The SME market is too small to serve with people-intensive approaches, too complex to operate with fully automated approaches, and too expensive for most banks to provide loans. Therefore, it is not surprising that most bankers do not feel comfortable operating in the SME realm. However, the world is changing, and SMEs are changing alongside it. This reinforces the importance of the SME Finance Forum’s work in helping our members learn from each other, link to new business opportunities, and lead a constructive industry dialogue with policymakers.

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The mission of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is focused on the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) and its connection to the state of Wisconsin, and we are the oldest university technology transfer organization in the US. WARF has more than 90 years of experience at UW-Madison as a partner advancing and commercializing research to benefit humankind both through licensing technologies to existing companies and, more and more over the past 20 years, through helping foster new company formation.

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Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the Canadian economy, accounting for 90 percent of the private sector workforce (10.7 million workers) and nearly 40 percent of the national GDP. Under the leadership of the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, and the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism, the Government is committed to supporting the success and growth of Canadian MSMEs.

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The purpose of this paper is to help all stakeholders understand the activities surrounding social entrepreneurs and the current social enterprise ecosystem. To do this, the first part of this paper introduces our program, the Halcyon Incubator, as a case study. Followed by this, it glances at the status of social enterprise ecosystems in the United States and how these ecosystems fuel MSMEs.

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