Anika Horn On An Ecosystem Building Approach To Revitalising Entrepreneurship

Anika Horn is on a mission to build entrepreneurial ecosystems for social change around the world.

Anchored in her belief that a rising tide lifts all boats, she is helping champions and advocates of (social) entrepreneurship take a systems approach to supporting purpose-driven founders in their communities.

Rooted at the intersection of systems thinking, social impact and storytelling, she helps changemakers lead impact-driven careers and meaningful lives by equipping them with thought-provoking insights, field-tested resources and a strong peer community at Social Venturers.

Previously, Anika co-founded Unreasonable Lab VA (Virginia’s first mini-accelerator for social entrepreneurs), CO.STARTERS VA (a startup program for idea-stage founders) and Rebelle Con (a boutique conference for entrepreneurial women). At the same time, she worked with high-growth startups at nationally ranked accelerator program Lighthouse Labs and spearheaded the B Corp movement in Virginia as the state’s official B Keeper.

Prior to her work in North America, Anika earned a Bachelor of European Studies and Masters of Sustainability Sciences in Germany, France and Australia, where she spent a decade working in journalism, non-profits, government and the private sector.

Anika discusses how Strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem leads to enhanced outcomes and opportunities for changemakers from underserved communities.

Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)

[Tom Allen] - To start off, please tell us about your passion for social enterprise, ecosystem building, and what led to your journey in this space?

[Anika Horn] - I started out pretty idealistic when I was young and in college. I was thinking there must be a better way to create social change than purely non-profits and relying on the government to do what they need to be doing to move their communities forward. I found myself in the social enterprise space in Berlin in my early twenties, and I just tried to figure out how I can better support entrepreneurs. I did this work for about a decade, working with founder’s one-on-one and through group programs. But, at some point I felt like I was having the same conversations over and over again. I thought to myself, “how come?” I had been coaching and advising social entrepreneurs for years, and they were still coming to me with the same question and facing the same challenges as before. I took a step back and became interested more so in the systemic view of what system are they operating within?

What systemic barriers and challenges are entrepreneurs up against and is there something we can do on that systems level to increase their chances of success, help them move forward and make this journey not so bloody hard!

Being a social entrepreneur is an incredibly tough journey, and I figured if there's anything I can do, if I can move any levers on a systems level, I would be able to impact more social entrepreneurs then just through one-on-one conversations.

What are some of the key occurrences you have noticed in the social impact space recently? What are you seeing and what would you like to share?

I have spent the last eight years living in the U.S. But it wasn't really until the murder of George Floyd in 2020 that I realised everything is not hunky dory. I never wanted to move to the U.S. in the first place (not to say that I don't want to live here), I never had this American dream vision of moving to the United States. Once I became aware of everything that's going on in the U.S, I really changed my perspective on the community I live in and the community that I want to live in.

Just to give you a sense, according to the Social Progress Index, which compares 146 countries around the world with regards to their social progress, the U.S is number 61 in terms of high school enrolment. It is number 50 in personal safety, and if you can believe it, it ranks number 40 in child mortality. There are some other really staggering statistics that show the ‘American dream’ is not what most people think it is.

Once I realised how dire the situation is for the majority of Americans, I also realised that entrepreneurship is and always has been a powerful tool.

It doesn't even have to be social entrepreneurship in order to make a difference for people who live in poverty, who don't have access to healthcare and who suffer from a mediocre education system. I shifted my perspective a little bit away from pure social enterprises to looking at how people can use entrepreneurship to create options and opportunities to get out of really tough situations and sustain a livelihood for them and their families. This is what I've been doing over the last year here in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

Locally speaking, what is the focus of your work? What are you seeing as some of the key themes emerging in this field to your local area Shenandoah Valley?

The area I currently live, work and play in is called the Shenandoah Valley. It is a stretch along one of the main interstates here in the U.S, the I81. It's a stretch of about 143 miles, which is something like 200 kilometres. It's a vast rural region where we are trying to not only promote entrepreneurship as an opportunity for people who can't work under the current conditions, but we are specifically focusing on black and brown entrepreneurs, women founders, and people who are generally considered underserved.

We’re trying to not just provide programming or one-on-one support. I am really convening all of the other entrepreneurial support organisations, such as incubators, accelerators, advisory services and co-working spaces.

