Purpose – This paper aims to examine how a social entrepreneurial organisation in Sweden collectively learned to adapt itself to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach – Using an abductive approach, this study conducted single case fieldwork on a social entrepreneurial organisation called SFE. The following research questions were asked: What are the changes in collective learning conditions that SFE has to face during the pandemic? What are the outcomes of collective learning during the pandemic in SFE?

Findings – This study results indicate that collective learning conditions were changed by restructuring the organisation’s design and teamwork during the pandemic, which facilitated sharing of knowledge and experiences. This collective learning helped the organisation develop new virtual projects during the pandemic. Another result of this collective learning was the members’ new shared understanding of the organisation’s vision.

Research limitations/implications – This study hopes to broaden the understanding of the relationship between collective learning in organisations and organisational adaptation in times of crisis.

Practical implications – This study can help leaders of social entrepreneurial organisations understand what changes are necessary to create a team that collectively learns.

Originality/value – The data had the advantage of being gathered as a real-time process, and the researcher witnessed how the organisation achieved adaptation as it happened and not just through its members’ reflection of it as a past phenomenon.

This article aims to analyse how one becomes a social entrepreneur. For this purpose, we interviewed the founders of five social entrepreneurial organisations active in the field of social integration in Sweden. To analyse our data we found situated learning theory in communities of practice to be a relevant lens. The results indicate that these social entrepreneurs’ previous participation in integration activities was a critical factor in generating ideas for new and innovative activities. Moreover, the network of individuals and organisations that they obtained in this period assisted them on the way to learn essential skills and develop their social entrepreneurial organisations. Becoming a social entrepreneur thus seems to be a result of both individual and collective learning processes that entail learning from concrete experiences embedded in specific organisational settings.