Impact Entrepreneurship
Our focus on impact entrepreneurship
Impact entrepreneurship refers to efforts to create, develop, and sustain new business models that pursue social or environmental goals as an integral part of the model, together with financial success. Impact entrepreneurs solve not only customer problems but also societal problems, and are an engine for positive social impact.
ECSI collaborates with the Esade Entrepreneurship Institute and eWorks to support student and external impact entrepreneurs through courses and acceleration programs. Our research agenda in impact entrepreneurship looks into questions such as:
- How to develop and manage impact-centric business models?
- How to balance needs for scaling the organization and scaling impact?
- How to empower migrant and female entrepreneurs, and what are their unique models?
- What role can impact tech startups play in attaining the SDGs?
- How can IMM effectively support new business model exploration and validation?
Projects
0Waste
The Esade Center for Social Impact, in collaboration with eWorks, is implementing the ‘0Waste’ initiative, as part of the European project ‘Hub B30, beyond circularity’ for overcoming the circular economy and reducing waste.
The project seeks innovative business solutions that boost sustainability in the B30 highway area. This area generates almost 50% of the industrial waste in the area of Barcelona, and that corresponds to 25% of the waste generated in Catalonia.
To this end, Esade launched three programs during the 2021-2022 academic year to support entrepreneurs with sustainable business ideas.
EXPAND
EXPAND is a three-year Erasmus+ project to develop a methodology for accelerating ideas to resolve social challenges. Esade collaborates on the project with ESSEC and other European entrepreneurship and social innovation organizations. The Esade team consists of Guillermo Casasnovas and Deborah Gold of the Esade Center for Social Impact, Ignasi Martí and Sonia Navarro of the Institute for Social Innovation, and Josep Alías of the Esade Entrepreneurship Institute.
European Social Enterprise Monitor - Spanish Report
The European Social Enterprise Monitor is a periodic study on social entrepreneurship in Europe, of which the Esade Center for Social Impact (ECSI) is the Spanish academic partner. As such, gathers, analyzes, and publishes data on social entrepreneurship in Spain.
Humans at the center: how social entrepreneurs with a migrant background are making a difference
As experienced professionals, social entrepreneurs with a migrant background implement effective solutions that put humans at the center, and this produces long-term benefits for migrants and their host communities. This report shines a light on their unique approach by taking the perspective of migrants as an opportunity instead of a threat, in order to see what we can learn from them.
Financing needs of social enterprises in Spain
In 2021, the Esade Center for Social Impact -belonging then to the EEI- and the Open Value Foundation presented a report on the financing needs of social enterprises in Spain, a pioneer study in the country created from interviews and social enterprises surveys. The report, written by Cristina San Salvador, Guillermo Casasnovas and Lisa Hehenberger, analyzes the profile of social enterprises in Spain and identifies their financing needs, as well as the difficulties they encounter in obtaining it.
Employment and job creation in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg
Employment is a key factor for social inclusion as a means of economic security, and also as a provider of stability and social protection. However, there are many circumstances that mediate between individuals and their capacity to integrate into the labor market. This report provides a diagnosis, derived from multiple sources, of the trends and structure of employment, unemployment, and underemployment. It considers the broader European context with a focus on what occurred from the end of the 2000s until the period just prior to Covid.