Social Enterprise & Innovation

CARE is working to create lasting market-based solutions to poverty.

By focusing on self-sustaining business models with high social and economic impact, our social enterprise ventures can become important agents of change in communities with underdeveloped markets.

What is a social enterprise?

Social enterprises are ventures that use business models to advance a primarily social mission. Well-designed social enterprises are sustainable, scalable, and offer financially robust mechanisms for addressing the effects of poverty. By identifying business opportunities that exist within development programs, social enterprise programs help turn finite aid projects into sustainable, market-driven economic ventures that help develop communities over the long-term.

We see the development of viable social enterprises as the natural evolution of market-based development and a necessary step to fulfilling our poverty-fighting mission.

From microfinance programs to innovative distribution projects, CARE has learned over the years how to harness the power of inclusive businesses to spur development. These efforts are bolstered today by CARE’s strategy to promote market creation and enterprise development. Our unique skills and experience allow us to develop inclusive supply chain solutions that bridge the gap between the informal and formal economies. With the right support, these gateway enterprises have the potential to become powerful partners and vehicles for change in areas where markets are underdeveloped or significant gaps exist.

Interested in learning more about employee engagement opportunities? Please contact partners@care.ca