Some reflections on Martin Luther King and non-profit leadership

After spending some time on the production line at the Greater Boston Food Bank, and given the past weekend celebrating Martin Luther King, one reflects on what Martin Luther King might have done in light of what we had seen and experienced, at the Greater Boston Food Bank as well as the larger set of social issues that we are exposed to in our daily lives.

Another successful year for ForSE 2009

Another successful conference on Social Entrepreneurship was held on October 23rd, this time at Babson College in Boston’s Wellesley suburb. Details on the conference and photos were posted in a local e-magazine, Lokvani.com and are reproduced for those who could not attend. For details go to
http://blog.ambientengines.com

World’s largest Business plan competition looks to help social entrepreneurs

To help jumpstart job growth in Massachusetts, a unique public/private partnership, Masschallenge.org, was launched earlier this year that hopes to attract hundreds if not thousands of interested entrepreneurs to Massachusetts by unveiling what it claims is the world’s largest business plan competition. It hopes to change the way business plans are run by providing the winning teams with $1 million in seed funding in six different categories. With these incentives from MassChallenge and the support of the Massachusetts Government, the many entries the “Social Development and Non-profit” category will attract could help create the next new growth cluster in the state. Read my comments on this at http://blog.ambientengines.com

Social Media for Social Entrepreneurs

With Twitter and Facebook revolutionizing the business of marketing, can social activists lag behind? How does one turn followers into funders? Motivate movements with your messages? And leverage social networks to create social change? The experts on this panel have shown others how to maximize their impact with the latest online tools and techniques and they will help you figure out the right approach to integrating social media within your strategies. Find out more about the panel at
http://blog.ambientengines.com

Sustainable Business Models for Social Ventures

A new breed of ventures has begun innovating revenue models to build greater capacity and sustain operations. These approaches leverage the power of markets and have discovered the sustainable power of partnering with their customers to meet their social needs. More details at
http://blog.ambientengines.com

ForSE 2009 Agenda Details

ForSE 2009: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs promises to continue the tradition of interactive and engaging forums that we have produced in the past. In-depth discussion with a panel of practitioners and experts in four parallel panels. Dissect the daily workings of a social entrepreneur and help brainstorm solutions. Refine your pitch and wow a panel of judges during the Pitching session. More agenda details at http://blog.ambientengines.com

ForSE 2009 Pitch Contest – Pitching SE: How Good Leaders Sell Smart Ideas

For the first time ForSE 2009: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs, will have a pitch contest for aspiring social entrepreneurs. If you have an idea with significant social impact, here is your chance to pitch it and to wow a panel of expert judges and win a prize. Send in a short summary of your idea to pitch@tie-se.org

ForSE 2009: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs on Oct 23 at Babson College

Our annual conference on Social Entrepreneurship – ForSE 2009: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs will be held on Friday October 23. This time we are working together with Babson College’s Net Impact Undergrad organization to host it at Olin Hall on Babson College’s lovely Wellesley campus.

Responding to Clayton Christensen’s article on Government’s potential role in Social Innovation

I do believe there is an appropriate role for government to play in encouraging growth in social innovation. The single most critical issue for a young, startup social entrepreneur is the lack of a well structured ecosystem to encourage social innovation. The government can be a transparent facilitator and address these issues and then get out of the way and let the market work its way.

Some thoughts on Clayton Christensens article on Social Innovation

Clayton Christensen recently opined in The Huffington Post about the role the White House Office of Social Innovation could play. He suggests “Bottom up ” initiatives are needed. However I think the real issue is not “bottom up” initiatives but a complete lack of a supporting social ecosystem to encourage radical innovation and nurture young social entrepreneurs.