Marie Lisa M. Dacanay, PhD is the founding President of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA), and a pioneer in social entrepreneurship education and research in the Asian region. She has over 20 years of experience in development management and consulting, as well as in social entrepreneurship and enterprise development in the Philippines and other countries in Asia.

 

From 2001 to 2008, Dr. Dacanay was Associate Professor and Faculty Champion for Social Entrepreneurship at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in the Philippines. At AIM, she served as Program Director for the Master in Entrepreneurship for Social and Development Entrepreneurs. Since 2009, she has been an Adjunct Professor at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government, where she is lead faculty in the design and delivery of social entrepreneurship masteral and executive courses.

 

Dr. Dacanay has authored several books and led the publication of various research on social entrepreneurship in Asia. These include the ISEA-Oxfam Report on Poverty Reduction and Women Economic Leadership: Roles, Potentials and Challenges of Social Enterprises in Developing Countries in Asia (2015); Social Enterprises and the Poor: Transforming Wealth (2013) and Measuring Social Enterprise: A Resource Book on Social Enterprise Performance Management (2009). In the Philippines, she also led the research that inspired the crafting of a stakeholders’ version of a Poverty Reduction through Social Entrepreneurship (PRESENT) Bill which is now being deliberated by the two houses of Congress.

 

Dr. Dacanay leads an ISEA-Oxfam initiative supported by the Swedish government that is developing gendered benchmarks for transformational partnerships with small scale producers in agricultural value chains in the ASEAN. She also leads ISEA’s partnership with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to promote the Business Schools for Impact Asia Initiative.

 

Dr. Dacanay holds a PhD from the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and a Master in Development Management (with Distinction) from the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines.