Posted on November 5, 2009 by Raj Melville
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
Filed under: Conference, Education, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Babson college, Boston, Carol Cone, Conference, ecosystem, Leonard Schlesinger, microfinance, non-profit, Pamela Hawley, Philanthropy, Pitch contest, Rural Education, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, sustainable development, venture philanthropy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 22, 2009 by Raj Melville
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
Filed under: Investment, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Boston, business plan competition, ecosystem, Massachusetts, MassChallenge, Masschallenge.org, non-profit, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, Sustainable ventures, venture philanthropy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 17, 2009 by Raj Melville
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
Filed under: Conference, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Babson college, Boston, Conference, ecosystem, Equal Exchange, Food Supply, ForSE, More than Words, New England Rain Barrel, non-profit, Revision Urban Farm, Rural Development, Service, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, sustainability, sustainable development, Sustainable ventures | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 16, 2009 by Raj Melville
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
Filed under: Conference, Investment, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, creative capitalism, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Babson college, Conference, ForSE, New Profit, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, social Innovation forum, Social Investment, Sustainable ventures, venture philanthropy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 16, 2009 by Raj Melville
Jhonatan Rotberg, was sent to MIT by Telmex, one of Latin America’s largest telcos, and teaches NextLab where he tries to bring cellular technology to the other 90 percent of the world. One of the labs startups, CelEdu, offers cellphone-based games and quizzes to teach basic literacy skills in India. Ranjani Saigal from the TIE Social Entrepreneurs Group helped connect CelEdu students to Tara Aakshar. Read the entire article at http://blog.ambientengines.com
Filed under: BOP, Information Technology, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, international development, mobile technology, social Innovation | Tagged: BOP, Education, Information Technology, Jhonatan Rotberg, MIT, mobile technology, NextLab, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Telmex | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 10, 2009 by Raj Melville
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.
Filed under: Investment, Philanthropy, Politics, Service, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, non-profit, social Innovation, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Clayton Christensen, non-profit, Obama, Office of Social Innovation, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, venture philanthropy, White House | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 11, 2009 by Raj Melville
In the past decade, much progress has been made in India and people have been justifiably proud of the improving economic situation. While most observers point to the top line numbers that show the number of people living below the “poverty line” has been consistently decreasing, by focusing on just these aseptic numbers, they fail to understand and capture the continuing anguish in the rural countryside.
Filed under: BOP, India, Poverty, Rural Consumer, Rural Development, Rural Education, Sanitation, Schools, bottom of the pyramid, water and sanitation | Tagged: Agricultural Development, BOP, George Foundation, India, Poverty, Rural Development, Rural Education, Shanti Bhavan, Social Impact, World Bank | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 16, 2009 by Raj Melville
For the first time TIECON EAST – TiE Boston’s annual conference on entrepreneurship and innovation – had a dedicated track on Social Enterprise. The three panels for the track were all well attended. Here are some excerpts from an article I wrote for Lokvani about the sessions.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, Conference, Food, Health, India, Information Technology, Investment, Micro-enterprises, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, environment, international development, micro-finance, microfinance, mobile technology, social Innovation, sustainability | Tagged: Agricultural Development, Boston, Conference, Food Supply, Health, India, Information Technology, internet, micro-finance, microcredit, mobile technology, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, sustainability, sustainable development, Sustainable ventures, TIECON | Leave a Comment »
