Category Archives: Social Ecosystem

Building a Sustainable Food Supply

Posted on September 25, 2008 | Leave a comment

Here is the final track description for the upcoming ForSE 2008: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs on October 10th at Boston University.

Building a Sustainable Food Supply

Today’s attention grabbing headlines increasingly focus on the high price of oil, the availability of water and the spiraling cost of food. Governments, business and nonprofit organizations around the world have responded to these challenges with programs or policies designed to help farmers grow more food using less resources, grow food closer to where it will be consumed and provide a better economic outcome for farmers. Current solutions range from new business models connecting small farmers as suppliers of multinational food corporations to teaching communities low impact, high yield farming techniques. However, the move toward a sustainable food supply is only beginning and provides an opportunity to explore resource constrained solutions.

Topics to be addressed in this session include: increasing yield from existing acreage, solving market access barriers facing small farmers, reducing the resources and environmental impact required to produce food, and resolving distribution problems with locally grown food in the U.S. and globally.

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Posted in Conference, Education, Food, non-profit, Schools, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, sustainability, sustainable development

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Updated location for Sept 27 ServiceNation Day of Action

Posted on September 25, 2008 | Leave a comment

Updated news on change of location for Boston’s Day of Action on September 27th. Please see the message below from Katie Visco one of the organizers.
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Saturday’s predicted rain will not hinder the power of service, so…
The Boston Day of Action will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, just 2 blocks from the Common! Click HERE for a map.
The Boston Day of Action is unstoppable!  Despite the rain heading our way for this Saturday, this is going to be one AMAZING, landmark event!  Yes, that’s right, the Day of Action GOES ON, rain or shine, and we still need YOUR unstoppable passion, commitment, and energy to call upon an era of service.  This day will be soaked with inspiration (ha ha, get it?!) Continue reading →

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Posted in Conference, non-profit, Politics, Service, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation

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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

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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

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Adapting to Climate Change

Posted on September 18, 2008 | Leave a comment

We have over 80 people registered already for ForSE 2008: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs. Click here to register as we are going to quickly reach the limit of our 180 discounted admissions.

Here is the description of another one of the six tracks

Adapting to Climate Change

Rising global temperatures and erratic local weather patterns are of growing concern all around the world. Scientists worldwide have confirmed the reality of climate change and the impact of humans in increasing Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. International treaties such as the ‘Kyoto Protocol’, state adopted legislations and activities at the local level are focused on acting to mitigate the effects of global warming. By changing policies, processes and habits, these actions may help the general public to gradually reduce the emission of GHGs and thus curb the severity of the impending climate change.

While it is important to mitigate climate change and its impact, positive results will be seen only after several decades. In the meantime, climate change and a rise in global temperatures will continue to occur, with changes in weather, ecology and environment impacting our daily lives on earth. Therefore it is important to adopt two strategies – mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Several entrepreneurial spirits have taken up the challenge and established a creative response to the dilemma of high energy prices, high demand and low supplies concurring with global warming. This track will present an expert panel that will discuss strategies for adaptation to climate change and how social and business entrepreneurs are supporting this effort.

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Posted in BOP, Conference, Education, environment, non-profit, Poverty, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation, sustainability, sustainable development, Waste, Water, Water resources

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