The Entrepreneurial Mind

The Social Equity Venture Fund (SEVEN), just launched a competition to develop new indicators and models for investment in emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises. The competition is open to everyone, and is offering $50,000 in funds awarded for the best ideas. Entrepreneurs in developing markets often cite a lack of financial capital as the biggest barrier to growing their business. This competition, and its results, are one concrete step in demonstrating the power of entrepreneurship, and business, as a sustainable solution to world poverty.

To participate, contributors may submit their ideas until November 15. Here is a link to the submission site. The second phase of wiki-based collaboration takes place between November 16 and December 15. The online VINE community will select finalists and a jury of experts will award the grand prize.

This competition was funded through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Here is a link to get additional information about the S.E.VEN Fund.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am winding up a short trip to Baton Rouge, LA. Yesterday I conducted a workshop on how entrepreneurial practices and principles can be applied to educational organizations to a group of aspiring school principals. It is a pilot program to help use entrepreneurship to transform education in the state of Louisiana. It was a day that gave me hope for educational in the US.

There is a growing interest in how business principles -- such as competition and entrepreneurial innovation -- can help fix what is ailing the educational system. There is huge resistance from teachers' unions and school of education in universities. But, parents, business owners, and civic leaders are beginning to say "enough is enough."

You can see more on this program and its goals here at the website of the sponsoring organization, Advance Baton Rouge.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:58 AM | Permalink

MyBusiness magazine (from NFIB) has a feature written by Emily McMackin on a for profit social venture called Giving Tree.

Clayton "Nick" Nicholas knows what it's like to worry about profit margins, but in his business, Nashville, Tenn.-based Giving Tree, money isn't the only bottom line and his stakeholders extend beyond his board of investors....Shortly after launching the online business, which sells the GiveCard---a prepaid Visa or MasterCard that allows recipients to donate 10 percent of their gift to the charity of their choice---Nicholas and cofounder Jeff Jacobs discovered that consumers were eager to give back.

McMackin interview me for the story and was curious about the growing trend of more for profit social ventures.

Young entrepreneurs today are taking this tradition a step further by forming businesses to tackle specific problems in society, says Jeff Cornwall, director of the Belmont University Center for Entrepreneurship in Nashville, Tenn.

Without the IRS constraints that nonprofits have or the need to beg donors for money, these social entrepreneurs are finding more freedom to bring about change.

Rather than trusting in these large institutions they don't think are effective, they're going out and solving problems at a grassroots level, Cornwall says.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:11 AM | Permalink

Ideablob.com attracts a large number of ideas for social ventures. This one caught my attention as continue as guest advisor for this week. Seeding Labs reclaims and refurbishes laboratory equipment from universities, hospitals and biotechnology companies in order to equip talented scientists and clinicians living and working in the developing world.

Seeding Labs aims to transform the global map of scientific innovation hubs. By refurbishing laboratory equipment from universities and biotechnology companies in the United States, we equip talented scientists working in the developing world and reduce the environmental burden in the U.S. We believe that talent is everywhere, and that scientific research is the key to improvements in education, healthcare, environmental stewardship and a thriving modern economy. Our goal is to help our colleagues pursue the issues that matter most to them, at the same time connecting scientific communities across international borders. Visit us at www.seedinglabs.org.

My advice:

I would build partnerships with universities through their new interest in social entrepreneurship and service learning. Rather than just plug into their research labs, also tie into their academic programs dedicated to either social entrepreneurship and/or service learning.

Social entrepreneurship is popping up all over the country. Some schools have developed single courses, while others have developed full programs (for example, here at Belmont University we will be launching a Social Entrepreneurship major this coming fall).

Service learning is more established in academia. Using this pedagogy professors add service projects to classes that apply what students are learning to real situations that are tied to social issues in the community or around the world. Some schools have campus wide requirements for students to get involved in service learning (Duke just got millions of dollars for such an initiative).

