Scaling social entrepreneurship in Africa Venturing in a stormy sea with a hybrid organization

This book explores the complex phenomenon of scaling in social entrepreneurship with a focus on the peculiar context of Africa, where social enterprises quest for scale social impact and revenues in a setting characterized by severe constraints. While the focus of scholarship recognized the need for decolonized approaches for an effective scaling of African social enterprises, the current knowledge is still fragmented, with frameworks and processes that are not contextualized to the current challenges and opportunities of Africa, and with a limited impact on theory and practice. This book introduces a new and holistic framework to scale social enterprises in Africa – a stormy sea –, building on hybrid organizing and strategy perspectives in social entrepreneurship. First, it offers an overview of the social enterprises’ hybrid business models and highlight the multifaceted challenges of scaling in Africa. The volume also reveals strategic and organizational enablers to scale in Africa, to finally explain the different pathways and strategies that can be implemented to achieve greater impact and a stronger financial sustainability over time. The innovative theoretical frameworks and the various examples from African social enterprises are offered to scholars, students, social entrepreneurs and policymakers that are directly or indirectly involved in growing the field of social entrepreneurship. This book urges the creative exploitation of scaling strategies, unveiling the potential of African social entrepreneurs to change their context for a better society and a better world.