Category Archives: Social Business

HBS SE Conference Keynote by Linda Rottenberg of Endeavor

Posted on March 4, 2009 | 5 comments

The opening keynote to the 10^th annual HBS Social Enterprise Conference was a truly inspirational presentation by Linda Rottenberg from Endeavor, Inc. Endeavor helps mentor and grow entrepreneurs in developing countries. It has screened over 18000 candidates and selected 400 entrepreneurs, who have generated over 86,000 jobs and $2.5 billion in revenue.

Linda traced the arc of social entrepreneurship as it accelerated over the past decade from an idea to formally becoming a key movement. Here are some of my notes from the session.

She pointed out that the long path was facilitated with three key developments.

When Bono became the symbol for AIDS in Africa with his RED Campaign, he made social activism cool
When Prof Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace prize, he instantly became the visible leader from within the field.
When Bill Gates went beyond establishing his foundation and stepped down from Microsoft to focus exclusively on his philanthropic work and presented his vision of Creative Capitalism, he made social entrepreneurship mainstream.

It is clear that government cannot solve all social problems. Businesses on the other hand are not always there to fill in the gaps. This is where social entrepreneurs come in. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conference, international development, Micro-enterprises, non-profit, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability, venture philanthropy

Tagged Bill Gates, Bono, Conference, ecosystem, Endeavor, international development, Linda Rottenberg, non-profit, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, sustainability, Sustainable ventures, yunus

Ashoka’s “Tapping Youth Innovation Challenge”

Posted on February 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

Ashoka has launched a youth movement called Ashoka’s Youth Venture (http://genv.net/) to help young people to design and launch their own lasting social ventures. (More on this in a later post). As part of their efforts to spur innovation, they have teamed up with a number of organizations to hold youth oriented social innovation competitions.

The latest one is “Tapping Youth Innovation, a Water Campaign” where they are looking for young innovators’ ideas on how to solve some of the challenges to clean water and sanitation for people living in poverty. The challenge is accepting entries until March 22, 2009 which coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally) happens to be World Water Day!

Here is a blurb about their competition for people who might be interested. Continue reading →

ForSE 2008 – Speakers and Panels for conference

Posted on September 28, 2008 | Leave a comment

We have a terrific line up of speakers and panels for ForSE 2008 on October 10th at Boston University. See the list below. Do make sure you have registered as there are very few seats left.

To register go to: http://www.bu.edu/forse

Click on the ForSE 2008 link.

Opening Plenary Panel 9.00 to 10.45 am

Nishith Acharya, Executive Director, Deshpande Foundation.
Naveen Jha, Director of Programs, Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Meenakshi Verma Agrawal, Program Officer, Global Exchange Programs, Deshpande Foundation

Closing Keynote 4.00 to 4.30 pm

Keynote Speaker Gerald Chertavian, CEO and Founder, Year Up. Recipient of the 2003 Social Entrepreneurship Award by the Manhattan Institute.

Track Themed Panels from 11.15 to 12.15

Adapting to Climate Change

Lynne Carter, Director, Adaptation Network
Paul H. Kirshen, Research Professor, Director, Water, Systems, Science and Society, Tufts University
Missy Stults, Sr. Program Officer, Northeast, ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives)

Mobile Solutions for the Masses

Jhonatan Rotberg, Founder, Director, Next Billion Network
Amir Alexander Hasson, CEO, United Villages
Barry Vercoe, Professor, MIT & Advisor OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)

Beyond Microfinance: Opportunities for change

Chandni Ohri, Regional Director, South Asia, Grameen Foundation
Sarita Gupta, Vice President, Women’s World Banking
Tanya Palit, Project Manager, Grameen America
Dr. Jeffrey Blander, Executive Director, Bienmoyo Foundation, Course Director, Harvard Health Science & Technology Division

Building a Sustainable Food Supply

Kristen McCormack, Faculty Director, Public and Nonprofit Management Program, Boston University School of Management
Florence Reed, Founder, Sustainable Harvest International
Margaret Williams, Executive Director, The Food project

Cultivating a Generation – Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

Xing Hu, Youth Venture, Ashoka.org
Alvona Cunningham, Education Manager, JA Academy and Scholars Program
Clare McCully, Executive Director, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship

Case Studies 1.00 to 2.30 pm

Environment

Case Presenter: Mishi Jaggi and Bob Beauchamp, Nano Decopier, JMD Manufacturing
Case discussion moderated by: Peter Russo, Executive-In-Residence/Senior Lecturer, Strategy and Policy Department, Director, Entrepreneurship Programs – ITEC, Boston University School of Management

Mobile Solutions for the Masses

Case Presenter: Click Diagnostic
Case discussion moderated by: Tilak Subrahmanian

