Social Entrepreneurship

The School has three initiatives that promote social entrepreneurship in our student, faculty and alumni communities.

Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC)

This competition began in 1999 as a student-led initiative at the Haas School of Business at the University of California – Berkeley. In May 2001, Columbia Business School partnered with Haas to help grow a national platform for social ventures. In June 2003, London Business School joined the competition partnership and our remit is now to take the competition to a global audience. This partnership brings together business schools across the world to support the creation of social ventures.

Each year, entrant teams from around the world compete for over $70,000 in cash and travel prizes.  This year, the Grand Prize of $25,000 will be awarded to the plan that achieves the best blended value (economic and social returns).

For more information, including details on how to enter, please visit the GSVC website

The GSVC Symposium

This year's GSVC Symposium took place on December 1st.

The speakers were:

Jeremy Nicholls, new economics foundation
Learning Session: Valuing the Social and Environmental Impact of a Venture (download PDF 1922 KB)

Colette Marshall, UK Director, Save the Children
Audience Debate: From Handouts to Profit – the new intersection of charities and social ventures

Arthur Wood, Ashoka
Can a social challenge yield a profitable investment? (download PDF 310 KB)

Geoff Burnand, Investing for Good

Samantha Beinhacker, Skoll World Forum

Dr Nir Tsuk, Director Global Fellowship Programme, Ashoka
Changing the world through social entrepreneurs: The Ashoka story (download PDF 1178 KB)

Professor John Mullins, London Business School
Learning Session: Discovering the Business Solution to your Social Challenges (download PDF 160 KB)

Phil Conway, GSVC Finalist and Founder, Cool2Care
A Social Enterprise Journey (download PDF 1834 KB)

Nigel Kershaw, Chairman of the Big Issue and CEO of Big Issue Invest
Keynote Speaker

For information on GSVC please contact;
Johanna Walker
GSVC Director
Tel: +44 (0)20 7000 8163
Email: jwalker@london.edu

The Social Return on Investment Primer

Each business plan submitted to the GSVC must include a financial analysis as well as a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis. Together with the New Economics Foundation (nef), and with funding from the Social Enterprise Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry's Small Business Service and support from the European Social Fund Equal Programme through the Social Enterprise Partnership (GB).and the Department of Trade and Industry, we have developed the SROI Primer:  Measuring Social Impact: the Foundation of Social Return on Investment (SROI).

This is an accessible and informative web-based tool that uses video and text to help you build an understanding of the basic principles of how social and /or environmental value can be measured and valued in monetary terms. 

Many organisations across all sectors have a strong and growing interest in measuring the value that is created through a socially and/or environmentally oriented investment. By presenting some of this value in monetary terms, the case for investment in organisations that create 'value' for people, society and communities, beyond the purely financial is substantially strengthened. In the private sector, SROI can be used to understand the effectiveness of a community investment, manage risk, engage stakeholders or identify profitable initiatives.

To try out the SROI Primer and access further resources on SROI, please visit the SROI website