Tag Archives: Conference

Towards a Greener Future

Posted on October 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

I attended a conference “Making Green Economy Real” organized by The Boston Pledge at Bentley University outside of Boston. After opening remarks by Partha Ghosh, founder of The Boston Pledge, that provided some great insights into the challenges facing the economy, Prof. Bill Moomaw, one of the authors of the IPCC report that shared in the Nobel Peace Prize with VP Gore, provided a terrific overview of what was needed for the US to really go green.

Recently returned from Washington, Prof. Moomaw had accompanied the Tufts team that entered the biannual Solar Decathalon sponsored by the Department of Energy. The Decathalon is a challenge to design, build and operate a house that is completely powered by solar energy on site at the Washington Mall. Twenty teams from all around the USA, Puerto Rico, Spain and Germany participated. The winner for the second time in a row was Germany. But more important were Moomaw’s observations about the state of the art in solar and energy efficiency as represented by the various entries. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conference, environment, renewable energy, Social Ecosystem, Solar

Tagged Bentley University, Bill Moomaw, China, Climate Change, Conference, Department of Energy, energy, Germany, Global Warming, Green economy, IPCC, renewable energy, Solar, The Boston Pledge

Sustainable Business Models for Social Ventures

Posted on October 17, 2009 | Leave a comment

Panel Description for ForSE 2009

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 has 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.

Hear from a panel of innovative organizations that are thinking outside the box in terms of building sustainable models. Click here to register.

Panelists

Matthew Kochka, Farm Manager, Revision Urban Farm
Jodi Rosenbaum Tillinger, Founder More than Words
John Freele, Founder and Owner, New England Rain Barrel

Moderator

Prof Nitin Joglekar, School of Management, Boston University

Equal Exchange – Special In-depth Case Study and solutions brainstorming

Case Presenter: Rodney North, The Answer Man, Equal Exchange

Moderator: Gaurav Rohtagi, Principal, Continuum

Equal Exchange, the Massachusetts-based employee-owned worker co-operative best known for introducing Fair Trade coffee to American grocery stores in that late ‘80s.

Equal Exchange has over 100 employees in 6 states and $35 million in annual revenue. They’ve recently won six different awards for their environmentally and socially responsible business practices including the Social Innovation Award from the Financial Times newspaper and the World’s Most Democratic Workplace award from WorldBlu.

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Posted in Conference, non-profit, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

Tagged Babson college, Boston, Conference, ecosystem, Equal Exchange, Food Supply, ForSE, More than Words, New England Rain Barrel, non-profit, Revision Urban Farm, Rural Development, Service, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, sustainability, sustainable development, Sustainable ventures

Valuing Social Enterprises

Posted on October 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Panel Description for ForSE 2009

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. A number of innovative organizations have tackled this problem from different perspectives, developing alternate metrics, scorecards and criteria that weigh the benefits from an investment beyond cold dollars and cents. The panelists, all significant actors in this arena, either invest or provide access to social investors and will highlight several interesting approaches that funders use in evaluating social investments.

Panelists

Susan Musinsky,Director,Social Innovation Forum
Shruti Sehra, Mgr Portfolio team,New Profit
Miguel Granier, Founder, Invested Development

Moderator

Prof. John Whitman, Professor, Babson College

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Posted in Conference, creative capitalism, Investment, non-profit, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, 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

An Investors perspective of Microfinance

Posted on October 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

Panel Description for ForSE 2009

Over the past years, microfinance has grown increasingly prominent and found its way into the common vernacular. The focus in the past was on innovative new microfinance organizations and their unique models and successes. As microfinance has become increasingly mainstream, major investors have started to take positions in microfinance companies. In this panel, we will explore the investor’s perspective. What are the potential returns and social impacts that investors see in this segment? Do you need to give up market returns for social good? Is there an opportunity for the individual investor or is this for institutions only?

Panelists

Paresh Patel, CEO Sandstone Capital
Tryfan Evans, Director, Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund
Deborah Drake, Vice President, Accion & Coordinator, Council of Microfinance Equity

Moderator

Iqbal Dhaliwal, Director of Policy, Jameel Poverty Action Lab

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Posted in Conference, micro-finance, microfinance, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation

Tagged Babson college, Boston, Conference, ecosystem, Investment, investors, micro-finance, microcredit, microfinance, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, social Innovation, Social Investment

ForSE 2009 Agenda Details

Posted on October 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

ForSE 2009: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs promises to continue the tradition of interactive and engaging forums that we have produced in the past.

The opening keynoter is Andre Potter, Executive Director, Massachusetts Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. After the plenary session the Forum will split into four parallel panels for an in-depth discussion with a panel of practitioners and experts on cutting edge issues in the social sector: