Design for Society: Analysis of the adoption of Design practices by Early-Stage Social Entrepreneurs

Abstract: Two primary reasons affect the performance of social entrepreneurs: the lack of resources and knowledge. Consequently, business incubators offer tangible and intangible resources to support early stages entrepreneurs. Researchers and practitioners have identified advantages and disadvantages of design for social innovation. Nevertheless, there is no conclusive evidence of how these practices can be adopted at an operational level, or in the early stages of social entrepreneurship. The study context is within a Chilean social organisation called Socialab, which supports social entrepreneurship in early-stage development. This research explores the challenges of nascent social entrepreneurs and the potential application of design in this type of enterprise. The data was collected through exploratory research which includes interviews and immersive observations of social entrepreneurs and mentors within Socialab. Initial findings are given as a result of the analysis of the data collected and the review of the existing literature.