Social Enterprise
Fall 2006 | Volume VI, Number 1
Table of Contents
Editor’s Letter →
by June Carolyn Erlick
Looking at Social Enterprise Cases
Construmex
English + Spanish
In 1998, José left his humble shanty house on the outskirts of Morelia, the capital city of Michoacán state in Mexico. He was dreaming of a better life for his wife Laura and his two daughters …
Recover Them from Oblivion. Recover the Community’s Ability to Produce
Lower-income sectors (LIS) often face tough obstacles and tensions that make it hard to act collectively. But a small group of people, made up of 40 families in a poor Buenos Aires neighborhood …
Cruzsalud
Walking on Petare’s La Línea street at the end of a workday is akin to flowing with the tide. Hordes of people head to their dwellings in any of the hundreds of crowded barrios that make up …
Adding Value to Wild Fruits
As Verónica Salas drove through the poverty stricken Chilean countryside in the early months of year 2000, she waved her hand to a woman and two youngsters picking berries along the road. …
Dendê Oil Family Agriculture Project
Dendê, the oil of the African oil palm in Brazilian Portuguese, is extracted from the fruit of a tree known as the dendezeiro. The economic importance of dendê palm oil extends beyond its use …
The Base of the Pyramid
Ana Delia Ibarra, a 40 year old mother of three, is one of 80,000 Community Mothers who work in marginal neighborhoods in Colombia. Back in 1986, when President Virgilio Barco created the …
The Magic of Butterflies
William Camacho worked as a laborer in a biological research station near the village of Las Horquetas, Costa Rica, when he learned from a visiting scientist of the possibility of breeding butterfly pupae …
Palmas del Espino
The Peruvian amazon has long been a magnet for the desperate and adventurous. The hidden gold of the Incas, the rubber and oil booms, and the promise of free land through government-sponsored …
Thinking on Social Enterprise
Towards Social Inclusion
Can social inclusion be achieved through market-based initiatives? The consensus seems to be that companies cannot achieve this goal alone. Partnering is of critical importance, recent articles …
NGOs and Socially Inclusive Businesses
In the nonprofit world, social mission and market-based operations and financing are seen much too often as a contradiction in terms. Relating and aligning both dimensions of organizational performance …
The Role of Government
In current discussions of market initiatives oriented towards low-income populations around the world, the government is often like the empty chair around a table. We all know its occupant exists …
Market Initiative with Low-Income Sectors
Angela, a power inspection crew member at AES-Electricidad de Caracas (AES-EDC), was inspecting an energy tower installed near a Caracas barrio. Nearby dwellers tapped the tower to get free power. …
Unlocking Opportunity
Should a private enterprise prosper by providing essential services to the poor? Consider the case of Sociedad de Aqueducto, Alcantarillado y Aseo (AAA) …
Book Talk
Review of Effective Management of Social Enterprises: Lessons from Businesses and Civil Society Organizations in Iberoamerica
This excellent book is the product of a collaboration of leading universities in Latin America and Spain under the leadership of the Social Enterprise Knowledge Network and with support of the AVINA Foundation….
Review of Running the Obstacle Course to Sexual and Reproductive Health: Lessons from Latin America
Although the idea of learning from Latin America is too often counterintuitive for readers used to viewing the world by default through the lens of the north, the continent regularly generates political …
Review of The State on the Streets: Police and Politics in Argentina and Brazil
The most basic function of the state is to provide order to its society. Good states provide order with justice that is consistent with the citizenry’s notions of fairness. The police are the peacekeepers …
Review of Brazil through the eyes of William James: Letters, Diaries, and Drawings, (1865-1866)
William James’s journey to Brazil puts him in the company of other eminent “New Englanders” whose time there would prove to be life changing, like Teddy Roosevelt (who was born in New York City …