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Leaders in social impact from around the world assemble in South Africa

Leaders in social impact from around the world assemble in South Africa

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UnLtd employee

UnLtd position

The Global Social Entrepreneurship Network (GSEN) brought together leaders from its member organisations from South Afirca, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Canada, New Zealand, Spain and many more, for last month's GSEN Annual Event.

This year's week-long event focused on connecting leaders involved in social impact and took place in South Africa. Attendees spent their time sharing learning, building partnerships and collaborating with other global impact stakeholders. The theme of the event was the role of social entrepreneurship in an increasingly unequal world.

The final day saw leaders in social impact from across the world gather at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg for the Connecting Leaders - Delivering Change. Panels and discussions included:

  • The role of social entrepreneurship in an increasingly unequal world
  • Impact investment and measurement in an increasingly unequal world
  • Multinationals and government agencies and their relationship with social entrepreneurship: the highs, the lows and the learnings

So many great people & so many countries have joined us in SouthAfrica for the @GlobalSEN conference @LifeCo_UnLtd_SA #SocEnt #impact #impinv pic.twitter.com/VSgwGxEHDD

— Krisztina Tora (@KrisztinaTora) March 6, 2017

Interested to hear @cliffprior, Pat Pillai and Limbani Phiri discuss role of #SocEnt in increasingly unequal world at #ConnectingLeaders

— GSEN (@GlobalSEN) March 10, 2017

Strong questions on #socialenterprise and much energy @GlobalSEN conf @LifeCo_UnLtd_SA. Networks, Int'l engagement, and #Skills all vital pic.twitter.com/BqZSjJoStJ

— Colm McGivern (@ColmMcGiv) March 10, 2017

Discussing #socent in an increasingly unequal world at the @GlobalSEN annual event in Joburg pic.twitter.com/FTclWy9syF

— ANDE South Africa (@ANDE_ZA) March 10, 2017

At the Johannesburg event, UnLtd CEO, Mark Norbury, Sello Hatang, from hosts the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and Ntombi Langa-Royds, from co-organisers' LifeCo UnLtd, kicked things off introducing the theme, the role of social entrepreneurs in an increasingly unequal world. Cliff Prior (CEO, Big Society Capital), Pat Pillai (CEO of LifeCo-UnLtd) and Limbani Phiri (Regional Director of Ashoka South Africa) added their thoughts on the theme in an early panel.

The afternoon saw further panels sharing learnings from impact investment and measurement and the relationship between multinationals, government agencies and social entrepreneurs. Local social entrepreneurs got the chance to tell their stories in an afternoon market stall session open to all attendees.

And so it concludes... a great week with @GlobalSEN #connectingleaders in #socent from around the globe ������ pic.twitter.com/b3aotjQ9fv

— Peter Ptashko (@PeterPtashko) March 10, 2017

A fantastic day concludes a fantastic week. Thanks from the @LifeCo_UnLtd_SA and @GlobalSEN team to @NelsonMandela and @BoschStiftung pic.twitter.com/GWOajaXLMB

— GSEN (@GlobalSEN) March 10, 2017

Look out for GSEN's report on the week-long event which should be available in the next few months, this will share the findings and learnings gathered from some of the world's leaders in social impact.