What Can We Expect from Social Entrepreneurship in 2026? - Online Masterclass
What can we expect from social entrepreneurship in 2026?
The social entrepreneurship field is entering a moment of recalibration. Long‑held assumptions about growth, formality, funding, and “social‑first” narratives are being challenged — particularly in contexts shaped by inequality, informality, and declining trust in institutions.
In this webinar, Dr Kerryn Krige looks ahead to the key trends shaping social entrepreneurship in 2026. Drawing on research, policy engagement, and fieldwork across multiple African contexts, the session explores what these shifts mean for how social enterprises are resourced, governed, and supported.
From the growing recognition of micro and informal enterprises, to changing debates around impact investing, grant funding, and hybridity, this webinar offers a grounded, critical perspective for those making strategic decisions in the social economy.
This session is particularly relevant for funders, ecosystem builders, development practitioners, educators, and social entrepreneurs navigating complexity and constraint.
Meet our speakers
Kerryn Krige is a Senior Lecturer in Practice at the Marshall Institute, specialising in social entrepreneurship and the social and solidarity economy. She teaches on the Executive MSc Social Business and Entrepreneurship and the MSc Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at LSE, and is course convenor for the online certificate and one-week executive courses, in social enterprise.
She brings extensive experience from across the social entrepreneurship and non‑profit sectors, bridging theoretical and practice perspectives. Kerryn led the development of the social and solidarity economy policy for the South African government and the African Union, co‑founded the African Network of Social Entrepreneurship Scholars, and previously headed the Network of Social Entrepreneurs at GIBS, University of Pretoria.
Her research examines social entrepreneurship in diverse contexts, including two national mapping studies in South Africa and a six‑country study for the ILO. Current projects include a collaboration on social enterprise in Benin, and the development of new case studies using the Charles Booth archives as well as ventures supported by the 100X Impact Accelerator. She has served as an independent trustee on CSI, impact‑finance, and social enterprise boards, and currently sits on the board of research network EMES (https://emes.net/).
Kerryn is an Associate Editor for the Emerald Emerging Markets Case Collection and has guest‑edited two Special Collections on social entrepreneurship in Africa. She co‑authored The Disruptors: Social Entrepreneurs Reinventing Business and Society (2016) and holds a joint doctorate in social entrepreneurship from KU Leuven and the University of Pretoria.
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