Financing Social Entrepreneurs

Hosted ByFergal Byrne

Financing Social Entrepreneurs interviews people who fund and support social innovation in different ways, grant providers, impact investors of various kinds, angel investors, foundations, family offices and more.

They talk frankly about how they work, how they make investment, grant and funding decisions, what they will invest in, or support, and what they cannot— they talk about the pros and cons of different sources of funding, share lessons and insights, and provide invaluable advice for any social entrepreneur or innovator looking to finance a sustainable social business.


All Episodes

Episode 6 How Ceniarth supports social entrepreneurs.

Ceniarth is a family office and related private foundation that supports social entrepreneurs delivering market-based solutions that improve livelihoods in underserved communities.  Ceniarth primarily engages in developing economies in sectors such as agr

Episode 5 Interview with Min Pease, leader of Echoing Green’s impact investing program

Building on the interview with Echoing Green President Cheryl Dorsey in episode 4 of Financing Social Entrepreneurs, this episode focuses on Echoing Green’s new impact investment programme. Min Pease leads the impact investing program at Echoing Green whe

Episode 4 | Interview with Cheryl Dorsey, celebrating Echoing Green’s pioneering 30-year role supporting social entrepreneurs

Echoing Green is a leading global non-profit that provides seed funding and technical assistance to emerging social entrepreneurs with ideas for social change. The organisation is celebrating its 30 anniversary in 2017. Over that time it has forged a comm

Episode 3 | How the Mulago Foundation supports social entrepreneurs: Interview with Kevin Starr, CEO of the Mulago Foundation

Kevin Starr has been supporting social entrepreneurs for as long as the term has existed. He built the current incarnation of Mulago Foundation, a private foundation that funds early-stage social entrepreneurs devoted to maximum impact at scale in the liv

Episode 1 | How Omidyar Network invests: Interview with Scott Wu, partner at Omidyar Network, leader of the firm’s investment, finance, and legal operations

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm that consists of a foundation and an impact investment firm. As such, the firm can provide whatever type of capital is necessary to support social innovation, whether grants or for-profit investments. Omi