We find that social businesses and social intrapreneurs make for pretty inspiring reading. How about you?

Our 8 selected social innovations in WASH and SRH in Nigeria and Kenya

Calling all social entrepreneurs based in Nigeria and Kenya - apply to the Reckitt Access Accelerator to receive a chance for expert mentorship, knowledge-building bootcamps, and seed funding!

YSB reaffirms its dedication to the Three Zeros (Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions) and will keep collaborating with partners to create meaningful global impact. As an apolitical organization, YSB remains focused on building a fairer, more prosperous future through transparency and integrity.

Gain insights from local social enterprises on their experience with B2B partnerships and social procurement in South Africa.

Stories from the two female founders in our Fight for Access Accelerator Nigeria mirror the reality of the burden of young girls without proper access to WASH, but also shine a light on the impact that empowered women in the sector can create.

Learn more about five social businesses who are empowering marginalised communities and protecting the planet across Latin America, East Africa and Asia.

Condensing the insights gained from over 60 social businesses around the world, this report identifies opportunities for tackling the global fight against plastic via social procurement. Learn about social business product and service offerings, the types of plastic they work with, and their impact focus areas to discover the potential of partnering with these innovative organisations.

Our goal is to foster partnerships between social businesses and corporations where corporations can directly buy products and services from social businesses, giving social businesses the chance to scale. 

Don't miss your chance to take part in Reckitt's Fight for Access Accelerator, send in your applications by August 7!

By bringing together insights of some of the most recognized corporate leaders of our time including Paul Polman, Nicolas Chretein, T.V. Narendran, Birgit Valmüür and more, this paper hopes to contribute to an ongoing discussion about the role of business in a changing world.

In this interview, we uncover the steps that Zurich is taking to implement social procurement in their organisation including the nuances of working with the local implementation of an international strategy, as well as ambitions for the future.

In 2022, Yunus Social Business (YSB) and Audi embarked on a journey of social procurement together with the intention to learn, innovate, and take the lead on using business as a force for good. Now at the start of the 2nd year on this journey, YSB speaks with Lukas Petersik of Audi to hear about his experience as a corporate intrapreneur striving to turn value chains into a force for good. 

By leveraging the power of their people and their commercial acumen, Reckitt's objective with the accelerator is to scale innovative, locally designed approaches in Brazil that enable better access to health and hygiene by collaborating with social businesses.

Every week, through March, YSB’s new CEO Jana Lessenich will ask one of our female social business entrepreneurs questions about leadership and their lives. Stay tuned to this space to read their inspiring insights!

In this article, you will get to know the 6 inspiring social entrepreneurs that comprise the South African cohort 1 of Reckitt's Fight for Access accelerator and read about their journey on tackling SDG 6.‍

“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.

Tune in to this podcast episode with Kantar and YSB to understand what best practice in Impact Measurement & Management looks like.

Reckitt and YSB are working together to deliver the Accelerator in South Africa and Brazil, focusing on scaling innovative solutions that enable access to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH). Read this short article to learn more about the accelerator's approach, design, and targeted impact.

Read this 5-minute article for an easy English overview of the Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz or the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains.

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.

Last week, we celebrated our 10 year anniversary! For the first time in two years and two months of restricted travel, YSB Co-Founder & Chairman Prof. Yunus was able to leave his home country of Bangladesh in order to join us in person.

The end of 2021 marked a rather special milestone in our history: we turned 10 years old!

Since the 1980s, pioneers like Bill Drayton, Muhammad Yunus and Anita Roddick have led through action, creating powerful examples of business solutions to societal or environmental issues. They called it social business, social entrepreneurship or impact entrepreneurship.

This year, we turn 10 years old!‍ We are taking this opportunity to highlight and celebrate the inspiring partners in our community, reflect on the valuable lessons we've learned along the way and look forward to designing the next decade.

IKEA Foundation and Yunus Social Business carried out a 6-month joint research project, getting to the bottom of this question: With ever more organisations joining social-business ecosystems, how can we all start to plug the gaps in the support landscape?

Yunus Social Business (YSB) and Upaya Social Ventures (Upaya) today announced the launch of their 2022 Accelerator Programme to help small and growing businesses (SGBs) in India scale and create jobs to lift people out of extreme poverty.

In the midst of profound setbacks, we have been able to carry out work which has shown us that we are an organisation that lives up to its mission and remains true to its purpose.

