Outreach
The Governance of Social Enterprises - Managing Your Organization for Success
- click image to download
Co-authored by Andreas Heinecke
For the second time, Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinecke led a task force from the Schwab Foundation community to compile helpful insights for social entrepreneurs and those contemplating to start a social enterprise. A first publication in 2010 was called the Social Investment Manual.
Based on its success, Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinecke, Founder of Dialogue Social Enterprise and Professor at the Danone Endowed Chair of Social Business at EBS University, convened the task force during the World Economic Forum Meeting on Europe in Vienna in June 2011 where, as the next logical step after social investment, they identified Corporate Governance of Social Enterprises and, in particular, Boards.
Boards bear the potential to greatly enhance the mission of a social enterprise, if careful thought goes into the right composition and management. Governing boards also have significant influence and can take social enterprises into different directions than intended by the founders. Among others, the publication addresses the question of how social enterprise leaders can protect the social mission of their organization through the governance structure.
Prof. Dr. Ann-Kristin Achleitner from Technical University Munich also supported in compiling the manual, which is designed to serve as a practical tool for social entrepreneurs as well as to find its way into university courses.
Vision Summit 2012 in Potsdam
- © Christian Klant
Speaking Engagements
Several representatives of the Danone Chair of Social Business and the Danone Group were invited as speakers to the Vision Summit, an annual conference organized by the Genesis Institute. This year, the event took place in Potsdam, Germany, from 17-19 May and attracted over 1,000 participants from the German Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship community.
Prof. Dr. Karin Kreutzer spoke on the academic landscape and study programs related to Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship and Social Business, and discussed what is most needed to support would-be entrepreneurs through university education. Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinecke shared his insights into Social Business projects in Germany and gave a lecture on how to involve elderly people in volunteering activities. A special appreciation was given by Ramin Khabirpour, CEO Danone Dairy Europe and Chair of the Social Innovation Counsel, by emphasizing the excellent working relations between EBS and Danone in his keynote.
Age as an Asset Conference at EBS
Why this conference?
In Germany the number of people over 65 will grow rapidly. By 2050, 36.8% of approximately 75 million Germans will be 60 years old. Senior citizens are living longer and feeling younger. This fact comes along with demographic change and new challenges for the society.
Unleashing the vast potential of elderly people, we require fresh attitudes, a mindset shift and new solutions. The conference is a new approach to social enterprise and entrepreneurial activities related to demographic change and aging society.
Under the auspice of Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Dr. Kristina Schröder , EBS University has teamed up with Danone Germany to stage the first conference on social business and aging: Age as an Asset ? Social Business and the Aging Boomers. The two days conference will attract international researchers, policy makers, business leaders and practitioners to gain an overview about excellence, trends and strategies.
The program will be designed to understand the challenges we are confronted with, the demographic tendency and to identify entrepreneurial solutions for demographic and aging concerns in an interdisciplinary way.
This event will be made possible by support from Danone Germany, Generali Future Fonds, the local newspaper Wiesbadener Kurier as a media partner and the Ministry of Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth.