I want them all to get together and say, "how can we as a region do a better job of serving entrepreneurs, especially from underserved communities?" I've been working with grassroots organisations, other non-profits, economic developers, and a variety of entrepreneurial support organisations to figure out how we as an ecosystem builder can do a better job of knowing what's going on, referring entrepreneurs and just breaking down some of the silos that exist in most ecosystems. The hope is that by us communicating with each other, sharing opportunities and breaking open those silos, we will be better situated to serve entrepreneurs in our communities, especially those who are underserved or living in really far flung rural areas.

If you were to give some advice from what you've learned in this ecosystem building space to other change makers or similar organisations, what would you tell them?

I would say whether you are an entrepreneur, an economic developer or whatever it is, whatever path you were chosen to create change in the world, find your accomplices. Find people in other organisations who share your mission and have a conversation around what you could do together that neither one of you could do on your own.

I believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts if we manage to find a way to communicate with each other and collaborate to create something greater. This is really nebulous, but I think for any change maker, I guarantee you will find 20 other people who are as passionate as you are about driving that change, you're dedicated to.

Instead of being competitive with other entrepreneurs, worrying about who gets funded, who doesn't, who gets visibility in the press or who gets the right mentors, throw everything into one pot, focus on what you do best and see what collaboration can emerge from this greater vision you're all pursuing.

At the end of the day, if we are here to serve others, it shouldn't be about our ego. It should be about collaborating for the greatest impact and seeing what we can create together that we wouldn't be able to do on our own.

What different organisations or enterprises are doing fantastic work in this ecosystem building field?

One that probably wouldn't call themselves an ecosystem builder that I've always looked up to for their model is Patagonia. Patagonia has invested heavily in research to find and develop materials that are more environmentally friendly, that have a lower carbon and water footprint in production. Instead of being a purely capitalist company who wants to make the most out of their invention, they've actually shared their patents widely with the industry, because they wanted their competitors to have access to top notch knowledge, even though it would probably mean Patagonia couldn't capitalize on this investment. It was more important to them to share this insight, so the planet is better off. They're a really good example of taking this ecosystem building approach and thinking about what is something they can contribute that will make the whole better off even if it's not a direct financial return on investment? Most of my resources over the last eight years have been pretty U.S focused, but we have a number of organisations driving this field forward. There is The Startup Champions Network, there was an organisation called InBIA that convenes entrepreneurial ecosystem builders. We have a new initiative called the Entrepreneurship Building Leadership Project, which is a group of ecosystem builders who are really passionate about moving this field forward and doing research and establishing itself as its own profession. All of those organisations are accessible from anywhere in the world, and anyone can sign up for their newsletters, become part of their online communities, become a member, and learn more about the field of ecosystem building.

To finish off, what books or resources would you recommend to our listeners?

Obviously, I've got to plug my own show, it's called Ecosystems for Change. I started in January 2022 to host a show where I interview ecosystem builders from all around the world to share some of their hardest learned lessons, war stories, and their greatest experiences in this field. I encourage anyone to just go check it out. We talk about things like what really is systems change and what is our role in systems change?

We talk about what is ecosystem building and who can be an ecosystem builder? Spoiler, the answer is everybody who's passionate about driving change can be an ecosystem builder! We had a whole season about burnout, and at the end of 2022, we wrapped up a season about social capital and how your personal relationships and the strength and quality of your network can really help you as a change maker, transform your community and move it forward. Obviously, that is my favourite resource, and over the course of the first year of the podcast, we have gathered over 80 resources, because I love asking this exact same question to my interview guests! I have a long list of books, articles and other resources for ecosystem builders, and two that really stand out. One is The Rainforest by Victor Wang and Greg Horowitt, who talk about how you can create a Silicon Valley and break down this idea of what is an entrepreneurial ecosystem and how to go about building that. The second resource is the Bible in the field of ecosystem building, and it’s The Startup Community Way by Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway. That book gets referred to a lot because it really is a great manual and an introduction to ecosystem building. One book I really like which I think is not getting enough love out there is The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. He really breaks it down for any change maker to distance ourselves a little bit from the change we're constantly trying to create and understanding that we are players in a process that has been going on for decades and will go on for hundreds of years.

We can contribute what we can contribute, but it's okay to step out of the game when you need to, be it for personal reasons, wellbeing, or you simply run out of the resources or the will to continue playing.

I found that really sobering, to remind myself that even though I want to change the world, I am one small player who needs to take care of herself first, and if there's anything left, I can contribute to my community and try to transform it. Highly recommend The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek.