Santa Clara University

"Social entrepreneurs have vital local knowledge that can benefit from access to our network of innovation resources here in Silicon Valley.  The Global Social Benefit Incubator™ addresses the challenges of achieving sustainability at scale for technology-based innovators from around the world." - Jim Koch - Co-founder

By various estimates, the unmet market for goods and services for the world's bottom four billion people may exceed $10 trillion. It has been well documented by Hernando DeSoto, Al Hammond, C.K. Prahalad, and others that there are ways to address these unmet needs in a sustainable manner.  Why is this not happening? If top-down solutions by multilateral agencies and the charitable work of NGOs have not produced sustainable solutions, can there be a third way?

We believe that this can be done with capacity building that supports social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are challenging assumptions and breaking down the barriers and obstacles to lasting change. Deep empathy with the beneficiaries they serve, enables them to design breakthrough solutions. Their work is a  guidepost opening financial market and institutional changes.  They inspire change in government policies and introduce disruptive technologies that address global issues. Capturing this 'collective intelligence' and making it readily accessible to the growing global network social entrepreneurs is a key priority for the GSBI™.