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 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 13, 2009 by Raj Melville
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.
Filed under: Conference, Investment, Micro-enterprises, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, creative capitalism, micro-finance, microfinance, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Accion, Babson college, Boston, Conference, ecosystem, micro-finance, microfinance, MIT, non-profit, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, social Innovation, Social Investment, sustainability, sustainable development, Sustainable ventures, universalgiving, venture philanthropy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 20, 2009 by Raj Melville
The latest Time Magazine has a great article about social entrepreneur Reed Paget and his startup Belu that has grown from $13,000 in 2004 to nearly $4 million in 2008 while providing water in corn based bottles that can be composted and redeploying its profits to projects that bring clean water to deserving regions of [...]
Filed under: Investment, Recycle, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Water, environment, social Innovation | Tagged: Belu, Greenpeace, Reed Paget, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, Social Investment, Sustainable ventures, venture philanthropy, yunus | 2 Comments »
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 August 3, 2009 by Raj Melville
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.
Filed under: Investment, Philanthropy, Politics, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, social Innovation, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Clayton Christensen, Echoing Green, New Profit, non-profit, Office of Social Innovation, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, Social Investment, Vanessa Kirsch, venture philanthropy, White House, yunus | 10 Comments »
Posted on May 11, 2009 by Raj Melville
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.
Filed under: BOP, Health, Information Technology, Investment, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, international development, micro-finance, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Acumen Fund, BOP, Health, Information Technology, international development, micro-finance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, Sustainable ventures, venture philanthropy | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 15, 2008 by Raj Melville
The term Social Entrepreneur provides a broad umbrella that covers a number of different types of organizations – ranging from non-profits, to socially focused businesses (as defined by Yunus) to for-profits that have solutions that address a social issue in a major way. Depending on the type of organization the approach to early stage funding will differ.
Filed under: Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, venture philanthropy | Tagged: angel investor, Early Stage Funding, for-profit, foundations, grants, new business model, non-profit, philanthropist, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Investment, startup, Venture Capital, venture fund, venture philanthropy, Vinit Nijhawan | Leave a Comment »