Don't assume that the research labs on campus interact with social entrepreneurship and service learning programs on their campuses. Universities are notorious for creating academic silos. You may need to create the bridge for them. Once you do, you will not only have access to the laboratory equipment, but to a ready army of skilled and talented volunteers. There is a good chance that they also have access to funding to help with each project.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Social entrepreneur Sam Davidson was offered the following advice from one of the founders of a fair trade coffee venture called Higher Ground located in Alabama:

It would be moronic to push an issue in the marketplace if you couldn't be competitive with it.

Even social ventures need to understand the fundamentals of good business opportunities. There needs to be a big enough market that will pay enough money to make the business financially viable.

Sam went on to make this observation on this advice at his blog:

No matter how well-meaning Higher Ground was, if it didn't make a great-tasting coffee that was competitively priced, no one would buy it, and moreover, no one would listen. But because they're able to offer a tasty brew, people take notice and happily support their efforts to improve the lives of coffee growers abroad and nonprofits at home.

That is why we call them social entrepreneurs -- they need to be effective entrepreneurs if they want to help their particular cause.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:24 AM | Permalink

Many who celebrate Earth Day are not the most capitalistic people I have ever met. But entrepreneurship -- capitalism at its purest -- has become a part of the environmental movement. There are now countless social and commercial entrepreneurs finding market solutions for their environmental concerns.

Just one example -- A Piece Of Cleveland.

What do they do? They take materials from old buildings being torn down in the aging city of Cleveland, Ohio and turn them into furniture and other products. From their website:

The products that we offer are made from materials carefully extracted from office buildings, residential homes, churches, schools and other historical structures in the city. Countless people, maybe some who were our ancestors, have walked on, sat in, and used the materials that we are rescuing to create our products. By using durable and beautiful wood, glass and metals found in these buildings, we allow legacies to live on.

(Thanks to Andy Tabar for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:55 AM | Permalink

I blogged about the Kiva business for business credit card project with Avanta yesterday. Here is a link to the blog that they have created to chronicle some of the stories from this project and the on-line community of entrepreneurs they are helping to create. Right now the bloggers are documenting the Kiva-funded Somoan seamstress' trip to the United States for the KivaB4B launch party. At the party she will meet one of her American supporters, a film maker from San Francisco.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One thing I think we can all agree on -- government efforts to help New Orleans in the post-Katrina recovery have resulted in minimal success.

Startup New Orleans is, instead, looking to free enterprise to rebuild the city one entrepreneur at a time.

To attract more of these types of individuals, Start Up New Orleans has been established by four of the city's young business leaders. A resource for entrepreneurs seeking information and connections to other entrepreneurs, Start Up New Orleans is designed to leverage the city's unique qualities (rich culture, low costs, economic incentives), which distinguish it from anywhere else in the United States.

According to Sean Cummings, a local developer and co-founder of Start Up New Orleans, "New Orleans has always been a beacon for people with imagination, daring, and alternative approaches to solving problems. Our mission is to attract these types of people to New Orleans, and provide them with the information and resources they need to start their businesses here."

"Silicon Valley became the nerve center for technology in the U.S. because of the investment businesses in the region made in attracting and retaining technology people," said Nic Perkin, also a co-founder of Start-Up New Orleans and partner in the New Orleans Exchange, a new technology start-up. "The same can be said for New York City with financial people. What we’re doing here in New Orleans is making this the city of choice for entrepreneurs. If you're smart, motivated and have a track record of success, we want you here."

Offering a mosaic of case studies of success and profiles of innovators whose ideas are changing the Greater New Orleans region for the better, the Start Up New Orleans website is a portal through which entrepreneurs can access information about establishing operations in New Orleans.

This project is yet another example of how social enterprise can create real social change through the free market.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:38 AM | Permalink

My column this week at the Tennessean is about the growing trend of social entrepreneurs in our culture:

There is a new breed of entrepreneur in America. Rather than using entrepreneurship as a path to wealth, they are using it as a means to create positive social change.

