The Manila Model: Exploring the Junction of Social Entrepreneurship and the Supporting Ecosystem : A Study of New Generation Social Enterprises in the Philippines

Abstract: Background: Social entrepreneurship has lately gained wide recognition as a promising avenue to develop market-driven solutions to improve lives of the marginalised. While identified as an emerging topic in academics, literature is still limited and heavily biased towards the context of western countries. Further, little is known about how social enterprises interact with the supportive ecosystem to develop their organisations and ensure financial viability while attending their social mission. Thus, the Philippines was chosen as the location of the study, a developing country plagued by social problems, but simultaneously harbouring a growing ecosystem that support social enterprises in their quest to address them. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how the development of New Generation Social Enterprises (NewGen SE) is enabled by the surrounding ecosystem in the context of the Philippines. It further aims to identify factors constraining the progress of NewGen SE, and how the ecosystem can be enhanced to better support these enterprises. Method: The data for this qualitative study has been collected using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. In total, twenty interviews were conducted: ten entrepreneurs from three different development stages (start-up, growth & mature), and ten ecosystem actors. The data has been analysed and interpreted using a general inductive approach. Conclusion: The networks of both the entrepreneurs and the ecosystem actors enable social enterprises to access resources, expertise, and foster collaboration. Challenges on both the macro and micro level are hindering social enterprises to grow, resulting in only a few success stories. To enhance the support for social enterprises more collaboration within and outside the ecosystem should be fostered through the implementation of more intersections such as physical and online spaces where people can connect.