A cooperative is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned enterprise". Cooperatives may include:
Self-employment is the state of working for oneself rather than an employer.
A worker cooperative is a cooperative that is owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner who each have one vote.
A business incubator is a company that helps new and startup companies to develop by providing services such as management training or office space. The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) defines business incubators as a catalyst tool for either regional or national economic development. NBIA categorizes their members’ incubators by the following five incubator types: academic institutions; non-profit development corporations; for-profit property development ventures; venture capital firms, and combination of the above.
A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being—this may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners.
The social economy is formed by a rich diversity of enterprises and organisations, such as cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, social enterprises and paritarian institutions, sharing common values and features:
Private Sector Development (PSD) is a term in the international development industry to refer to a range of strategies for promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in developing countries by building private enterprises. This could be through working with firms directly, with membership organisations to represent them, or through a range of areas of policy and regulation to promote functioning, competitive markets.
Social entrepreneurship is an approach by start-up companies and entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of organizations, which vary in size, aims, and beliefs. For-profit entrepreneurs typically measure performance using business metrics like profit, revenues and increases in stock prices. Social entrepreneurs, however, are either non-profits, or they blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society". Therefore, they must use different metrics. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural, and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
A micro-enterprise is generally defined as a small business employing nine people or fewer, and having a balance sheet or turnover less than a certain amount. The terms microenterprise and microbusiness have the same meaning, though traditionally when referring to a small business financed by microcredit the term microenterprise is often used. Similarly, when referring to a small, usually legal business that is not financed by microcredit, the term microbusiness is often used. Internationally, most microenterprises are family businesses employing one or two persons. Most microenterprise owners are primarily interested in earning a living to support themselves and their families. They only grow the business when something in their lives changes and they need to generate a larger income. According to information found on the Census.gov website, microenterprises make up 95% of the 28 million US companies tracked by the census.
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an Apex Development Financial Institution in India.
The Bank has been entrusted with "matters concerning Policy Planning and Operations in the field of credit for Agriculture and other Economic activities in Rural areas in India". NABARD is active in developing Financial Inclusion policy.
Co-operative economics is a field of economics that incorporates co-operative studies and political economy toward the study and management of co-operatives.
Timothy "Tim" Campbell, MBE is an English businessman best known as the winner of the first series of the British version of The Apprentice, a BBC TV reality show in which contestants battle to win a £100,000-a-year job working for businessman Alan Sugar. Campbell, a Middlesex University graduate in psychology, worked as a Senior Planner within the Strategy and Service Development directorate of London Underground before applying to appear on the show.
Inclusive entrepreneurship is about a set of attitudes, competences and skills which allow people to turn their dreams into concrete projects or “enterprises” and then see these through to fruition. It is about more than starting an individual business. Inclusive entrepreneurship can be applied to self-employment, starting or growing micro or small enterprises and to social enterprise using business based approaches driven by social mission. Indeed, the personal qualities required for entrepreneurship are essential for success in the knowledge economy – whether this be in the private or public sectors.
Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which is often initially a small business. The people who create these businesses are called entrepreneurs.
Ireland's County & City Enterprise Boards (CCEBs) were established in 1993, as companies limited by guarantee, during a time of high unemployment (15.1%) and limited opportunity for business. They were given statutory status under the Industrial Development Act of 1995. Essentially they were created to stimulate economic development and to cultivate an ethos of local entrepreneurship. While their role is primarily a local one within a broader national strategy, their importance has been raised to an international level by the emphasis placed on entrepreneurship, innovation, incubation and balanced regional development by the European Union.
Rise provides microfinancing and mentorship to entrepreneurs living with mental health and addiction challenges who are interested in pursuing self-employment. Business loans, leases, and other investments are offered depending on the stage of development, needs and capacity of each business. Rise provides business financing up to $25,000 throughout Ontario, with financing averaging from $3000 to $5000. The Rotman School of Management and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health participate in advisory functions, lending their respective expertise for business mentoring and mental health supports and services to the benefit of Rise clients. In January 2012, Rise received the Social Entrepreneurship in Mental Health Equity Award for Toronto social enterprises advancing mental health equity.
Conard House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in the SoMa arts district of San Francisco, working to support adults living with serious mental health and medical conditions. The organization's restated mission is "to empower people who live and work on the margins of society."
The Fredericks Foundation is a British charity that helps the disadvantaged to move into self-employment.
The Uganda National Entrepreneurship Development Institute (UNEDI) is a privately owned national resource development institution in Uganda whose focus area is entrepreneurship education, training and research. The institute provides training techniques, faculty support, consultancy, research as well as teaching and development of entrepreneurship training materials.