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What is it like to work as a venture builder at Yunus Social Business? We spoke to Lorelei Logel-Demoulin about her work on a project in collaboration with IKEA Social Entrepreneurship and the Ingka Group. She discussed her experiences and challenges building an ambitious social innovation project during a global pandemic.

Nominate a corporate social intrapreneur for a scholarship for the Unusual Pioneers platform until Feb 28th. The Unusual Pioneers is a joint initiative by Yunus Social Business, Porticus, and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, sister organisation of the World Economic Forum.

Social-business entrepreneur Roshan Miranda saw an opportunity to address the environmental challenges of waste recycling while also improving the livelihoods of waste pickers. He co-founded Waste Ventures India, a social business that works with waste pickers to boost their income and India’s recycling efforts.

Imagine that when you cook a meal, your only means of doing so is by lighting an open fire inside your kitchen. Thick plumes of black smoke fill the room where you and your family cook and eat every evening. Since this is your only means of cooking, you pay significant amounts every year to buy the fuel for it.

This Christmas, it’s more important than ever to support social businesses. At a time when it may feel easier to shop online at the major online retailer ‘who shall not be named’, why not take a bit of time to find a social business which benefits a local community?

As we embark on our next round of research into social intrapreneurship at Yunus Social Business, we are looking at the business case for social transformation. In a year where we've seen short-term priorities rise to the top of the agenda, can empirical proof help turn the tide?

Is it possible for a fledgling social business to source to a large corporation? Sounds tough, but we know it can work! Corporations have so much to learn from social businesses about putting people and the planet first - and corporations are a great opportunity for a social business looking to scale. It can be the perfect combination. But it needs work.

On 24 March this year, day-to-day business for a vast number of Indian organisations stopped abruptly. With a complete nationwide lockdown, any operations requiring physical attendance had to shut down overnight. Here’s how we helped one of the Indian social businesses in our portfolio to overcome the combined economic and health crises of COVID-19.

As consumers, we are constantly demanding more. We want faster delivery, logistics and services to our door. To satisfy this demand, there is a huge focus in the investing space on “last mile” - finding the cheapest and most efficient way to serve the furthest to reach places. The last mile is the most expensive and time-consuming part of the delivery process

“Only when companies disclose their impact - negative and positive - will we live in a transparent, holistic economy.” - Paul Allard, CEO & Co-Founder, Impak Finance.

Back in March, when we were first reacting to the lockdowns of the early pandemic, it became clear very quickly that the economic and social effects were going to hit the poorest people the hardest.

This is for growth-stage businesses that seek to solve a social problem. We are looking for businesses that want to level up and become ready for investment. Social Businesses that seek to apply to the programme should be generating revenues of around US$250,000.

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 an output of the ANDE SGB Finance Learning Lab, ANDE India and Asha Impact have collaborated, with the support of SAP and UNDP SDG Finance Facility, to put together this playbook on Social Success Notes.

13 MILLION LIVES AND COUNTING 2020 has been a year like no other - which is why we've taken some time to release our Impact Report. 🌍 We've been busier than ever supporting Social Businesses across the globe and the crisis has even made us consider HOW we communicate our work. One thing is for sure: it's time to make a more inclusive capitalism a reality as soon as possible. 🌻

On 20 March this year, Luis Miguel Botero discovered that his social business, Pomario, faced an existential threat. It was the day that a nation-wide quarantine in Colombia was announced, which was ultimately extended until the end of August. For Botero, as for many business owners, this presented the threat that his social businesses’ revenues would disappear overnight.

We are delighted to be part of delivering the fantastic F-LANE Accelerator, Europe's first accelerator with a focus on early-stage social impact start-ups that utilise technology to empower women worldwide.

Corona has already delivered a punishing blow in Germany. In developing countries, it’s hitting like a Tsunami. The economy has been brought to its knees. Half a billion people could slip deeper into poverty. Social businesses are part of the solution.

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

Is diversity the only thing that can guide us through this crisis? The F-LANE Virtual accelerator shows why supporting social entrepreneurs that help women is the best way forward to foster resilience in a global pandemic.

For 14 months, we’ve been working closely with remarkable employees at some of the best known corporations in the world. We wanted to understand how they are driving corporate innovation from within and making their companies a force for good. On Tuesday, we spoke live to some of these intrepid Social Intrapreneurs, and shared the findings from our extensive joint research. Here’s what we learned

What are Social Intrapreneur programs, and how do organisations build them? Is there a route to a post-COVID future where corporations are accelerating social innovation by empowering their own employees?

Since the COVID-19 crisis began in January this year, we at Yunus Social Business have been acutely aware of the potential threat it poses to the populations we support. While governments in wealthy European countries have been subsidising employee salaries, this has not been the case for the emerging countries in which our portfolio Social Businesses operate.

We are always looking to support our social business initiatives across the globe. The most recent example has been the support of the International Investment Fund (IIF) at the University of Michigan – Ross School of Business. The IIF is a student-led investment fund led by MBA students at UM-Ross, aiming to support early-stage social businesses in emerging economies. Starting its journey

What must be done now, during the COVID-19 crisis, to avoid returning to assured humanitarian and ecological disaster? In our special panel on Friday, Professor Muhammad Yunus made one thing clear: There is no going back.

40 leading organizations form alliance to amplify support for Social Entrepreneurs during COVID-19 pandemic USD$75 million already mobilized by Alliance members to mitigate impacts of pandemic Alliance will feature a searchable database of available emergency relief funds Members to catalyse global conversation about building a more equitable, sustainable future

These have been difficult times for our portfolio companies. They are working hard to protect those they employ and serve. In India, Waste Ventures recycle plastic and improve the lives of waste pickers. As they are dependent on revenues from previous months to meet their expenses, the abrupt pause to their activities has made their ability to pay their workforce much more difficult.

If I told you that the key to a greener city looked like a lego-style cubic car that could be assembled like IKEA furniture (well almost)… would you believe me? Whilst Elon Musk's view of the future is made up of bullet proof steel, the french startup, XYT is building a future built on inclusion, simplicity and functionality.

Our Brazilian team launched a partnership that doesn’t only look at short-term needs but prepares Brazil for an uncertain future. The partnership between Yunus Social Business, Provi, Augme Capital and VERT will help to promote skilled labour - including medicine courses - and finance students from all backgrounds to become the skilled workforce of tomorrow.

Once the dust has settled, the Covid-19 outbreak may fundamentally shift everyone’s professional lives. Even before the pandemic, there was a rising demand for more flexibility in the workplace and now with its recent mass scale experimentation, remote work may become the new normal. If that is the case, HR will have to evolve ‘remotely’ and become essential to any small or large business’s conti

Mentoring is not just a methodological process. It’s an emotional one. Our MAN Impact Accelerator team had to deal with a rapid turn of events during the first weeks of COVID, here they explain how they went virtual!

The COVID-19 crisis illustrates the need for innovation from within companies by "social intrapreneurs."

As part of the first digital Skoll World Forum, Yunus Social Business hosted the ‘Business As Unusual’ webinar all about the power of social INTRApreneurship, with our partners the Schwab Foundation, HEC, INSEAD and Porticus.

As we, at Yunus Social Business, are tracking and seeing the devastating effect of the Covid-19 virus in the countries where we work, live and hail from, we have been wondering what are the best ways to use our assets.

If we can comprehend the severity of the massive Corona war, we had better prepare ourselves appropriately. As our everyday life goes on today, it is very clear that we have not been able to present the picture of what is about to happen to the entire nation almost overnight.

Humanity is working together to fight this pandemic. It is encouraging to see how within weeks people have fundamentally changed their long-held habits like shaking of hands.

The work culture of our Corporate Team at YSB has always been geared towards remote working. This allows us to keep ahead of the curve in these ‘digital nomadic’ times by providing flexibility and autonomy to our employees.

As demonstrated by the #MeToo movement, more and more women are helping society change the way we think about sexual harassment by sharing their experiences.

Podcasts are a fantastic way to entertain and educate yourself on the latest news and trends in the sector. We asked our team for their recommendations…

This month we have completed the second program week of our third accelerator cycle in São Paulo focusing on customer development and impact. We were particularly excited to expand to an entirely new continent and increasing our global exposure by including more diversity in stops.

We are excited to announce our partnership with IKEA Foundation as part of their expanding focus on social entrepreneurship.

We spoke to Molly Burke co-founder of Cycle Connect, our latest investment in our Ugandan Fund. Cycle Connect provides rural smallholder farmers with the necessary tools to propel them out of poverty.

Find out how going electric can create jobs, increase a driver’s income, provide a lower carbon emissions transport option and revolutionise the boda boda industry in East Africa.

Released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, our global study interviewed 50+ executives and social intrapreneurs (SIs) from almost 50 blue-chip multinationals, including IKEA, Morgan Stanley, BASF, Allianz, Renault, and SAP .

Find out how Addressya, a social business startup of our MAN Impact Accelerator, can help you find your way and be found, whilst solving a 4 billion people challenge.

Meet the Brazilian startup that is providing freedom for all, to exercise their citizenship rights, despite restrictions on mobility. Eu Vô is one of the 8 social businesses taking part in the third batch of MAN Impact Accelerator program.

After an inspiring week in Munich, launching the third cycle of the MAN Impact Accelerator - we reflect on some of the week’s insights - where entrepreneurs, mentors and the program team all met together, for the first time.

Have you heard of Giving Tuesday before? It is a movement to create an international day of charitable giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. Today we are encouraging you to spare what you can to create a better world - for the future of all of us.

Everyone hates having to stay in all day to wait for a parcel delivery. Well, imagine if you could choose the exact time of your delivery and at the same time provide employment opportunities for vulnerable populations (for example disabled people or refugees) in your local neighbourhood whilst reducing CO2 emissions.

Solene, our Communications Manager for the MAN Impact Accelerator speaks about the challenges faced by smallholder farmers and how they should be empowered rather than exploited by intermediaries, looking at examples from across our work at YSB.

Are you a social intrapreneur? Do you transform the way companies think about business? At Yunus Social Business we want to better understand the key challenges and success factors social intrapreneurs are facing. Our work maps out the emerging sector of intrapreneurship in collaboration with leading academic institutions and practitioners.

Why do we need a social sector? Shouldn’t businesses create economic opportunities and governments ensure a just distribution of these opportunities and set incentives and boundaries such that the environment is protected?

This week, we’re proud to announce the newest cohort of our MAN Impact Accelerator. 8 high impact social business startups revolutionizing the mobility and logistics sector were selected from a pool of over 300 applications for its third cohort.

We are delighted to be featured in the latest episode of the Global Goals Cast in the spirit of International Eradication of Poverty Day, celebrated last week, the episode asks: “Is it possible to #EndExtremePoverty”.

We caught up with the CBO and Co-Founder of Arbusta, Juan Umaran about fighting the ‘war on talent’ in Latin America with opportunity youth. Arbusta is the latest investment of the Yunus Social Business fund in Colombia.

Neben der Digitalisierung müssen sich Unternehmen der „social disruption“ stellen. Unsere Gründerin Saskia Bruysten ist überzeugt: Wer einen positiven Beitrag zur Gesellschaft nicht bald als Teil seines Kerngeschäfts versteht, ist bald weg vom Fenster.

Neben der Digitalisierung müssen sich Unternehmen der „social disruption“ stellen. Unsere Gründerin Saskia Bruysten ist überzeugt: Wer einen positiven Beitrag zur Gesellschaft nicht bald als Teil seines Kerngeschäfts versteht, ist bald weg vom Fenster.

Amidst the hype from Friday’s Climate Strikes and the ongoing UN Climate Week, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to speak at the #LeadTheBeat B Corporation Summit this week. Having been involved in the social business movement for over ten years, the summit felt like a real moment of change.

On the 20th of September it's the Global Climate Strike. This is a fantastic opportunity to join the Fridays for Future movement, started by Greta Thunberg, and other activist groups.

Tom Schneider is one of our dedicated mentors from MAN Truck & Bus, here he has published his thoughts and unique perspectives of his mentoring experience with the MAN Impact Accelerator.

Social entrepreneurs are incredibly busy people - but it’s important for them to take time out of the day-to-day to reflect and learn from each other. It’s not only fundamental to finance social entrepreneurs but to develop an eco-system where businesses focussed on impact are both supported and celebrated.

Naveen was born and raised in a small village outside Varanasi in Northern India. All his life, he grew up around manual rickshaw drivers carrying people to and from the city, it’s backbreaking work for very little pay. He saw that very often the rickshaw cyclists came from some of the most vulnerable communities, frequently associated with drug and alcohol abuse.

According to a survey by the Brazilian Federal Government, 3 out of 4 households are headed financially by a woman and 41% of them own their own business. Female entrepreneurship has become an important tool for social transformation and has directly contributed to the growth of Brazil’s economy.

We have opened applications for our third cohort of the MAN Impact Accelerator and we are calling on European, African and Brazilian mobility and logistics social business startups!

Since 2016, our team in Colombia has been running an accelerator programme in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The goal of the programme is to build the ecosystem around social business in Colombia and help those with a high potential to become ‘investment ready’.