Why is it that so many organizations, seeking to do good in the world, miss opportunities to do so – and indeed sometimes exacerbate the very problem they seek to address? The Business of Doing Good reveals six insights for microfinance and other social purpose organizations using the marketplace to tackle a range of pressing social challenges. To deliver on good intentions, we need to do more than simply deliver ‘good products’, and become organizations designed to do good.
The insights focus on creating a business model that moves beyond conventional wisdom about clients and marketplace. This means getting to grips with the realities of clients’ lives, and delivering products that address their real needs (rather than simply chasing market demand). It also means recognizing that our vision is realized through our people. By tapping into their potential, and supporting them to do difficult work, we can do quality work – and innovate to constantly do it better. Finally, the insights challenge us to make our social value proposition work from a business perspective – defining our own trade-offs, and evolving our approach to respond to a fast-changing world.
The Business of Doing Good charts the course of one remarkable and profitable social enterprise (AMK) that has, with single-minded purpose, made radical choices and reached deep into rural Cambodia, touching the lives of almost two million people living in poverty.
This book is important reading for microfinance and development practitioners, social entrepreneurs, impact investors, philanthropists, researchers, and students of international development.

Anton Simanowitz
Anton Simanowitz has been influential since the late 1990s as a practitioner and thought leader in the field of microfinance and social enterprise. He works globally with practitioners, investors, technical assistance providers and policy makers to improve the effectiveness of microfinance and social enterprises in delivering positive social outcomes.

Katherine Knotts
Katherine Knotts works with social purpose organizations to help them become better learners and communicators, in order to be more effective in sparking positive social change.

Handbook of Research on Learner-Centered Approaches to Teaching in an Age of Transformational Change

Advancing Community Engagement Scholarship as a Teaching and Learning Strategy in Higher Education

Tshishonga, Ndwakhulu Stephen

2022

https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-4240-1.ch015 [Citations: 0]

Civic Engagement Frameworks and Strategic Leadership Practices for Organization Development

Forging University Social Responsibility Through Community Engagement at Higher Education

Tshishonga, Ndwakhulu Stephen

2020

https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-2372-8.ch005 [Citations: 3]

Land Titling Improves Access to Microcredit in Cambodia: Be Careful What You Wish For

Bateman, Milford

(2020)

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3557083 [Citations: 1]

Research Anthology on Service Learning and Community Engagement Teaching Practices

Towards Advancing Human-Centered Intellectual Scholarship Through University-Community Partnership

Tshishonga, Ndwakhulu Stephen

2022

https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-3877-0.ch053 [Citations: 0]

Research Anthology on Citizen Engagement and Activism for Social Change

Forging University Social Responsibility Through Community Engagement at Higher Education

Tshishonga, Ndwakhulu Stephen

2022

https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-3706-3.ch048 [Citations: 0]

Research Anthology on Service Learning and Community Engagement Teaching Practices

Forging University Social Responsibility Through Community Engagement at Higher Education

Tshishonga, Ndwakhulu Stephen

2022

https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-3877-0.ch079 [Citations: 0]

Transforming Good Intentions into Social Impact: A Case on the Creation and Evolution of a Social Enterprise

Fowler, Elizabeth A. R.

Coffey, Betty S.

Dixon-Fowler, Heather R.

Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 159 (2019), Iss. 3 P.665

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3754-5 [Citations: 18]

The Formation of Intellectual Capital and Its Ability to Transform Higher Education Institutions and the Knowledge Society

Towards Advancing Human-Centered Intellectual Scholarship Through University-Community Partnership

Tshishonga, Ndwakhulu Stephen

2019

https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-8461-2.ch006 [Citations: 3]