million patients, many of whom could not have otherwise afforded the treatment needed to prevent blindness.
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? Especially examples for to open up their model to reach greater scale of social impact, or systems change, in a way that doesn’t compromise their original business model.
Five case studies are offered as a way to better understand the key decisions, lessons learned, and pitfalls avoided in order to reach impact. Case Studies include.
