John Elkington, one of the best known proponents of responsible
business practice, is to head a three-year project looking at what
lessons large companies can learn from social entrepreneurs.
The
$1million (£533,000) project will be carried out by Elkington’s
SustainAbility consultancy and paid for by the US-based Skoll
Foundation, which was set up to advance the work of those taking an
entrepreneurial approach to social change.
Elkington, who
co-founded SustainAbility in 1987 but recently stepped aside from his
duties as chair, will play a key role in the project, which will lead
to:
a ‘state of social enterprise’ survey on the sector’s contribution to sustainable development
‘white papers’ proposing policy measures that make it easier for social entrepreneurs to operate
workshops to spread best practice at social enterprises into other types of business.
SustainAbility,
which usually deals with large company clients such as Canon, Deutsche
Telekom, Ford, Microsoft and Starbucks, said that focusing on smaller,
alternative companies was a ‘significant evolution’ in the
consultancy’s work.
Elkington said that he viewed social
entrepreneurship as ‘critical’ to the future development of corporate
responsibility. ‘Our work with major companies and financial
institutions continues, but we see huge potential in social
entrepreneurship,’ he said.
Sally Osberg, Skoll Foundation chief
executive, said a key aim would be to build bridges between social
enterprises, mainstream businesses and financial markets.