They are known as social entrepreneurs -- a trend that can encompass any organization, profit or nonprofit, that has a social mission.

Social entrepreneurs are increasingly approaching social change in a different way than we've seen in the past. Rather than rely on fundraising and grants from foundations to grow large nonprofits, these young social entrepreneurs attempt to blend free market capitalism with their favorite social causes.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sam Davidson offered a good distinction at his blog between the traditional non-profit and the emerging social ventures that do not choose to take the non-profit route.

For the first time, students can focus on what it means to build a business that is focused on multiple bottom lines, focusing on serving the community while running their operation. No longer are students forced to choose between operating a greedy business or working for an altruistic nonprofit. Now, students can live and work in that lovely overlapping Venn diagram of a place where their need to make a living can coincide and address the largest needs of the world.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 02:58 PM | Permalink

Dean Pat Raines writes about the growth in interest in social entrepreneurship within academia over at Belmont's blog Strictly Business. Speaking about our own program that launches next fall:

Next fall, Belmont University will begin offering a major in Social Entrepreneurship. The fundamental idea is to provide a practical academic curriculum to serve the fastest-growing segment of society--the millions of individuals that are creating a society of citizen change agents.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 03:53 PM | Permalink

Many of those who manage non-profits will tell you that it seems that they spend more time raising money than actually working toward their cause of choice. The competition for donations and gifts seems to get tighter every year. And so-called donor fatigue seems to be becoming almost epidemic.

That is why more social ventures are moving toward business models that are self-sustainable without reliance on the generosity of benefactors. Many don't even bother to set up non-profits due to their complexity and legal limitations. They are known as social ventures, social for-profits, or social businesses.

More evidence of this can be found in an article published at the Christian Science Monitor:

Traditional philanthropy and nonprofits generate a social gain, but they do not design their programs as self-sustaining business models. A charitable dollar can be used only once. A dollar invested in a self-sustaining social business is recycled endlessly.

A social business is designed to be both self-sustaining and to maximize social returns like patients treated, houses built, or health insurance extended to people who never had this coverage. An investor in a social business retains an ownership interest to hold management accountable and to get the investment back over time, but no dividends are expected, and any profits should be reinvested in the business or used to start new similar businesses.

With the rapid growth of niche social ventures we can expect to see more social advocates pursuing the self-sustainable social business model approach.

(Thanks to Sam Davidson for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So why all the attention to entrepreneurship in the social sector? According to Harvard Business School professor Jane Wei-Skillern in an interview published in Working Knowledge it is because the more traditional approaches to solving social problems have been "falling short." From Working Knowledge:

An entrepreneurial approach, they say, allows social organizations not only to maximize value from limited resources, but also to leverage resources beyond the organization's direct control through a creation of networks.

This in depth interview by Sean Silverthorne is definitely worth a read.

(Thanks to Sam Davidson with CoolPeopleCare.org for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:30 AM | Permalink

Belmont students have two ideas in this month's ideablob.com competition. Both are ventures based on social entrepreneurship business model. As of this morning they hold the top two spots in the voting.

Noah Curran's idea is called Turning Actions into Good, which is a web-based non-profit charity which revolves around the kindness of strangers. The concept allows anyone who feels compelled to participate in a charity, regardless of their financial status, a way in which to contribute. If people want to get involved, they can do it in a variety of ways. Whether it is through actions or through generosity, anyone can do an act of kindness. What makes all of this possible is the facilitation of the official TAG website.

Jancie Dotti summarizes her ideablob entry as follows:

"I want to create a completely fair trade, completely organic coffeehouse that sponsors social justice causes while taking care with the environment. In addition to serving fair trade coffee, we will also only use fair trade sugar, tea, and cocoa as we educate our consumers on how their buying habits affect the working poor in developing countries. Every month, this coffeehouse would sponsor a social justice cause--promoting awareness to customers about worldwide issues of injustice. This coffeehouse will also have free wifi, live music, local art--all with a community emphasis."

