Social Entrepreneurship

Part of 2010 Conference on Entrepreneurship Recognizing a social problem or opportunity, a social entrepreneur applies entrepreneurship principles to organize, create and manage a venture to drive social change. Rather than tackling these issues through the domains of nonprofits or government agencies, social entrepreneurs are increasingly realizing that social impact and profits need not be in opposition, and are forming companies with a Double Bottom Line. Our panel of social entrepreneurs and investors will address issues unique to social entrepreneurship as well as current trends and opportunities.

Ripple Effect Microfinance Fund

rippleeffect (The Fund) is a proposed private equity investment fund being sponsored by Lonestep Partners. The Fund will act as a financial partner and intermediary to Microfinance Institutes (mfis) and small SME Banks. These institutions are engaged in providing inclusive financial services by delivering micro loans and other basic services to the poor and under-privileged, often classified as the un-bankable. The long-term goal of the Fund and the mfis it will serve with is to mitigate poverty in the emerging countries of Europe, CIS, MENASA and ASEAN regions. The Fund aims to achieve a double bottom line impact, including suitable risk-adjusted financial returns, as well as sustained social impact returns.