ForSE 2008, Forum for Social Entrepreneurs, has a number of interesting features and topics this year.
We will start the day with a plenary session consisting of a Keynote Panel discussion led by Nishith Acharya, Executive Director, Deshpande Foundation. He will be joined with Naveen Jha, Director of Programs, Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Meenakshi Verma Agrawal, Program Officer, Global Exchange Programs, Deshpande Foundation and leading Deshpande Fellows.
After the plenary session, the Forum will break into multiple tracks to maximize interaction between attendees. Within each track we will have:
- An in-depth discussion with a panel of practitioners and experts in that field. Each track will open with a panel consisting of leading implementers, providing their perspectives on what are the major issues in that area and how innovative organizations are helping to address them.
- A case study discussion with an emerging social entrepreneur. This year we have added a case discussion session to each track where the audience will have an opportunity to get engaged with a social entrepreneur. Selected entrepreneurs in each track will present their work and discuss their challenges of scaling and growing their organizations. This will be followed by a moderated discussion to help explore alternative solutions that might address their needs. We hope this format will get attendees more engaged with the social entrepreneurs while providing them with significant help from the combined experience and resources of the audience.
- Additional “How to” workshops led by key professionals who will help equip entrepreneurs with the tools and techniques to grow and manage their enterprises.
- Additional panels that will highlight some of the ground-breaking work in the various tracks.
I will post detailed descriptions of each of the tracks in future posts.
The event will conclude with a closing keynote from Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO of Yearup.org. Gerald has over 20 years of committed experience working with urban youth. Gerald was the recipient of the 2003 Social Entrepreneurship Award by the Manhattan Institute. Year Up is an intensive training program that provides urban young adults with hands-on skill development and corporate apprenticeships
Hope to see you at the event and don’t forget to join us at the closing reception after the closing keynote. Remember to register soon as only the first 180 registrants will get the discounted fees.
The Social Ecosystem 