5 ways business can support and partner with social entrepreneurs

The guide outlines five strategies for businesses to collaborate with social entrepreneurs: integrating social products into offerings, developing value-added local services, sharing corporate knowledge and skills, supporting social innovation pilots, and engaging in multi-stakeholder partnerships beyond their core business. It emphasizes that such partnerships can potentially benefit nearly 1 billion people and help businesses transition from a shareholder model to a stakeholder-focused approach to sustainability.

• Partnering with and supporting social entrepreneurs is estimated to have a positive impact on the lives of nearly 1 billion people globally.
• Businesses can integrate social businesses into their product offerings by identifying business gaps that social partners can fill, ensuring alignment of values and goals, and considering the social business's financial maturity and infrastructure needs.
• Companies can develop local value-added services focusing on circularity—such as recycling, repair, and refurbishing—or last-mile deliveries. For example, the Ingka Group has invested in skills and work experience for refugees, migrants, women, young people, and people with disabilities.
• Corporate knowledge and skill-sharing should be a mutual exchange where employees provide business expertise and social entrepreneurs provide insights into social impact, helping employees better integrate social impact into the business.
• Supporting social innovation through grants or micro-loans for pilots requires management commitment, a structured process from ideation to testing, and the use of experienced facilitators who understand the social enterprise landscape.
• To address systemic challenges, businesses should look beyond their direct line of work to form multi-stakeholder partnerships or work through intermediary organisations.

APA

Feldt, Å. S. (2021). 5 ways business can support and partner with social entrepreneurs. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/5-ways-business-can-support-and-partner-with-social-entrepreneurs/

Chicago

Feldt, Åsa Skogström. 5 ways business can support and partner with social entrepreneurs. World Economic Forum, 2021. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/5-ways-business-can-support-and-partner-with-social-entrepreneurs/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Feldt |first1=Åsa Skogström |title=5 ways business can support and partner with social entrepreneurs |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=19 January 2021 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/5-ways-business-can-support-and-partner-with-social-entrepreneurs/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{feldt2021ways, author = {Feldt, Åsa Skogström}, title = {{5 ways business can support and partner with social entrepreneurs}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/5-ways-business-can-support-and-partner-with-social-entrepreneurs/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }