Let’s talk ecosystem
I recently came across a description of what an ecosystem is that I really liked: “a social enterprise ecosystem encompasses a set of attributes (networks, mentors, capital, policy and governance, culture etc) that collectively creates a conducive environment for social enterprises to thrive. (Bloom & Dees, 2008)
The above definition helped me because 0f course I’m familiar with the word ecosystem, but when I actually sat down to really think about it and the impact of it - I found it hard to define and tangibly determine the value. There are a couple of great pieces of research on ecosystems that are influencing my currently thinking, I recommend this article by Han & Shah (2020) if you are interested to read more.
As my research continues I have learnt about the growing importance of networking and lobbying as a factor of scaling.
In a nutshell: there is growing evidence that social enterprises that curate an effective network are more successful at scaling. There are many fairly obvious reasons for this - it’s helpful to know people in the same boat as you - from my time working in ReCreate Ireland, I picked up the phone numerous times to other social enterprises to ask them advice or seek out a reassuring word; but there are also the more nuanced and intangible. To know your network, you first need to understand the ecosystem you are operating in and who are the key stakeholders, or even potential stakeholders.
You can check out my attempt to map out the Irish Social Enterprise Ecosystem here *
It is clear that we have a growing supportive ecosystem in Ireland for social enterprises which is very encouraging. I count at least 11 network organisations operating to support social enterprises. However, I think it’s also worth noting that after 9 years the Global Social Entrepreneurship Network has now sadly permanently closed it’s doors. Their co-founder and CEO Krisztina Tora wrote an interesting piece about some of the lessons she has learnt along her journey - I’ll give you a hint, the top one was unsurprisingly, securing sustainable funding.
One of the (many) delightful things about being Irish is that there are generally 2 degrees of seperation at most, we are a country you can almost wrap your arms around and get to know quite easily. We’ve all been on holidays in Spain only to discover the group next to us on the beach are our neighbours cousins. This means it’s quite easy to plot out who’s who and what’s what in our growing social enterprise sector. (Of course a shout out to the under celebrated resource that is benefacts, a fountain of information). I took some time to plot it all out last week thanks to a new tool I came across called Kumu.
The formal ecosystem is easy enough to map out, but what about the arguably more influential informal network.
* Note: There are many gaps in this work. It is rough and ready and done through my eyes! Can you help fill it in? Can you help improve it? Email me Clodagh@socialenterprisesolutions.ie There are very few social enterprises included, I will add to it as I go.
References:
Bloom, P. N., & Dees, G. (2008). Cultivate your Ecosystem. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter.
Han, J., & Shah, S. (2020). The Ecosystem of Scaling Social Impact: A New Theoretical Framework and Two Case Studies. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 11(2), 215–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2019.1624273