Join in this month's ideablob. And while you are there, vote for one of Belmont student ideas!

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bill Gates talks about the power of capitalism to use market forces to create real change in the world in this video clip from the Wall Street Journal.

(Thanks to Andy Tabar for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:55 AM | Permalink

When we first started talking about creating a new major in Social Entrepreneurship -- it is one of the first in the country -- there was much concern about whether 18-21 year-olds would have such a career path on their radar. Those in the Entrepreneurial Generation have one prominent characteristic that gave me confidence that such a degree would indeed resonate with them. They distrust large institutions.

They do not trust established religious institutions -- they tend to be religious, but strongly favor newly formed non-denominational churches. They do not trust large corporations -- they think they are unethical, place too much priority on work above family, and just do not believe that they can provide a stable career path. They do not trust government -- they believe that the private sector is much more efficient and effective at solving the world's problems.

So our Social Entrepreneurship major, which prepares students to tackle social problems through private sector solutions, seems to be taking root very quickly on our campus. Even though it does not even officially become a major until fall, we have several students who have already let us know of their intent to declare the major.

The New York Times ran a column that compared this renewed social energy in today's youth with that of their parents' generation in the 1960s -- but with a twist:

With the American presidential campaign in full swing, the obvious way to change the world might seem to be through politics.

But growing numbers of young people are leaping into the fray and doing the job themselves.

The big government proponents, which typically includes the New York Times, would tell us that the problems of the world are too big, and far too complex, for any solution outside of massive government intervention. We like to talk about the War on This Problem, and the War on That Problem, as if the only solution is too overwhelm each social problem with massive amounts of money controlled by huge bureaucracies.

But the Times story offers several remarkable examples of today's young social entrepreneurs saving the world one small problem at a time. And the author Nicholas Kristof goes so far as to end the story with this glimpse into the world the Entrepreneurial Generation hopes to create:

So as we follow the presidential campaign, let's not forget that the winner isn't the only one who will shape the world. Only one person can become president of the United States, but there's no limit to the number of social entrepreneurs who can make this planet a better place.

(Thanks to Sam Davidson of CoolPeopleCare, a great example of today's young social entrepreneurs, for passing this story along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Fast Company has released its 2008 Social Entrepreneur Awards.

They now include a category that includes for-profit social entrepreneurs. This is a growing trend as social entrepreneurs see fewer advantages and more headaches associated with non-profit status.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A social enterprise is the latest monthly $10,000 Ideablob winner.

Marci Bossow Schankweiler of North Wales, PA is President and founder of Crossing the Finish Line (CFL), a Blue Bell, PA-based non-profit organization that provides excursions for young adult cancer patients and their families. Schankweiler founded CFL after her first husband passed away from cancer at the age of 30. She plans to use the prize money to help fund a home for cancer patients near Orlando, FL.

Ideablob.com is an on-line community where small business owners and entrepreneurs are sharing business ideas in exchange for feedback, advice and votes from the community. The monthly prizes are sponsored by Advanta, one of the nation’s largest credit card issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) in the small business market.

"We are thrilled that the ideablob community picked a non-profit as this month’s winner," said Ami Kassar, Advanta's Chief Innovation Officer. "There are more than 1.5 million non-profit organizations in the United States, most of which are small and face the same daily struggles for survival as millions of small businesses."

"We've been talking about securing a home near Orlando for a while and when I heard about ideablob.com I thought I'd put the idea out there," explains Schankweiler. "There's such a demand to provide young patients a respite from the traumas associated with cancer. Thanks to the support of the ideablob community, we now have the money to provide additional assistance."

Go to ideablob.com to put your idea into the mix and to vote on this month's ideas.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:45 AM | Permalink

As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, we were privileged to have Dr. Michael Morris and Dr. Arthur Brooks (both from Syracuse University) on our campus this week. During their campus-wide address they talked about the emerging field of Social Entrepreneurship.

Social Entrepreneurship involves any organization, profit or non-profit, that has a social mission. Syracuse is one of the schools that already offers coursework. Belmont is planning to role out a full undergraduate minor in Social Entrepreneurship next fall (pending a few more approval steps).

Mike Morris stressed that it is important to keep in mind that entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship no matter what the organizational context. I could not agree more. Our program will have students taking a wide array of our standard entrepreneurship classes. We will be using the social entrepreneurship classes as a vehicle to interject experiential and service learning.

He outlined a few key facts on the growth of non-profits in the US:

- From 1996 to 2007 numbers of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations registered with the IRS grew from 1.09 to 1.48 million.

- The nonprofit sector has emerged as a vitally important element in the overall fabric of society (Verma et al., 2005).

- However, NPO failure rates are also up

Arthur Brooks went on to give a working definition of social entrepreneurship:

Process of creating value by bringing together a unique package of resources to exploit an opportunity, in pursuit of high social returns.

He pointed out that while there are about 1.5 million non-profits, there are about 9 million grassroots social enterprises that are not organized as a formal non-profit. He believes that this is reflective of American society. Continued citizen independence requires private solutions to social problems and unmet needs and that social entrepreneurship expresses the American identity.

Syracuse University has a fascinating social entrepreneurship that it integrated into their curriculum called the South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Project:

Syracuse University is located directly east of the economically and socially depressed South Side of Syracuse, New York. The South Side has been hurt more severely than any other area in the region by the systemic decline of the Greater Syracuse economy over the past two decades. Many factors contribute to the severe cycle of economic and social depression on Syracuse's South Side. Similarly, a host of factors require substantive attention if the cycle is to be broken and the South Side is to experience a renaissance. These factors range from housing to education, and from economic well-being to human and social support services. Its residents have referred to the area as an "economic desert."

And yet, we believe that significant change is possible, that there are valuable assets on which to build, and that the key to sustainable economic development is entrepreneurship. On balance, larger companies within the Syracuse metro area are not likely to expand significantly in the coming years, and few established firms are likely to relocate operations to the area given the region’s contemporary tax, regulatory, labor, and operating cost environment. This set of conclusions is even truer when it comes to Syracuse's South Side. As a result, the solution rests with organic development through the creation and growth of entrepreneurial firms on the South Side. Entrepreneurship is the key to empowerment.

I am excited to see the launch of our new program become a reality next fall. Hopefully we can develop programs that have a similar impact.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Adam Smith blog writes about a new program that allows people to make direct microfinance loans. The program is called Kiva. From their website:

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

Why participate in such a project? Tom Clougherty at Adam Smith explains it this way:

The great thing about microfinance is that it is based on the philosophy of the hand-up rather than the handout. As I wrote for the GI: "Microfinance is not a top-down solution to poverty, it is a bottom-up approach that aims to empower the poor, harnessing their individual aspirations and abilities and creating an environment in which they can realize the true benefits of the market economy." That's why microfinance has been so successful where traditional aid has failed to make an impact.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:46 AM | Permalink

There is a relatively new organization trying to take microfinancing to a new level, while also making microfinance a sustainable and profitable business model.

Here is their model as described on their website:

Our mission is to fight global poverty by increasing access to microfinance.

Unitus envisions a world where microfinance is available to every individual. We work toward this vision by accelerating the growth of the world's highest-potential emerging microfinance institutions. We provide capital investments and capacity-building consulting, thus empowering these organizations to scale and provide life-changing financial services to dramatically more of the world's working poor.....

Unitus acts as a social venture capital investor for the microfinance industry. The organization identifies the highest-potential microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries and helps accelerate their growth through capital investments and capacity-building consulting, thus empowering them to help dramatically more poor people worldwide.

