Fourth Sector Solutions

Principal Consultant and lived experience social enterprise Founder, Amy Orange, spent two years (2016-2018) creating a social enterprise using commercial practices to address the systemic issue of gender equity in the workforce, and against the odds developed Harvest Fair to the scaleable point of boom or bust. This type of social enterprise model... has enormous potential to improve our economy through reduced pressure on health, welfare and housing systems, but Harvest Fair was ahead of it's time with the South Australian eco-system not currently aligned to support businesses which operate for a social mission. The key challenges that Harvest Fair, and most social enterprises face include: Access to seed funding - Seed funding is generally limited to non-profits, and venture capitalists are more interested in high-growth ventures than a slow burn social return. Social enterprises tend to slip through the funding cracks due to their unique purpose and structure. Low awareness and recognition of social enterprise at a policy level in the public and private sectors - government and the private sector can play a big role in supporting growth in the social enterprise sector through policy development and social procurement to generate trade opportunities for social enterprise. Silos between the non-profit and startup sectors - this limits opportunities for collaboration and partnerships. Definitional challenges - there is no legal business structure in Australia to provide a framework for social enterprise to develop and scale. Without access to the resources and supports needed for scale, Harvest Fair was not able to survive the challenging growth phase. Amy is determined to channel the incredibly valuable learnings from this experience to improve market opportunities for innovators and businesses who can see the fourth sector potential for sustainability, and who want to use the power of business as a force for social and environmental good without compromising on profitability. FSS isn't just about developing ...Read More