Insights for Action: Unlocking the Promise of Social Entrepreneurship

In this month's seminar, which we are fortunate to be co-hosting with colleagues from the World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO), the Portulans Institute, and the Saïd Business School, we will be launching and discussing the 2024 Edition of the Global Innovation Index Report and its theme of Social Entrepreneurship, with a specific focus on the future of the field, and its ability to catalyse transformative innovation and societal impact. The discussion will build off of the report's global launch which will take place

Co-authored by our moderator Professor Marya Besharov, the report takes stock of the global state of social entrepreneurship, exploring how social enterprises create impact and innovate while navigating the competing demands of the social and market sectors. Marya will be joined in conversation by key experts and social entrepreneurs who have contributed to the report as well as its adjoining case studies and expert contribution chapters (which can be found online) to discuss their own experiences as social entrepreneurs and systems orchestrators, and what the launch means for the field.

We will also hear from , Assistant Director General of WIPO, and , founder of the Global Innovation Index and Dean of the Saïd Business School, who will open the seminar with some brief remarks about this year's report.

Speakers:

is a researcher, lecturer, and storyteller, focusing on collective agency and how organizations and communities work together to shape social systems. Her current affiliations include Senior Researcher and Adjunct Lecturer with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation, Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School’s Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, and PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Cynthia's passion is uncovering stories that reveal the power of people in collectives. She recently co-authored The Systems Work of Social Change, which was awarded the Alliance for Nonprofit Management’s Terry McAdam Book Award for “Changing the Way We Think” in 2022. Cynthia has also served in roles at several organizations, including Generation Ubuntu, an afterschool program educating children in Cape Town; mothers2mothers, an African social enterprise employing women to guide other women to good health; and the Starfish Greathearts Foundation USA, a fundraising entity supporting children and families in South Africa.

is CEO of Peek Vision Ltd and The Peek Vision Foundation. He is also an Ophthalmologist (Eye Surgeon) and Professor in Global Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has worked and undertaken research in over twenty countries including two years living in Kenya where he led a major eye disease study and the development and testing of Peek. Andrew is a TED Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, Rolex Laureate, UBS Global Visionary, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and was awarded an OBE for services to eye health overseas in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours.

is the founder of several innovative and award-winning NGOs, with over twenty years’ experience running systems change organizations as a Skoll Awardee, and Ashoka and Schwab Fellow. Among her previous organizations are Child and Youth Finance International, Aflatoun International, Childline India and Child Helpline International, which have helped enable the financial inclusion and protection of children and youth in more than 180 countries. Jeroo is now founder of One Family Foundation, which incubates social innovations, helps them scale, and is currently co-chair of Catalyst 2030 – a global network working to accelerate progress towards the SDGs through radical and transformative social innovation at the country level.

Moderator:

is Professor of Organisations and Impact and Academic Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. Her research and teaching focus on leadership, social impact, and hybrid organisations. She engages with leaders and organisations worldwide to help them manage competing demands of social impact and financial performance. Marya received a BA in Social Studies, an MA in Sociology, and a PhD in Organisational Behaviour from Harvard University. She also holds an MBA from Stanford University.

This event is hybrid and will take place in The Nest, Saïd Business School and online. For those joining in person, the seminar will be followed by a reception.

Please note: the link to access the event online will be emailed to you approximately 24 hours before the event, and on the day of the event.

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