It’s human to think in boxes. It gives a homely feeling of structure, focus and simplicity. Unfortunately, social problems are everything but simple. Their shock waves are felt far away from the source and do not necessarily stop at borders or fences. So why should innovations trying to solve these issues be constrained to individual countries? It doesn’t make sense.
The big challenges of today exist in complex, often distorted (eco-)systems. They involve a multitude of stakeholders, a variety of mind-sets, and very different motivations, cultures and goals. But they have one thing in common: effective solutions require huge funds that the public sector alone isn’t able to mobilize. Achieving the SDGs calls for the incredible amount of USD 3.1 trillion per annum to fill the gaps, as everyone can read in prominent publications, e.g. from OECD and the WEF. Thus, all eyes are on the private sector. And this is the point where venture philanthropy and social investment come into play.
A blog by Markus Freiburg, Founder and Managing Director Financing Agency for Social Entrepreneurship (FASE). Markus is leading the session on “Building an open, pan-European pipeline of scalable social innovations” on 29 November.
Read the entire blog on Alliance Magazine website.