Beyond Microfinance: Opportunities for change

Case Presenter: Eric Melin, Founder, Philanthropist.org
Case discussion moderated by: Ramesh Advani, Vice President of Finance, India Operations, Fidelity Investments

Building a Sustainable Food Supply

Case Presenter: Lydia K. Bergen, Associate Director, Strategy and Outreach, Sustainable Fisheries Initiative, New England Aquarium
Case discussion moderated by: Barry Horwitz, Horwitz & Company LLC

Cultivating a Generation – Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

Case Presenter: Julie Nessen, Co-founder & Executive Director, Young Entrepreneurs Alliance
Case discussion moderated by: Paul McManus, Director International Programs, ITEC, Boston University

Sustainable Ventures for non-profits

Case Presenter: Roger Wellington, Director, Abundant Table Enterprises & Susan Miskell, Business Operations Manager, Abundant Table Enterprises
Case Discussion moderator to be finalized

Track Themed Panels from 2.45 to 3.45 pm

Mobile Solutions for the Masses

David Reich, Founder & CEO, Assured Labor
Vishwanath Anantraman, Co-Founder, Dimagi

Cultivating a Generation – Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

Barton Kunstler, Author, The Hothouse Effect
Preeta Banerjee, Assistant Professor of Strategy, International Business School, Brandeis University
Joshua Schuler, Executive Director, Lemelson-MIT Program, MIT

Sustainable Ventures for non-profits

Tim Prestero, Founder and CEO, Design Than Matters
Alex Chisholm, Executive Director and Founder, Learning Games Network
Therese Ellis, CEO, Common Impact
Andrew Motta, Operations Director, Artists For Humanity

Workshops – from 2.45 to 3.45 pm

Careers in Social Entrepreneurship

Presented by Marty Rod, Director of Entrepreneur Outreach, Ashoka

Marketing for Social Entrepreneurs

Presented by Beverly Schwartz, Vice President and Director of Global Marketing, Ashoka

Strategic Philanthropy: Implications of Recent Trends

Presented by Anne Radday, Philanthropy Researcher, Social Innovation Forum

Sustainable Non-profits and Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

Posted on September 21, 2008 | 1 comment

Here are a couple of more track descriptions for the upcoming ForSE 2008: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs on October 10th at Boston University.

Sustainable Ventures for Non-Profits

In decades past, many non-profits have achieved only temporary success and limited scale due to dependence on grants and donations. A new breed of ventures have begun innovating revenue models to build greater capacity and sustain operations. These approaches leverage the power of markets to meet social needs. Whether they’re building a socially responsible brand of clothing, providing renewable energy solutions, or bringing banking to the poor, these organizations have discovered the sustainable power of partnering with their customers.

Topics to be addressed in this session include: developing an earned income model, identifying market needs, measuring success, the power of scale, and balancing competing interests.

Cultivating a Generation – Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

A 2007 Harris survey shows 4 in 10 young people between the ages of 8 and 21 want to start their own business. Creative skill development and entrepreneurial experiences provide young people with opportunities to discover their talents and passions, believe in themselves and empower them to create their own futures. This track will explore educational programs focused on engaging young people in real world entrepreneurial experiences that launch them on a path toward building new businesses that create jobs, serve their community and have a positive impact on the world around them.

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Posted in Conference, Education, non-profit, Schools, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability

Tagged Boston, Conference, earned income, ecosystem, Education, ForSE 2008, non-profit, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, sustainability, Sustainable ventures, young entrepreneurs, youth, Youth entrepreneurship

Beyond Microfinance: Opportunities for Change

Posted on September 20, 2008 | 1 comment

Another Track in the upcoming ForSE 2008: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs

Beyond Microfinance: Opportunities for Change

Microfinance, as demonstrated by Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus, provides disadvantaged entrepreneurs with small loans to run their businesses and eventually help lift them out of poverty. This has become a wide spread phenomenon all over the world encouraging millions of families out of poverty.

What’s next? There is a huge business opportunity for both, investment in the MFIs and providing other business services to these micro-enterprises at the bottom of the pyramid.

While commercial banks are satisfying the demand for capital to the MFIs , the social entrepreneurs with social business ideas will hopefully fill the gap by providing services to the poor entrepreneurs to run and scale their businesses successfully. Prof. Yunus’ has exemplified this concept of a social business with a collaborative effort with Dannon in Bangladesh, that brings low cost nutritious meals to the poor while employing local farmers and citizens. This is a win-win situation where the commercial banks, MFIs, social businesses and the aspiring entrepreneurs all profit!

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Posted in BOP, bottom of the pyramid, Conference, Education, micro-finance, microfinance, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development