Best places for social entrepreneurs: Singapore, Silicon Valley, London

The best place for social entrepreneurship?

“Where’s the best place in the world for a social entrepreneur to live and build a social enterprise?”

That’s a tough question. It appears there are two schools of thought when it comes to attempting an answer: Get close or go big.

Some people believe that a social entrepreneur should be physically near to her target market. If she is working on poverty alleviation, then perhaps she should be in a city like Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Or if she is fighting air or water pollution then perhaps Dhaka, Bangladesh. That certainly makes sense for a number of social entrepreneurs.

But then there are those of us who think that a social enterprise with the greatest potential for global impact requires a very specific type of climate to flourish. In my research, I’ve identified a few factors that deeply matter: Access to talent, access to funding, access to markets, a good business climate, and a supportive culture. From that perspective, highly developed cities rise to the top.

When I asked my social entrepreneur friends to attempt an answer they threw out the following: Boston, Cambridge, Copenhagen, Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mumbai, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Stockholm, Vancouver, and many others.

Most said there is no single ‘best’ place, which makes sense. But the same people also identified Silicon Valley as the best place for entrepreneurs, at least in general. So perhaps there is an answer?

The best place to be will certainly vary for any particular social entrepreneur. It will depend on what industry they’re in, what stage of growth they’re in, how they reach their customers or beneficiaries, whether they’re suitable for social investment or not, and a whole host of other factors.

But for a general answer, my search led me to three top choices: London, Silicon Valley, and Singapore.

London is home to some of the world’s most prominent social powerhouses: The Young Foundation, Social Innovation Exchange, School for Social Entrepreneurs, UnLtd, among others. It is certainly a contender.

Silicon Valley is the world’s poster child for entrepreneurship. It has an extraordinary amount of talent, money, and energy.

But Asia is the future. I place a lot of weight on this claim. If you’re a social entrepreneur thinking ten or more years out, Asia cannot easily be ignored.

So let’s talk about Singapore.

Two years ago, I was on a trip around the world with one of my mentors. He was consulting; I was trying to determine where I should base myself as a young social entrepreneur. At the tail end of our trip we landed in Singapore, ostensibly only for a very brief visit. I ended up staying for two weeks to research the social innovation and entrepreneurship sector. It was nascent, but extremely impressive.