In 2006 and 2007 Unitus received the Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award for their work in building microfinance in India and around the globe.

Entrepreneurship is not just a model for building wealth. It is a model that can, through free enterprise and business ownership, help transform the world in ways that models based on wealth redistribution and government dependency can never accomplish.

(Thanks to Ben Cunningham for recommending this post).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

There are two demographic groups that are pursuing entrepreneurship in large numbers these days -- the Entrepreneurial Generation (those under 25) and those at or near retirement, including the Baby Boomers.

StartupJournal reports that many of those in the "older" demographic group are becoming social entrepreneurs, choosing to start-up non-profits in their later careers.

Civic Ventures, a San Francisco think tank, identifies these ambitious and resourceful folks as being among a new breed of "social entrepreneurs."

"They may have been business entrepreneurs in their middle years," says Marc Freedman, the organization's president. "Now they're worshiping a different bottom line -- a better society, enhancing the common good. If you create wealth, it's OK, but it isn't enough."

For many of these people, what they're doing is like starting a small business: They see a need for a service, form an organization, seek financing, and aim for an expanding venture that can help to support and perpetuate itself.

The article goes on to profile four very inspirational stories of social entrepreneurs.

(Thanks to John Russell for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:41 AM | Permalink

An 18-year old founder of a non-profit business that buys, renovates and sells abandoned homes to families in need has won the 2006 National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)/Visa USA "Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award."

In recognition of her entrepreneurial achievements and spirit, Ashley Gunn of Brandon, Mississippi has been awarded a $10,000 educational scholarship. It will be sent to the University of Pennsylvania to help defray the cost of her tuition, this coming fall.

Ms. Gunn is the founder and chairman of Students Aiding Indigent Families (SAIF), a non-profit organization that buys, renovates and sells abandoned homes to families in need, usually single mothers, at below-market value. Ms. Gunn first thought of this business idea after returning from a mission trip to Africa in the summer before entering the 7th grade. Moved by the poverty and despair all around her while in Africa, she was determined to help address similar needs back home in her Jackson, Mississippi community. On track to generate $100,000 in revenue this year, SAIF has been certified by the Mississippi Secretary of State and all proceeds from their home sales go toward providing college scholarships to deserving students who are in need.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Every year I have several students who are not interested in entrepreneurship to build their own wealth, but because they want to use the skills and knowledge they learn to start new non-profits related to social causes they care about. This type of entrepreneurship is called social entrepreneurship. The Entrepreneurial Generation (born after 1980) has less faith that social problems can be fixed by government, and would rather find private sector solutions. It is part of the libertarian (with a small "l", not a capital "L") streak that is a strong part of this generation's values.

A new study from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor finds that this is true for the youth in the UK, as well.

The largest, annual survey of social entrepreneurial activity in the United Kingdom shows that young people are more likely to be social entrepreneurs than any other age grouping. 3.9% of those in the 18 - 24 year-old category would pursue a socially minded enterprise, compared to only 2.75 of those over 55s. Similarly, education is a strong predictor of social entrepreneurial activity, and those in full time education are the most likely group to be SEA active (5%).

My anecdotal evidence from our program would have this number even a little higher, maybe as high as 10%.

Their vision for social entrepreneurship is to create a different kind of non-profit than we've seen in past generations. Rather than rely on fundraising and grants from foundations, these young social entrepreneurs are seeking ways to blend free market capitalism with their favorite social causes. They seek to blend together providing service to the community with businesses that create value to the marketplace. They use the profits from their ventures to fund their causes.

I even see more traditional non-profits heading in this direction. A good example is Thistle Farms, located here in Middle Tennessee.

Named for the only wildflower that grows along the roads that Nashville prostitutes frequent, Thistle Farms is the cottage business of Magdalene - a two-year residential community for women with a criminal history of addiction and prostitution. Magdalene was created to provide a sanctuary in Nashville for women in need of a safe, discipline and compassionate community.

