By Rolfe Larson on March 20, 2013
Seems obvious: of course prior business experience is a big advantage when starting a social enterprise. But now there’s evidence that this might not be correct. Research suggests that LESS experienced social entrepreneurs were MORE successful (in terms of revenue and social media network) compared to their MORE experienced colleagues. And the WORST performance came from social [...]
By Rolfe Larson on February 23, 2013
While the term “impact investing” (or social capital) has garnered substantial attention in recent years, the more traditional field of microfinance, still by far the largest share of impact investments, gets less attention yet has decades of experience doing social capital. Here are a few of lessons from the micro finance sector worth reviewing as [...]
By Rolfe Larson on January 31, 2013
I don’t know about that, but it’s definitely making waves in the social change world. Social capital — and by that we mean investors and lenders who are focused on providing funds not for (or at least not only for) their own profit, but also for the greater social or environmental good — is on [...]
By Rolfe Larson on October 9, 2012
There are many reasons why one social enterprise grows fast, while another one doesn’t. Frankly, I think luck has a lot to do with it, but there are many other factors as well. A recent article in the Guardian suggests that the attitude of the leader is the most critical ingredient, and that’s hard to [...]
By Rolfe Larson on April 17, 2012
Marc Lane, arguably the most prolific writer in the social enterprise sector, last year wrote another one of his useful books, entitled: Social Enterprise: Empowering Mission-Drive Entrepreneurs. It’s a good book to glance through, and even more important, to have nearby on your bookshelf for when you have a legal question about social enterprise. For [...]
By Rolfe Larson on February 13, 2012
The following blog was written by guest blogger Cyndi Laurenti: The economic struggle the U.S. is facing today isn’t simply a matter of a few bad business decisions; for too long business practices have marginalized and preyed on their market base. The quest for corporate profits has caused similar degradation of social systems and the [...]
Rolfe Larson provides consulting and training in areas such as strategic planning, market research, feasibility analysis, business planning, marketing and implementation strategies.
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