Scaling Social Innovations in Africa and Beyond

Here are some insights from our article,"The Scaling of Social Innovations in Africa and Beyond," which has been accepted by AIB Insights.

The article explores a question that is becoming increasingly important worldwide:

How do social innovations scale across borders while maintaining their social mission?

Using the cases of M-PESA in Kenya and Kiva across Africa, we examine how social innovations grow internationally, not just by expanding geographically, but by increasing their social impact.

Our findings suggest that successful scaling depends on three critical factors:

✅ Legitimacy through trusted networks, partnerships, and institutional support

✅ Funding from innovative business models, donors, governments, and strategic alliances

✅ Social Impact that reaches more beneficiaries while remaining aligned with the original mission

The research also highlights the tensions social innovators must navigate as they grow, including balancing social and financial objectives, adapting to different institutional contexts, maintaining stakeholder trust, and learning across diverse environments.

For practitioners, the message is clear: international networks matter. They provide access to resources, legitimacy, and opportunities that enable social innovations to scale sustainably. For researchers, the study offers a framework for understanding internationalization beyond traditional profit-oriented business models. Both private sector and investors should seriously align their expectations with the purpose for these companies. Most mission drift occures either beacuse of lack of oversight or beacuse of market pressures. It is possible to have purpose and profits but the morphing should be transparant and not exploitive.

A special thank you to my co-authors Prof. Tanvi Kothari and Dr. Sadaf Khurshid, and to the editors (especially Prof. Beth Rose) and reviewers whose thoughtful feedback strengthened the manuscript.

Paper link: https://insights.aib.world/article/168305-the-scaling-of-social-innovations-in-africa-and-beyond