At Euclid Network we are firm believers in the essential role of networks and Social Enterprise Support Organisations (SESOs) to drive the development of key framework conditions and enabling ecosystems, in which social entrepreneurs and social innovators can thrive.
We asked ourselves the question: Can we create an improved understanding of how to best equip and empower SESO’s in the system’s change they wish to make by applying systems thinking? In order to answer this question we first had to identify the system and the interconnectedness of the system.
Based on a desk research we drafted the graph below as a representation of the system with the understanding that we are limited to our institutional intelligence and resources. Meaning that we acknowledge that there are more ecosystems operating in the social economy. Nevertheless, it drafted a clear picture of the different ecosystems and the role of SESOs within these ecosystems.
The most important key takeaways are that SESOs are intermediary organisations which act as brokers between two or more actors and operate from a point where the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the knowledge ecosystem and the innovation ecosystem overlap.
Unlike traditional Business/Entrepreneurial Support Organisations (BSOs/ESOs), which primarily focus on driving financial growth for enterprises, SESOs balance a dual mission: ensuring financial sustainability for social enterprises while safeguarding their social and environmental impact. This dual mission brings additional layers of challenge and complexity uniquely to SESOs and the social enterprises and social innovators they support and represent, in the shaping of the ecosystems in which they operate.
While both SESOs and BSOs/ESOs develop through distinct growth phases, the success rate of a SESO to reach maturity is lower compared to a BSO/ESO as it must balance organisational sustainability with ecosystem-wide impact, often navigating complex funding landscapes, shifting policy environments and a still linear economy.
Additionally, a SESO is more susceptible to move from a maturity stage to a declining growth stage due to changing Social Economy/Social Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (SEE) factors such as shifts in the policy landscape or lack of funding.
With this knowledge we are approaching the growth and maturity of SESOs from a holistic view which recognises the interconnections and relationships of the system, the dynamic behaviour of the system and the need for long-term solutions. And the goal of the SESO Development Framework formed itself as To help identifying areas where interventions can have the most significant impact on desired outcomes, whether this is with the SESO internally or in the SEE where it operates from.
Next to that we believe that for different actors the data from the framework can create an improved understanding of what the strengths and challenges are for SESOs, help identifying areas where interventions within the system can have the most significant impact, leading to more targeted and effective interventions by considering the interconnectedness of the system, promoting collaboration and communication between different actors and enabling more adaptability.
See tuned for unpacking the SESO Development Framework in the next blogpost.
