Where have all the young social entrepreneurs gone?
Where have all the young social entrepreneurs gone?
To be honest, I don’t really know if they have gone anywhere. I’m aging up and in my current life and work stage perhaps I’m just not meeting as many young-change-the-worlders as I used to. So in my wondering, I did what any self respecting middle-aged women does these days and asked Claude (my AI guru) what he thought.
I thought his answer was actually quite interesting and worth sharing. Honest disclaimer - I’ve not bothered to try and re-word this to look like I’ve written it - this is 100% Claude:
“This is a really interesting question, and the honest answer is: they haven't gone anywhere — but they may have shifted in ways that make them less visible in the circles where you'd have encountered them 10 years ago.
The numbers are actually up
According to a 2022 OECD report, there were over 397,000 social enterprises within the EU alone, accounting for more than 6% of employment in European countries, and there are now over 6,000 certified B Corps across 80+ countries. Causeartist By most measures, social entrepreneurship as a sector has grown significantly over the past decade, not shrunk.
But the culture around it has shifted noticeably
A few things that might explain your experience:
The language has changed. The "social entrepreneur" label that was buzzy around 2012–2016 has fragmented. Young people doing similar work now tend to call themselves founders, impact investors, sustainability leads, or community organisers. The identity has dispersed into adjacent terms.
The ecosystem got absorbed. A lot of the energy that used to live in scrappy independent ventures got absorbed into corporate CSR, B Corp certification, and ESG frameworks. There has been a noticeable shift from reliance on donations toward self-sustaining business models, with social enterprises increasingly exploring revenue-generating activities to fund their missions. Netimpact That's maturation, but it can feel like the fire has gone out.
Cost of living is a real barrier. The cohort of 22-28 year olds willing to take low-pay, high-mission risks is smaller when housing costs have exploded. The people who would have launched social ventures a decade ago are more likely to be in corporate jobs trying to pay rent — at least for longer before they make the leap.
The Skoll/UnLtd pipeline has quietly continued. In an era of globally high youth unemployment and dissatisfaction with work, social entrepreneurship offers a unique opportunity to educate and engage young people in addressing the societal issues they care about. WIPO But the pipeline increasingly runs through universities and accelerators rather than the open community events such as Soho House networking evenings, and RSA-type gatherings where the scene was very visible a decade ago.
The enthusiasm has partly migrated online. Young and diverse leaders are at the forefront of social innovation, bringing fresh perspectives and solutions — their intrinsic understanding of digital tools and commitment to inclusivity drive initiatives that resonate with a broad audience. Netimpact A lot of that work now happens in digital-first communities that aren't geographically legible the way a local network was.
So: probably a bit of both. The scene genuinely has less of the utopian, startup-weekend, "we're going to change the world" energy of the early 2010s — that moment was real and it has passed. But the underlying work is more prevalent than ever, just less conspicuous, more professionalised, and less likely to gather in the rooms where you'd once have spotted it. Worth looking at places like Enrol Yourself, Dark Matter Labs, or local community wealth building networks if you want to find where the energy currently lives in the UK.”
Wow - thanks Claude! So my take homes from this are:
“Social Entrepreneur” is out “Community organiser and sustainability leader” is in.
CSR/ESG has convinced people that business is making a difference so new ones don’t need to start.
Young people can’t afford to risk - changing the world.
Social change is now more academic and less fun and well, social.
The young people that are seeking to solve problems are orientating around digital solutions.
There is much to ponder here…I think I need some time to digest and consider if the changes to the sector is an opportunity, a sign of maturation as Claude suggests or something a little more concerning.