Copyright 2018 BGA | Designed by Favoured
Social entrepreneurship: a better way to do business
Date: 5 August 2021
Time: 12:00 – 13:00 BST
The Covid-19 pandemic has put into stark relief the challenges that the world faces, including inequality and climate change. Many of these issues are interconnected, and are rooted in our obsession with growth, at all costs.
Business has a huge influence on government priorities, the allocation of resources, and people’s lifestyle ideals. However, the way business is conducted – with a laser focus on profit – often has detrimental effect on society and the environment.
For social entrepreneurs, however, social and environmental profit is as important as financial gain. There are countless social entrepreneurs across the world changing outcomes and mindsets for millions of people with alternative business models.
What if we combined the influence of business with the mentality of social entrepreneurs, to create a sustainable, inclusive global system where humans live within the means of the planet and all forms of life can thrive?
Mel Young, himself a leading social entrepreneur, and Alex Matthews have established The New Ism to explore how to create this new system, and have written a book on the role of social entrepreneurship in creating it. In this session, they will discuss why they think social entrepreneurship is the future of business, with case studies of social entrepreneurs changing the way business works.
Mel Young MBE is a social entrepreneur and founder of several successful social enterprises including the Homeless World Cup, which uses football to inspire people who are homeless to transform their own lives; more than a million people have been positively impacted. He has won several awards and is the author of two books. Alexandra Matthews’ background is in writing and marketing; she also worked at Ashoka UK, a network of leading social innovators, where Mel is a Fellow. Together they have created The New Ism, a discussion forum with a huge ambition: to create a new, more inclusive and more sustainable global system that brings together the efforts of social innovators across the world.