NEWS & INSIGHT
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
SCHOOL: Fundação Getulio Vargas COUNTRY: Brazil
SCALING UP IN EUROPE
A study has found that the main objective of a group of Brazilian social entrepreneurs in setting up their organisation was to resolve social issues. The study, which was published in the journal of Fundação Getulio Vargas at São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP), was produced by two researchers at the University of Fortaleza, Roberta Feitosa de Lucena Cavalcante and José Milton de Sousa-Filho. The data was collected through interviews with CEOs, founders and directors, who were mostly made up of young and single individuals with a university degree. Although respondents alluded to family background such as parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts as a source of inspiration, they cited their main push for starting their social enterprise as having participated in extracurricular pursuits such as mentoring, incubation and acceleration programmes. Few stated they had started their organisations in order to make a profit, as might be expected from an entrepreneur. There was also a trend towards respondents having volunteered for charities before they had set up their social enterprises, something that had helped them understand the needs of specific groups and different problems. Another finding that came out of the study was that Brazilians, in general, appear to have little understanding of philanthropy, but this is seen to be shifting. The researchers suggest that “to promote social entrepreneurship, we need to have encouragement in formal education and involvement in extracurricular activities, as well as initiatives to support entrepreneurs, such as public contests to promote social projects.” When talking about the opportunities available for their business, the interviewees said that they found that taking part in public contests was one of the most important ways for them to promote their social projects, as well as one of the ways that they were able to gain financial and training resources. They also cited these contests as an important way for their organisations to gain credibility. The research was an opportunity to look into the concept of entrepreneurship in a social context, with the hope that the results can be used to help corporate actions and public policies, which will increase the opportunity for social enterprise in general. EB
SCHOOL: Vlerick Business School COUNTRY: Belgium
Vlerick Business School is one of six business schools behind the launch of a new platform aiming to gather expertise from across Europe to quell the paltry proportion of start-ups that manage to scale up successfully. Known as the European Scaleup Institute (ESI), the platform will convene joint research and educational initiatives with a view to offering fresh insights into the challenges faced by European scale‑ups. It will also share stories from companies that succeed in growing sustainably and persistently. “When people talk about scaling challenges, the conversation is often limited to talking about funding. Yet, our research shows that issues such as attracting and retaining talent, combining innovation with profitable growth, while expanding in an interconnected, yet often too fragmented, European ecosystem all pose significant threats to the scaling up of European businesses,” said Veroniek Collewaert, academic director of the ESI and professor of entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School. “As the institutions charged with training future business leaders and shaping the future of industry, we have a responsibility to use our expertise to help overcome the challenges scale-ups are currently facing and provide actionable solutions.” Alongside Vlerick, the ESI’s partners are Rotterdam School of Management’s Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, Essec Business School, Esade Business School, Nova School of Business and Economics and WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management. Support and industry expertise also comes from Nordic Innovation, an organisation under the Nordic Council of Ministers that promotes entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness in the Nordic countries. It is hoped that the ESI can provide a single, easy-access resource for CEOs, founders and executives with plans to grow their ventures. In addition, an inaugural conference targeting scale-up founders and CEOs, as well as policymakers and practitioners in the industry, is to be held at Nova School of Business and Economics in June. Spread over two days, the event will feature research presentations and a discussion of trends and best practices relating to Europe’s scale‑up ecosystem. TBD
Ambition | MAY 2023 | 11
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online