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.

Based on a literature review, two workshops, and four interviews, the report finds that social innovations are deeply embedded within the ecosystem. Whether a social enterprise has the ability to scale its social innovation is shaped by system-level conditions, organisational capacity, and the quality of relationships between social entrepreneurs, policymakers, financiers, network organisations, and researchers. Social enterprises are widely recognised as pioneers and system challengers — actors who expose the limitations of existing systems and demonstrate alternative approaches through their social innovations, capable of generating integrated, people-centred solutions. However, their role is insufficiently recognised and supported within existing policy, financing, and procurement frameworks.

Key barriers to scaling include fragmented and unpredictable policy environments, short-term and project-based financing, limited room for experimentation, and administrative burdens that discourage innovation. The middle phase of growth emerges as a critical bottleneck, with social enterprises often falling between start-up financing and late-stage financing. At the organisational level, many social enterprises face capacity constraints related to professionalisation, governance, and impact measurement. While impact measurement is essential for legitimacy and learning, it can also become a barrier when requirements are misaligned with organisational maturity or the complexity of social value creation.

The ecosystem itself is rich but fragmented. Scaling often depends on individual champions within municipalities and other organisations, informal networks, and local ambassadors rather than structural support. Stronger ecosystem coordination and purpose-driven coalitions, where actors mobilise around specific societal challenges, can help overcome institutional barriers and accelerate learning and diffusion. The mobilising actor can differ from challenge to challenge, and all actors should understand their role and be proactive in filling gaps where they exist.

At the same time, the research identified significant opportunities. Growing agency among target groups, including newcomers increasingly starting their own initiatives, represents a growing source of grassroots innovation. Digital social innovations in the debt counselling domain demonstrate that scaling through partner models can achieve national reach without requiring proportional organisational growth. A trend toward more specialised, impact-oriented financing is emerging. Demonstrated impact, when visible and credible, accelerates support, unlocks financing, and builds the legitimacy needed to scale.

The report concludes that enabling social enterprises to scale their social innovation is not primarily about questioning the value of their innovations, but about strengthening the conditions under which these innovations can grow and achieve systemic impact. It therefore calls for improved ecosystem coordination and purpose-driven coalitions, greater policy space for experimentation, integrated long-term support structures, structural and multi-year financing, and stronger participation and agency of target groups. By addressing these conditions, the Netherlands can move beyond what are currently brilliant but isolated experiments and enable the systemic transformation required for a more inclusive and resilient society.