Scaling inclusive digital innovation successfully: the case of crowdfunding social enterprises

Abstract

There is a growing interest in how organizations and initiatives that innovate to use information and communication technologies for development (ICTD) can scale their operations, reach and impact. This article takes a systemic and socio-technical approach to analyse the successful scaling of a crowdfunding social enterprise. It traces the growth of the ‘innofusion’ network of the world's first person-to-person microlending platform, with particular emphasis on practices of balancing along three dimensions: (1) the need for standardization to manage expansion across highly diverse geographical contexts and for adaptation, customization and diversification to produce locally meaningful impact; (2) online and offline strategies and (3) business and social aspects of the organization. Processes of techno-financial scaling made possible by organizational and technological innovation at the social enterprise, which is embedded in the San Francisco Bay Area's techno-entrepreneurial milieu, also enabled financial innovation among platform partners in developing countries.

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