SHE LEADS

Navigating the Funding Landscape for Women Social Entrepreneurs

Geerke Versteeg and Yvette Watson established the online platform The 2B Collective to immerse users in a gamified environment, teaching them about climate neutrality, circularity, and inclusivity. With a mature product, a new business model, and a committed team, the most recent financial results bolstered their confidence in scaling the venture. However, limited financial resources posed a challenge. Investor discussions revealed a focus on short-term returns rather than long-term social impact, compounded by post-pandemic market instability. This case is about Geerke and Yvette, both passionate about sustainability, and how they navigate challenges as female entrepreneurs in a male-dominated industry, while trying to stay true to their mission, values, and identity.

The 2B Collective is a startup that offers a gamified platform to consultancy organisations aiming to engage their clients in the transition towards a climate-neutral, circular, and inclusive society. Through The 2B Collective’s SaaS1 platform, end-users (i.e., employees from the client organisation), can access a database of learning programs integrated in a powerful digital environment. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been translated into concrete challenges and actions in these learning programmes to enable users to develop sustainable and inclusive thinking in a highly active and engaged way.

The case is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) case series, developed by Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University. Video learning materials and other resources about these SDGs are available at www.rsm.nl/sdgs.

  1. Identify and explain the different challenges/tension that social entrepreneurs face in their journey to grow their business.
  2. Examine and formulate potential solutions to balance social- and commercial goals for The 2B Collective.

Social enterprise, Social entrepreneurship, startup, female, women, financing, investment, human resources, SDG

Request a teaching note via cdc@rsm.nl