Social Enterprise Incubator

This experiential learning subject introduces students to the fundamentals of social entrepreneurship, while equipping students with a practical understanding of social enterprise as a model to tackle social and/or environmental problems through trade. Working in small teams, students are introduced to a range of design thinking and social innovation frameworks. They draw on these frameworks to iteratively conceptualise, ‘pitch’, refine and develop a social enterprise ‘business model’ that appropriately responds to the needs of communities and society. To nurture and support development of ideas, the subject draws on real-world case studies as well as industry guests from the social enterprise ecosystem including social entrepreneurs, people with ‘lived-experience’, social finance and impact investment intermediaries, incubators and accelerators and leading scholars and thinkers in the field. Upon completing this subject, students will develop a critical understanding of the theoretical foundations of social entrepreneurship and how to develop a ‘business model’ for financially sustainable social impact. By doing so, the subject also offers a unique opportunity for students to apply conceptual knowledge and project management and business skills to real-world social and/or environmental challenges.