The Social Enterprise Fund

Enabling the cre­ation of micro-businesses

Founded by Pro­fes­sor Den­nis Shaugh­nessy, the Social Enter­prise Fund enables the cre­ation of micro-businesses through invest­ments for micro-finance insti­tu­tions, micro-equity and con­vert­ible debt. In South Africa, North­east­ern University’s Social Enter­prise Fund helped to cre­ate the NU-TSiBA MicroVen­ture Fund, which was funded jointly with Deutsche Bank and other pri­vate part­ners. Today, the MicroVen­ture Fund has over half a mil­lion rands in seed fund­ing and micro-investments in township communities.

“Work­ing with the mid­dle school chil­dren at Hyde Park has been great in allow­ing me to con­tinue my work in the field of com­mu­nity devel­op­ment.  Help­ing stu­dents start their own busi­nesses and use the prof­its to invest in social causes, like a micro loan for an entre­pre­neur in a devel­op­ing coun­try, gave the stu­dents an oppor­tu­nity to learn about busi­ness and entre­pre­neur­ship at key stage in their academic development.”

Hillary Gras, Class of 2011, CBA Finance