Tag Archives: Boston

Two social visionaries from India

Posted on April 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

We were pleased to have Vibha Krishnamurthy and Ashish Karamchandani visit us in Boston on Sunday.

Vibha Krishnamurthy is the founder of Ummeed, (http://www.ummeed.org ) a first-of-its kind center addressing the needs of the estimated 35 million children in India with developmental disabilities. After completing her fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, Vibha moved back to Bombay determined to bring world class care to disabled children in India. She founded Ummeed in 2001 and it now supports over 1000 patient visits a week. Ummeed provides early diagnosis of development disabilities followed by in-house professional, medical and therapeutic care. It allows families to continue proper care and therapy at home by providing training and education programs for parents. For her tireless efforts to bring care to the disadvantaged, Vibha was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2007. http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/4900

Vibha’s husband, Ashish Karamchandani is a visionary in his own right. Ashish returned to India to head Monitor’s Indian consulting office where he spearheaded an effort within Monitor to address the challenges of global poverty with market based solutions. He was successful in starting a new area of research within Monitor, Monitor Inclusive Markets, (http://www.mim.monitor.com) that he now leads. The group has brought scientific and business approaches to providing market-based solutions and has initiated financially-sustainable enterprises to address the needs of the bottom 60% of the income pyramid in India. Their work has identified housing as one of the key areas where market based solutions can alter the social and economic landscape of the country. Ashish has recently published a comprehensive report “Emerging Markets, Emerging Models,” based on their solid fact-based research. Continue reading →

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Posted in Health, India, international development, micro-finance, non-profit, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

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An opportunity of a lifetime

Posted on March 14, 2009 | 1 comment

An interesting side effect of the global recession on graduating college students – more are considering taking time to get engaged in public service. A recent article in the Boston Globe observes

Instead of going straight into a 100-hour-a-week job at an investment bank, they are pursuing less lucrative but potentially more satisfying opportunities in public service, enrolling in record numbers in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Teach for America.

In that article Harvard President, Drew Gilpin Faust observed.
“The path to Wall Street was so clearly defined, so if you weren’t sure what direction to go, this direction was filled with signposts and rewards,” Faust said in an interview. “But we are seeing two historic moments converge: this extraordinary financial crisis and this outpouring of interest in the public sphere.”

Faust said she hopes to tap alumni connections and join with other colleges to set up a recruitment process for public service that mirrors the way the corporate world woos students.

Sasha Dichter of the Acumen Fund ruminates in in his blog post The Other 690 : Continue reading →

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Posted in Philanthropy, Service, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation

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Bill Drayton – Social Entrepreneurship’s Rock Star

Posted on March 4, 2009 | 1 comment

I was lucky to attend the HBS SE Conf 10th Anniversary Keynote Panel.  The panel consisted of Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka and granddaddy of social entrepreneurship, David Gergen, presidential advisor emeritus and ubiquitous political commentator, Jon Greenblatt, founder of Ethos water, and Clara Miller, CEO of Nonprofit fund. More on the panel in a later post.

The hall was packed. Over a thousand people filled the room, lined the wall and crowded the passageways. It was great to see the energy behind this. Continue reading →

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

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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

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Posted in Conference, Education, environment, Food, Information Technology, micro-finance, mobile technology, non-profit, OLPC, Philanthropy, Poverty, Service, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability, sustainable development

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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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