Despite significant efforts in global development and local capacity building over the past decade, sustainability remains a central challenge for those seeking to create lasting change. Too often, promising innovations tied to short-term grant cycles lose momentum once external funding ends. True sustainability, however, requires economic independence from foreign aid and local decision-making made within resilient, well-functioning systems. This chapter explores how the University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) addresses this challenge in Haiti through its Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI), which integrates market forces, business principles, and science-based innovations to build sustainable opportunities for children, families, and communities. In contexts where government investments fall short, social enterprise offers a pragmatic path forward—leveraging business models to support long-term gains in education, child welfare, and community development.Focusing on two key examples, the Bon Sel Initiative (BSI) and Mail Boxes, Etc. (MBE), this chapter highlights how the GC-DWC uses entrepreneurship as a tool to create local capacity, improve access to essential goods and services, and drive systemic change in Haitian communities.