Master of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

To support the development of a new generation of social innovators and entrepreneurial leaders, Lingnan University is launching its new MA in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management (SEIM) in September 2021. The programme is the product of a collaboration between Lingnan’s School of Graduate Studies and the Office of Service-Learning.

According to Professor Albert Ko, SEIM Programme Director, there is a clear trend in the evolution of social enterprises, particularly in Hong Kong and Asia.

“People began to realise if they wanted to grow their social enterprise and have a real impact, then the business has to be scalable. In the past, there were good and valuable social enterprises. But it was very hard for them to scale up.”

One thing that distinguishes social enterprises from purely commercial businesses is that they have many bottom lines. Prof. Ko cites the example of small restaurants employing elderly people to serve food and says, “There are multiple objectives you want to achieve to be rated as successful. Some social enterprises hire a lot of unemployed people, or those from the otherwise unemployable population, and that is how they make a major contribution to society. Some of them are very profitable compared to conventional businesses.”

Though successful in their own right, these enterprises often cannot expand to multiple districts. “In the past social enterprises started more from the social side rather than the business side. Now, people have begun to realise they need stronger business models in place to achieve their social mission.” Critical new approaches to social entrepreneurship are needed to sustain growth and maximize impact in this sector.