About ANSES
ANSES Overview
In 2017 Filip de Beule, Alex Antonites, Alex Bignotti and Kerryn Krige decided to set up a network for social entrepreneurship scholars. We were encouraged by the growing interest in researching social entrepreneurship in Africa and were keen to collaborate—but finding who was studying what, where and how was much harder to do than we anticipated. We realised that the research agenda was growing at a rapid rate but would benefit from collaboration and cohesion. At the same time, our experience working in the field was throwing up new research opportunities to connect theory to practice—but how to make this happen in real life? We realised the need to set up a collegial network through which scholars could connect, collaborate, and explore new opportunities. Since our first colloquium in 2018, ANSES has grown to a network of 185 members across 30 countries. Our goal is to continue to expand and grow the people and the research in social entrepreneurship in Africa.
We are grateful for funding from VLIR-UOS who have championed our idea of inclusion and collaboration to research and scholarly partnerships since 2017.
Why ANSES?
SE as a scholarly field holds immense potential for Africa, where social challenges are prevalent and whose solution is often neglected by governments and markets alike. Yet, the SE research agenda for the Continent is often fragmented and scholars often operate in isolation. Moreover, research efforts by individuals or small research groups in Africa often suffer from lack of awareness of the ongoing international research conversations on SE, as well as lower standards of academic training and less exposure to funding opportunities compared to some other regions of the world.
Aware of the role played by research in policy making and the improvement of practice, ANSES was founded to create a network where SE scholars operating in Africa can be linked to each other and be exposed to international conversations in the field, as well as to training and funding opportunities. It is our belief that the network will thus facilitate the building of a stronger and more connected SE community in Africa, which will engender higher-impact and better orchestrated research endeavours.
Member Benefits
ANSES offers its members the following benefits:
- Membership in an African scholarly network with the opportunity to develop linkages and collaborations
- Research and doctoral workshops and other academic training opportunities
- Exposure to international conferences
- Exposure to opportunities for research funding
