Alliance to promote social innovation in Latin America

An agreement was signed between CAF, Latin American Development Bank, Socialab and Sistema B to use the strength of the market in the construction of more sustainable societies in Latin America. 

The objective of the alliance, on one hand, is to promote the use of the society's collective intelligence in order to develop proposals to solve social challenges in the region through the generation, education, and consolidation of a critical mass of innovators and social entrepreneurs in Latin America. On the other hand, to promote the global movement of Empresas B, a model company that maximizes financial earnings while generating social and environmental impact. 

This collaboration is aimed at three main results. In first place, gather 2,000 social innovations through Socialab's open platform, of which those with the highest potential will be pre-incubated and accelerated, with Sistema B's  Company Builder Program. 

In second place, transform 100 companies in the region into Empresas B, and thirdly, construct a favorable ecosystem for entrepreneurs, from public policy, impact investment, and academia, and bring social innovation closer to all the aspects of society, taking it to the streets with the International Festival of Social Innovation (FIIS, for its acronym in Spanish) in three countries which, in 2013, brought together more than 50,000 people in Santiago, Chile. 

Socialab was created in 2007 as Techo's innovation center, and later became an autonomous entity. The organization promotes the creation of businesses that generate social impact, and is currently the largest open innovation platform in the world in terms of number of users and solutions proposed.

Sistema B was created in 2012 as part of the Empresas B global movement. In contrast to the traditional company, Empresa B's main focus is the "duty of care", that is, a public-social and/or environmental purpose, going beyond the maximization of financial earnings. Currently, in Latin America, there are 100 Empresas B in the region, and 200 are in their development process. 

Ana Mercedes Botero, Director of CAF's Social Innovation Initiative, stated that "the development challenges of the XXI century demand collaborative schemes in which actors, sectors, and disciplines join their specific capacities to generate collective impact. Through this alliance, CAF simultaneously promotes collective talent, together with the civil society, in order to find solutions to social problems and promote Movimiento B, and its business model, with the private sector, to construct more humane and sustainable societies". 

Julian Ugarte, Director and Co-Founder of Socialab, commented, "this alliance allows us to strengthen the search and financing of innovators and social entrepreneurs in the region. Currently, new technologies offer a unique opportunity to generate positive transformations in a massive way; the problems we face in Chile are similar to those in Latin America and other parts of the world, so ours is a global plan because we want to reach millions of people using the technologies and new businesses in order to create social wellbeing where it is needed most." 

Juan Pablo Larenas Director of Sistema B, stated, "The high levels of social inequity and the fast deterioration of the ecosystems shows that the current model is not feasible. This critical situation may also be understood as a great opportunity to change paths, and start on the road to sustainable development. Sistema B promotes an economy that combines earnings with a solution to social and environmental problems, using Empresas B as the primary inspiration, as they seek to be the best for the world, not just in the world."