A contemporary social entrepreneur, Nobel Peace Prize Winner in 2006, Muhammad Yunus, echoes the enormous synergies and benefits when business principles are unified with social ventures. Furthermore, within the current socio-economic scenario, it becomes extremely important to search, identify and spread these social ventures and to support the social entrepreneurs — individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, inventing new approaches, and creating solutions to change society for the better. Thus social entrepreneurship embraces a set of knowledge and competences that are of benefit to adult learners in all walks of life and in variety of jobs, and above all, it also fosters transversal competences, such as creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship — skills that in todays rapidly changing knowledge based society are increasingly important. However, social entrepreneurship very often implies sailing between the seas of dynamic, recursive, diverse, chaotic, ambivalent, uncertain, delirious, fluctuating and exciting organizational systems, not to mention additional financial obstacles to be faced. Raising capital is an issue for many SMEs, but there are alternative means of financing that can be a lifeline for many start-ups and for those struggling to secure finance through the more traditional routes, such as loans from high street banks, investments or grants. In reality, social enterprises do not have such easy access to capital from conventional for-profit investors and lenders. This difficulty in attracting capital through the conventional for-profit channels stems primarily from the cultural barriers that stand between such investors and social entrepreneurs. Organisational structures are not necessarily the same as in for-profit enterprises and it is easy enough to see why the tendency for social entrepreneurs to focus on the social aspects of their activity rather than the managerial side would fail to gain conventional investors' and lenders' trust (Lehner, 2013). Additionally, banks are rather reticent to lend in these times of economic turmoil and public money is hard to come by within the current context of fear surrounding governmental debt (Lehner, 2013). In addition, new technologies have enabled revolutionary opportunities in the space of finance. Social networking, user generated content, and collective intelligence are disrupting a traditionally conservative and closed industry. A number of promising ICT offerings now enable consumers to share ideas and strategies, learn from others, provide ratings, and filter for relevant content. Facing the barriers to growth and strengthening of the businesses, ICTs and alternative financing opportunities, such as crowdfunding allow to: improve at a low cost, enlarge the market and reaching out to more people and efficiently manage time. Thus, managing successfully the new financing opportunities (e.g. crowdfunding) can be a very important way in terms of achieving a more active, and competitive, presence in the economy and the development, as well as being a factor for the creation of employment, given that entrepreneurs create not only employment for themselves but also for the others. Thus, crowdfunding brings many promising benefits that align well with the objectives of the European Commission. The Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan aims to increase the level of employment by reinforcing entrepreneurship across Europe. lt invites Member States to evaluate the need to amend national financial legislation to facilitate alternative financing, including the financial forms of crowdfunding. Furthermore, in the context of the European Union's Digital Agenda for Europe, one of the seven pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Commission emphasises innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness as a prerequisite for stimulating economic growth and creating employment. By improving social enterpreneurs skills on alternative finances, SocialFinanceLab is aimed to support the social business fabric in participating partner countries (Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Ireland, the UK and Hungary) and beyond. Alternative finances for social entrepreneurs, while providing with a open and collaborative learning area to develop the social entrepreneurs competences and skills on funding and innovative finances such as crowdfunding, Finance 2.0, microfinance, business angels etc.
SFL's ultimate goal is to use innovative means for learning, collaboration, and connection to increase the number of successful impact businesses. Use of SFL promotes an entrepreneurial mindset and development knowledge and know-how pertaining to alternative financing options, facilitates increased competency for employment and self-employment in social businesses, and supports personal development through reinforcement of “soft competences” such as communication, problem-solving, decision-making, and communication. The platform is a learning and teaching tool. It enables "entry at any level" to maximum accessibility and to help users identify with the content quickly and easily, regardless of their stage of business development. SFL speaks directly to social entrepreneurs. It also contains elements to address other players in the social business ecosystem, namely: educators, experts in the field, and impact investors. This was done by design to enable connectivity among all players. While the content of SFL focuses on social entrepreneurs learning to navigate their financial options, it is through connections and the ability to make them (via SFL) that social businesses will succeed and prosper.
Social entrepreneurs, impact entrepreneurs, changemakers all drive change in how business is done, bringing focus to and addressing world challenges. They provide services where governments fall short, support under-represented and underserved populations, and design business to protect the environment rather than exploit it. Where changemakers often struggle is with fully understanding and mastering the financial requirements and realities of running a business. Whether developing a financial plan, searching for seed money, or growing a business, financial elements of any business are critical to success. The existing system of teaching and institutions has only begun to meet the needs of social enterprise. SocialFinanceLab (SFL) addresses this gap with an online space designed specifically for changemakers to learn about finance and funding. The platform's content and design extend its appeal to educators desiring to expose students to the nuances of financing for impact business, as well as to investors, who can become more familiar with the concept of impact entrepreneurship and present financial opportunity to support it. Finally, the website enables these members of the overarching ecosystem to connect with one another.