Our History
The idea for the Institute may be traced back to the former Social Entrepreneurs Network (SEN) when the current AISE Founder and Executive Director, Leo Bartlett was appointed Planning Director for the implementation of an “academy” modelled on the School for Social Entrepreneurs in the UK (www.sse.org.uk). The latter is focused primarily on the training and education of social entrepreneurs. Prior to this appointment Leo had been a Foundation Professor of Education, Foundation Dean and Assistant Vice Chancellor in an Australian University. In that time he had established a strong record in learning, research and community engagement. More importantly he was involved in community economic development, governance on several boards of directors, and was an advocate of social enterprise as a best means for making communities more economic and sustainable.
After the dissolution of SEN, the idea of a more strategically focused support learning network emerged in the form of AISE. It differed from the initial idea of an academy in several ways in that it was planned as:
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A network support group for smaller and community-based social enterprises in the Australasian context.
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An entity with a broader strategic focus in three well defined areas of learning, research and technology applications.
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A support structure for a relatively small number of enthusiastic social entrepreneurs and organizations who were committed to the principles of mutualism for the development of social enterprises and the global ‘social movement’ generally.
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A public nonprofit with the aim of identifying and resolving critical issues/factors that affected the implementation and sustainability of micro and medium sized social enterprises.
Since its incorporation as a public company in early 2005, AISE has worked to undertake several research projects; it has hosted international social entrepreneurs; it has been involved in the start-up of two social enterprises in Australia; several close links and alliances with overseas social enterprise organizations particularly in the UK and US have been established; and it i currently appointing several member Fellows and Affiliates as part of its network.
AISE’s history has been brief but active. Its aspirations are not to become the biggest but the best quality support structure for a network for persons committed to social entrepreneurship and areas related to social entrepreneurship.
» More about how we achieve our goals through networking
A Brief History of Australian Social Enterprise.pdf