The problems that social entrepreneurs seek to solve—from failed school systems to infectious disease—are too big and tangled for any single organization to address, no matter how innovative or well-funded. There’s a growing awareness that we need systems entrepreneurs who recognize that large-scale problems require collaborations across sectors–including governments, nonprofits, and businesses.

Kim Hogan, Global Partnerships Program Manager at Skoll, offered her thoughts here as context to that discussion.

Zach Slobig: A recent Stanford Social Innovation Review piece called “What Exactly Do We Mean by Systems?” referenced the session at the Skoll World Forum (watch in its entirety below) on the topic of systems entrepreneurs and described it as a person or institution that acts as “a central gear … the catalytic force that creates momentum among all the other actors.” How does that description sit with you?

Kim Hogan: A system entrepreneur is somebody who knits together all the other actors in the system to work together to create change. They share high-level thinking with a bigger vision, but unlike a social entrepreneur, they may not be the key innovator. Often they help to put the key innovator in the collaborative context to help an innovation scale or to help pull on leverage points.

 

Read the source article at Skoll