Communities as Entrepreneurs

Communities as Entrepreneurs

For this conversation, we are joined by Prof. Sophie Bacq from IMD Business School, one of the leading scholars in social entrepreneurship research. Together, we explore the evolution of her thinking from individual social entrepreneurs to communities as entrepreneurial actors. Sophie reflects on the origins of Civic Wealth Creation, the role of communities in creating and sustaining impact, and how different stakeholder groups can align to generate shared prosperity. In this episode, Sophie shares how her research journey unfolded, why communities matter for social entrepreneurship, and what a listening mindset can teach us about creating lasting social change.

How It All Began

For this first conversation, we are joined by Prof. Kai Hockerts, one of the leading scholars in social entrepreneurship research and the initiator of the MSCA seizmic network. Together, we go back to the early days of the field and the moment when the idea emerged to build a dedicated research community around social entrepreneurship. At a time when the topic was still quite niche, with only a small number of researchers working on related questions, creating a network of like-minded people became essential, not only to exchange academically, but also to connect socially. In this episode, Kai shares personal reflections on what motivated him to move from individual research interests towards building something more collective, how the seizmic doctoral network took shape, and why community-building continues to matter for advancing research and scaling social impact.

Introduction

seizmic stories is where research meets real-world impact.  We’re three PhD candidates from the seizmic doctoral network, supported by the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme, connecting across Europe to explore one big question: How do social enterprises scale — and what does that mean for researchers, practitioners, and students?  Through honest conversations with academics, founders, and our community, we share stories, challenges, and insights that shape the future of social entrepreneurship. Curious, reflective, and sometimes a little messy — because that’s where the learning happens.  Follow us and join the conversation at seizmic.eu.  This project is supported by the AURORA University alliance and the European Union through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions under project number 101169098.