
Social Entrepreneurs and small and growing businesses (SGBs) have been acting as frontline responders during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing services to the most vulnerable populations. But the crisis shed light on the constraints & challenges they face. We call on on corporations, (impact) investors, funders, support organizations and government institutions to stand by social entrepreneurs as first responders to the COVID-19 crisis and as pioneers of a green, inclusive society and economic system.
Today, Yunus Social Business together with 60 leading actors in social entrepreneurship - under the umbrella of the World Economic Forum’s COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship - published our COVID Social Enterprise Action Agenda providing practical guidance on what each can do to help social entrepreneurs play their part in fighting the pandemic and in charting the way towards recovery and a reinvention of our systems.
To read our Leaders on the Frontline Action Agenda and to join us in action:
Aavishkaar Group, Acumen, Africa Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA), Argidius Foundation, Agora Partnerships, Ashoka, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), CASE at Duke University, Catalyst 2030, Co-Impact, DOEN Foundation, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Echoing Green, European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), Euclid Network, Fundación Avina, GHR Foundation, Global Innovation Fund, Global Steering Group for Impact Investing (GSG), Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Greenwood Place, IIX, IKEA Foundation, IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, Impact Assets, Impact Hub, International Labour Organization, Johnson & Johnson, KIVA, Latimpacto, Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, Mercy Corps Ventures, Motsepe Foundation, NESsT, Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), Open Road Alliance, Rippleworks, Root Capital, Salesforce.org, SAP, Schwab Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Sorenson Impact Foundation, Thomson Reuters Foundation, United States African Development Foundation (USADF), UNDP Business Call to Action, UNDP SDG Impact, USAID Center for Innovation and Impact (CII), Village Capital, Yunus Social Business, 60_decibels

“At Upaya, we have always focused on growing the enterprises that have the highest potential to create jobs to lift families out of poverty,” said Kate Cochran, CEO of Upaya Social Ventures.

Before we wrap up 2022, the year we celebrated our 10-year anniversary in working in social business, we'd like to take some time to reflect on what we've achieved so far and what lies ahead of us in 2023.

Alexandre Furlan, CEO of Instituto Muda, has been building his business since he finished college 12 years ago. São Paulo generates 20,000 tons of waste on a daily basis. Yet only 5% of the residential buildings have public recycling collection service - the majority of it goes to landfill. Instituto Muda tackles the problem by picking and sorting recycled waste and donating it to waste