Social Enterprise in the MENA Region: False Hope or New Dawn?
As active members of the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) emerging social enterprise community, our beliefs regarding the potential of social enterprise in the MENA region are optimistic based on empirical observation of the convergence of different stakeholder efforts (such as strategic philanthropy, corporate social responsibility (CSR), public–private partnerships) towards social enterprise models.
Not only do we believe social enterprise is necessary to create sustainable social impact (in particular where philanthropy or economic development has failed to do so), but we also appreciate its business potential and its resilience to market volatility.
Nonetheless, through our work at C3, we have experienced, firsthand, some of the challenges that social entrepreneurs encounter when launching and growing their organizations.
Authors: Rebecca Hill, Medea Nocentini
Published in: Social Entrepreneurship in the Middle East
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK