Corporate Social Responsibility | April 25, 2016
Written By: Sandra Odendahl, Senior Director of Social Innovation at RBC
What if the passion and enthusiasm of entrepreneurs could be harnessed to address societal issues, such as climate change, homelessness and unemployment? A rising wave of “social entrepreneurs” is starting to do just that by designing their for-profit businesses around making positive contributions to the communities that they serve.
We often think that social businesses have to sacrifice profit and growth for the greater good. But our research found that many social entrepreneurs are building high growth businesses that deliver social and environmental returns.
Since launching the RBC Social Finance Initiative in 2012, we’ve researched, collaborated with and invested in many social entrepreneurs. In that time, we’ve discovered five key traits that successful social entrepreneurs often have in common.
Social businesses will continue to grow and flourish in Canada as we look for new ways to solve the most pressing social and environmental challenges. RBC’s Social Finance Initiative is designed to ignite the growth of social finance in Canada through supporting and nurturing businesses that deliberately seek to make positive contributions to their community. To learn more about RBC’s Social Finance Initiative, click here.
RBC proudly supports the 2016 Action Entrepreneurship Canadian Summit hosted by Futurpreneur Canada that’s happening in Toronto this May. Their support is helping send a delegation of social entrepreneurs from across the country for two-days of networking and professional development opportunities. You can join RBC and Futurpreneur Canada at the Action Entrepreneurship Canadian Summit by registering here.
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