Signals tend to reveal emergent phenomena sooner so that changemakers can turn their attention to possible opportunities, disruptions, innovations and developments that affect their missions, programs and work. Signals can become mainstream and evolve into trends — when a signal hits a certain threshold, for example, it might become a trend in the broader society or sector, and begin to diffuse rapidly.
Social entrepreneurship is vital to creating a sustainable social impact, and to economic growth and inclusion. The rapidly growing industry, which merges mission-focused work with entrepreneurship has much to teach the philanthropic sector.
It’s estimated that, even before COVID-19 struck, 700,000 small businesses in Canada were already at risk of closure in the next ten years, because they don’t have viable succession plans. And the pandemic made local business and community self-sufficiency even more urgent. Social acquisitions could be a big part of the solution.
Building Indigenous value systems into the bedrock of an app allows an Indigenous developer or online community to practice digital sovereignty — meaningful control over their digital space that allows them to safely share their culture, language, and practices.
In the next decade, nearly three quarters of Canadian small business owners will retire – businesses worth over $1.5 trillion. Most will look to sell. In a country where the gap between the rich and poor is widening, and could do so exponentially in the pandemic’s aftermath, experts say this transition provides a huge opportunity to share wealth with workers.
If today’s businesses would like to compete in an increasingly socially capitalist world, they’ll need to learn how to advance social capitalism within their own organizations —processes and values that have kept them ethical, sustainable, and more affordable than their competitors. This story is in partnership with the TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good.
