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

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

Valuing Social Enterprises

As a number of young entrepreneurs launch their social enterprises, one of the areas they all struggle with is attracting socially conscious investors. A challenge for all is how to evaluate a social focused business on metrics other than strict return on investment. More details at http://blog.ambientengines.com

An Investors perspective of Microfinance

An Investors perspective of Microfinance – Over the past years, microfinance has grown increasingly prominent and found its way into the common vernacular. As microfinance has become increasingly mainstream, major investors have started to take positions in microfinance companies. What are the potential returns and social impacts that investors see in this segment? 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.

The Blue Sweater a book by Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz

I had gotten a copy of Acumen Fund founder, Jacqueline Novogratz’s, book “The Blue Sweater” a couple of months ago and had kept promising myself that I would read it. Once I started reading I was hooked. Before I knew it I had plowed through the entire volume. This is an extraordinary and powerful book.