The Untapped Power of Purpose: Why CSR Leaders Should Back Entrepreneurs Driving the Sustainable Development Goals

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is undergoing a transformation. Once defined by philanthropy and compliance, it now plays a central role in shaping core business strategy. As ESG has become politicized, CSR leaders are being asked to deliver tangible, measurable impact that aligns with both business objectives and societal needs.

But despite growing investment, many CSR portfolios remain incomplete, and worse, may have stalled entirely. As we wrote with Triple Pundit, the fear zone is real.

A new report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), The GEM Sustainability and Entrepreneurship Report, shares insights on how CSR leaders can build more impactful and business aligned programs. Especially in emerging markets, a growing number of “social entrepreneurs” are making positive impact to people and planet, yet are being left out of corporate CSR and ESG strategies.

This is a missed opportunity. CSR leaders have a unique chance to create high-impact, mutually beneficial partnerships by activating their employees to support the social entrepreneurs already driving systemic change, as well as finding ways to integrate these social entrepreneurs into their supply chains.

A Global Movement Is Already Underway

The GEM report provides a rare, data-driven look into the motivations and actions of entrepreneurs across 60+ economies. One striking finding: a large and increasingly growing share of new entrepreneurs are driven by the desire to “make a difference in the world.”

This isn’t just true in wealthy countries. In fact, entrepreneurs in lower-income economies are often more purpose-driven. For example:

• Over 60% of early-stage entrepreneurs in India, Guatemala, and South Africa report being primarily motivated by social and environmental impact.
• Even in the face of economic and political instability, entrepreneurs in countries like Sudan and Brazil are significantly more likely to meet key sustainability benchmarks than their counterparts in high-income nations.
• Growing initiatives, like the People + Planet First Certification, recognize and certify these innovators.

These individuals aren’t waiting for multinational corporations or governments to solve global problems. They’re building businesses that address poverty, health, clean energy, climate adaptation, food security, and inclusive education, and prioritizing the achievement of these markers ahead of profits.

“Purpose-driven entrepreneurship is not the preserve of wealthy nations. In many ways, it’s stronger in places where the stakes are highest.”
— GEM 2023/2024 Sustainability and Entrepreneurship Report

Purpose Alone Isn’t Enough: The Support Gap

While motivation is high for these entrepreneurs, and their impact is literally world-changing, the data shows that relatively few entrepreneurs have the support they need to reach their potential.

Why the gap? It’s not due to lack of vision or dedication. It’s structural.

Key barriers include:

• Lack of access to capital: Impact-oriented ventures often don’t fit traditional investment criteria.
• Limited access to high-skilled expertise: Areas like go-to-market strategy, financial modeling, digital transformation, and operations are frequently cited as unmet needs.
• Policy and infrastructure gaps: Inconsistent regulatory support and weak local ecosystems make scaling difficult.
• Network asymmetry: These entrepreneurs are often excluded from global innovation networks.

This is where CSR leaders can play a transformative role.

Why This Matters to CSR Leaders

If you’re responsible for CSR or ESG strategy, you likely face four interconnected challenges:

1. Impact: Demonstrating measurable progress toward environmental and/or social targets
2. Employees: Engaging and retaining employees through purpose-driven initiatives
3. Profits: Contributing to your company’s bottom-line
4. System Change: Improving the industry and system that you operate in

Supporting entrepreneurs directly addresses all four.

• Impact integration: From clean energy to inclusive healthcare to sustainable agriculture, these entrepreneurs are creating real solutions to real SDG challenges.
• Talent development: Engaging employees in skills-based support of social ventures fosters leadership, empathy, and cross-cultural collaboration.
• Business contribution: From improving supply chains, retaining employees, and improving partnerships, the business benefits are vast.
• Systems-change alignment: Social entrepreneurs operate at the intersection of business and social innovation. Their work targets root causes, not symptoms.

Companies like SAP, EY, and Reckitt (here’s a CSR case study) have begun incorporating social enterprise support into their employee engagement and leadership development programs. But the majority of CSR strategies still overlook this high-leverage opportunity.

Skills-Based Volunteering as a Win-Win-Win

Imagine a product manager at a multinational consumer goods company advising a startup in Colombia that helps smallholder farmers reduce post-harvest waste through solar-powered storage. Or a finance team member coaching a Kenyan social enterprise on sustainable pricing models.

These aren’t hypotheticals. They’re real-world examples of how skills-based volunteering can:

• Help entrepreneurs overcome critical barriers to scale
• Enable employees to practice purpose-driven innovation
• Strengthen a company’s ESG credibility with authentic, community-embedded impact
• Identify future supply and value chain partners that improve corporate operations

The GEM report underscores that entrepreneurs who receive support are far more likely to take concrete environmental and social action. CSR leaders can build scalable pipelines of support that match employee expertise with the needs of vetted, impact-driven ventures.

What This Looks Like in Action

Boomera (Brazil): Founded by Henrique Brammer, Boomera transforms hard-to-recycle waste — like cigarette butts and plastic packaging — into durable products using circular economy principles. With support from engineers, designers, and marketers, Boomera has scaled its operations across Brazil and built partnerships with major global brands.

Roseo Eólica Urbana (Spain): This urban clean energy startup, led by Ariana Martín, builds compact wind turbines for rooftops. The company emerged from a university entrepreneurship program and has grown through collaboration with technical and business mentors. Its impact is not only environmental but also educational, showing what localized, sustainable innovation looks like.

Reckitt’s Catalyst Program (global): This corporate program activates assets, money, and employees to support social innovators at scale.

The Call to Action: Back the Entrepreneurs Already Building a Better Future

The future is already being built by entrepreneurs around the world. They are:

• Designing climate solutions in communities most affected by environmental degradation
• Advancing gender equity in regions where women face systemic exclusion
• Reimagining inclusive growth in economies still shaped by extraction and inequality

But they can’t do it alone.

CSR leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to update their strategy:

• Shift from transactional CSR to transformational partnerships
• Activate employees in ways that develop skills and strengthen culture
• Support systemic progress on the SDGs through aligned action

If your company is serious about creating shared value, supporting the entrepreneurs already making it happen is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make.

If you want help activating your employees in support of the SDGs, we’d love to talk.