Assessing Social Enterprise Impact In Emerging Markets

Social enterprises, which have characteristics of both for-profits and non-profits, are hybrid organizations that are driven by their mission to provide social value. They engage in revenue generation activities that cover part or all of their costs and any profits they earn are used to fund their social mission. In emerging markets in particular, these enterprises have the potential to fill important market gaps as financial stresses, caused partly by pressure on governments to cut public spending, have resulted in the reduction or elimination of the social services once provided by the government. Unlike in many industrialized countries, the private sector in emerging markets is not as well developed or may be unwilling to enter industry sectors where the profits are uncertain. As the donor funding that traditional nonprofits usually rely on shrinks in recessionary times, social enterprises have stepped to contribute to individual and the society’s wellbeing. In recent years, as supporters begin looking for evidence of efficient resource use and impactful outcomes, the pressure on social enterprises to develop robust and appropriate performance metrics is growing. This talk first introduces a framework for social enterprise performance measurement and, based on case data from Ethiopia and India, applies this framework and suggests some future paths for assessing the impact of social enterprise activity in the emerging market context.