Gauging the impact of a social entrepreneurship is not a hard science, but there are clear signs of when such an effort is on the right track.
The highest level of impact can be based on whether the entrepreneur changed a system, said Simon Stumpf, regional representative of Ashoka East Africa. A small operation in organic fertilizer or microhydro might not look as efficient as it could be, but an entrepreneur may have worked to get power purchase agreements so others can sell power to grid, for example.
Successful impact, then, is “if you are tackling barriers such that other people can follow behind you,” Stumpf said, pointing to M-PESA of Kenya — a mobile phone-based financial service — as an example of a smart enterprise that has made life easier for an entire country.
About the author
Kelli Rogers@kellierin
Kelli Rogers has worked as an Associate Editor and Southeast Asia Correspondent for Devex, with a particular focus on gender. Prior to that, she reported on social and environmental issues from Nairobi, Kenya. Kelli holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and has reported from more than 20 countries.
