Scaling Social Innovations by Social Enterprises in the Netherlands

Year: 2026
Published in: Social Enterprise NL
Cited as: Paramjit, K.K., & Panhuijsen, S. (2026). Scaling social innovations by social enterprises in the Netherlands: Opportunities, obstacles and recommendations for social entrepreneurs, financiers and policy makers.

Scaling social innovations by social enterprises in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is facing complex, interdependent societal challenges that traditional market and public sector approaches struggle to address, particularly under increasing budget constraints. These so-called “wicked problems” manifest across local, regional, and national levels and disproportionately affect vulnerable groups. Social enterprises play a critical role in responding to these challenges by developing social innovations that combine entrepreneurial activity with a primary social objective, deliberately addressing needs that are insufficiently met by the state or commercial enterprises in the market. It is worth noting that scaling a social enterprise and scaling a social innovation are related but not identical, a growing social enterprise does not automatically mean its social innovation reaches more people or achieves greater systemic impact. To effectively address national challenges, social innovations must scale to match the magnitude of social need.

The study examines the challenges and opportunities social entrepreneurs face when scaling proven social innovations from a regional to a national level. Two domains were used as a lens to select social entrepreneurs and ecosystem actors for the research: newcomer participation and debt counselling. Both are characterised by systemic complexity, divided governance structures, and persistent gaps in public provision, while requiring solutions that extend beyond isolated local initiatives. The findings and recommendations, however, are broadly applicable to social entrepreneurs and the social innovation ecosystem in the Netherlands as a whole.