What is social entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurs often provide services aimed at marginalised groups or excluded people. Collaborating with the public sector and selling services to the public sector are therefore often a natural part of social entrepreneurs’ business models.

The public sector, for its part, is under increasing pressure to develop new and more efficient welfare services so that it can keep up with the changes taking place in society. This has led more and more municipalities to want to collaborate with social entrepreneurs.

How can I buy services or products from social entrepreneurs?

Social entrepreneurs often find public sector procurement rules a hindrance and barrier to their ability to collaborate with the public sector. At the same time, many public sector procurers are uncertain about how to go about collaborating with social entrepreneurs or buying their products and services, both from a purely practical perspective and in terms of the necessary legal requirements.

We have therefore taken the initiative of producing a legal guide (only available in Norwegian) that sets out for public sector contracting authorities the opportunity space that is available to them within the requirements of the Norwegian Public Procurement Act.

Social impact bonds – a new financing model for social innovation

Social impact bonds are a new way of developing and delivering welfare services. The model is used to finance measures in areas such as care for the elderly, child protection, drug abuse, homelessness, health challenges, social integration, employment, truancy, sick leave, correctional services and the environment.

The measures that are financed act as a supplement to public sector services and are, as a rule, delivered by a social entrepreneur or voluntary/non-profit organisation.

Investing in social results

More and more organisations want to invest in generating a social impact, both internationally and in Norway. Some organisations are just getting started and are simply finding out about the possibilities, while other organisations have been involved for some time and have established a clear investor profile for themselves. This is a very positive trend, as we need as many interested parties as possible to develop and boost good solutions for the future.

Keeping 'accounts' of social impact

As a social investor, social impact is the most important return for us. We therefore work with our portfolio companies on measuring and strengthening the positive social impact of their activities.

Social impact bonds – a new financing model for social innovation

Social impact bonds are a new way of developing and delivering welfare services. The model is used to finance measures in areas such as care for the elderly, child protection, drug abuse, homelessness, health challenges, social integration, employment, truancy, sick leave, correctional services and the environment.

The measures that are financed act as a supplement to public sector services and are, as a rule, delivered by a social entrepreneur or voluntary/non-profit organisation.

A network for impact investors

The Impact StartUp accelerator has set up a network for investors, philanthropists and other social impact funders that is called InvestorLab. The initiative is intended to help ensure early-phase companies have access to capital so that they can scale their solutions and therefore their social impact as well more easily. InvestorLab is also intended to help investors and funders to grow their knowledge, and it provides a range of tools as well as access to new, relevant companies.