By Heloise Buckland, associate consultant Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo (ECODES)
As part of the MIF’s ambitious comparative study of social entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems between six countries in Asia and five in Latin America, two research teams – from FRI: Fujitsu Research Institute/JRI: Japan Research Institute and ECODES: Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo – met recently to start comparing notes. At this early stage of the study the overarching insight is there is no single recipe for success and there is a huge diversity of approaches across the board.
The two research teams met from 9th to 11th March at the IDB offices in Washington DC. Ms. Tamako Watanabe and Ms. Fumi Sugeno represented the Japan Research Institute (JRI), Mr. Takafumi Ikuta the Fujitsu Research Institute (FRI), and Raquel Orejas and I represented ECODES. On the MIF side, Ms. Yukari Shibuya convened the meeting, Mr. Yuri Soares and Mr. Nobuyuki Otsuka participated. (Mr. Ruben Doboin partially joined and Mr. Cesar Buenadicha is also part of the project but was traveling.) The meeting’s objective was primarily for the research teams to come to a common global framework for understanding social entrepreneurship and social innovation, as well as to align methodologies and select case studies to be explored in depth over the coming months.
With already 100 case study candidates on the table from both regions, which are (i) resolving local social issues and “Impact first” priority (ii) having its financial sustainability (iii) having capacity to scale, the teams had a rich dialogue around how this sector is emerging in different economic and cultural contexts. Some of the early insights to share at this stage are as follows:
Diversity of social causes: In both regions, social enterprises set out to tackle a broad range of social challenges, from undernourished infants to lack of basic services, poor waste management to climate intensive food production, lack of access to sanitation and decent housing, etc.; especially to help vulnerable people which local governments should cover but can’t do so by utilizing private sector. Many of the challenges are common across countries and in some cases the enterprises have already been replicated across borders. For example, here is one of our selection “Florence” case from Japan.
To profit or not to profit? Whilst in both regions both not-for-profit and for-profit legal structures are adopted, there is an emerging trend for using a for-profit company format, particularly amongst those enterprises showing promise and capacity to scale. There are also several examples of a hybrid partnership structure whereby the social enterprise comprises a partnership between not-for-profit and for-profit organisations to serve the double purpose of social mission and financial sustainability.
The role of government: With the exception of South Korea, which has established a Social Enterprise Promotion Act with consequent legal structure, certification and funding mechanism for social enterprises, the remaining governments tend to facilitate the creation of social enterprise through softer policies, such as Colombia and Costa Rica, which have initiated nation-wide Social Innovation Policies.
Who are the social entrepreneurs? Many selected for this study have been supported by international supporting organisations such as ETIC, SVP International, Keio University SFC (Shonan Fujisawa Campus), Ashoka, Echoing Green, Endeavour etc., both in Asia and LAC regions. Whilst recognised for their outstanding work they come from very different backgrounds: some are highly motivated social activists personally affected by the causes they represent, others are experienced entrepreneurs with a new-found social drive or intrapreneurs creating spin-offs from within their companies, and in the case of Leping Foundation in China the entrepreneur is a team of two senior activists and an experienced entrepreneur. For the Latin American part of the study a third of the entrepreneurs are women.
From Startup to Scaled Up: The study has identified around 100 social enterprises from the two regions and within the selected group for more in depth research the teams will focus on both promising startups, such as Lab4U in Chile, as well as established enterprises that have scaled up and been (i) absorbed by national government such as “Care-center Yawaragi” and (ii) bought by large corporations such as “Daichi Wo Mamoru Kai” by Lawson Co., both in Japan.
The next phase of this study will be to research a selection of case studies from Asia (Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore) and the Latin American Pacific Alliance countries (Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, and Mexico). We look forward to sharing more insights as the research evolves.
*Heloise Buckland
Heloise Buckland, associate consultant at Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo (ECODES), is the LAC-side main researcher for the Comparative Study of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation between Asia and LAC. She has 16 years of experience in the field of social business in Europe and Latin America, as a founder of social enterprises in Spain and an educator and researcher at ESADE Business School.