The women of Magdalene have chosen to create products that bring healing to their bodies and souls as well as to others. Thistle Farms creates all-natural and organic handmade healing products that are as kind to the environment as they are to the body.

Some social entrepreneurs are even bypassing the traditional non-profit route and creating a for-profit business that funnel the majority of their profits toward a cause. Pura Vida Coffee is a good example of this model.

We believe in a different approach to business. One driven by good rather than greed. One that sees capitalism as an agent for compassion. Pura Vida is 100% charitably owned and all of our resources go to help at-risk children and families in coffee-growing countries build more hopeful futures. The work of Pura Vida is rooted in a desire to empower the poor in coffee-growing regions of the world. We welcome all people to serve with us in partnership.

It is encouraging to see that the Entrepreneurial Generation believes so strongly in entrepreneurial free market capitalism that they are entrusting not only their own economic future to it, but the betterment of our society and culture, as well.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

StartupJournal has some excellent advice for those interested in starting up a non-profit business based on the experience of several successful social entrepreneurs.

"Rather than lurch from grant to grant, these founders are starting for-profit/nonprofit hybrids and applying business tactics to expand their reach and make better use of available resources. They're embracing the wave of productivity savings unleashed in the economy in the 1990s -- new information technologies, smarter financing strategies, savvy alliances."

I am finding a growing number of students in our programs interested in channeling their entrepreneurial aspirations into the nonprofit sector. Just as with their for-profit brethren, they benefit from gaining training in start-up and growth management skills.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:08 AM | Permalink

Social entrepreneurship, which is the application of entrepreneurial tools and techniques to non-profits, is gaining recognition both in entrepreneurship circles and among non-profits. Fast Company has honored those non-profits they consider the 25 best social entrepreneurs.

Who are these social entrepreneurs? Endeavor Global is one example.

"Consider the work of Endeavor Global, a New York-based nonprofit that seeds economic growth in developing countries by supporting the work of large-scale entrepreneurs. In 2002, 97 companies funded by Endeavor generated $332 million in revenue and created 8,562 jobs in Latin America."

One of my favorites is the Grameen Foundation USA, which "uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people."

How do they achieve this goal?

"With tiny loans, financial services and technology, we help the poor, mostly women, start self-sustaining businesses to escape poverty. Our global network of microfinance partners has already reached more than 800,000 families in 20 countries."

This group of non-profits clearly shows that it is the private sector that best addresses even the toughest problems our world faces. Explore these remarkable social entrepreneurs and offer them any help you can.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:43 AM | Permalink

The Grameen Bank has helped expand the model of using small seed funding as a mechanism for pulling people in developing countries out of poverty through self-employment and entrepreneurship. The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship reports on a new effort by the non-profit Grameen Foundation, to attract much broader financial support to help grow microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world.

"The foundation has produced a new report Tapping the Financial Markets for Microfinance that offers a primer on how banks and other large financial institutions can effectively back micro-entrepreneurs. A huge potential market exists. Grameen suggests that global demand for microfinance exceeds $300 billion, yet only $4 billion is now expended in these markets. This huge gap can only be filled by major financial markets, and the report details a host of ways that investors effectively and profitably work in the field of microenterprise."

The microfinance movement has taken root in places around the world including India, Bangladesh, parts of Africa, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. It is offering a market approach to poverty, which empowers recipients to take some self-control of the economic futures. This new initiative by Grameen seeks to integrate the microfinance movement into the mainstream financial markets.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:42 AM | Permalink

Universities across the country, as told in this story in the Chronicle of Higher Education, are beginning to train non-profit managers in business skills, particularly entrepreneurial management skills.

"Around the country, business schools are creating and expanding programs that help nonprofit managers...apply bottom-line business skills to mission-driven projects. Courses in nonprofit management and related fields like social entrepreneurship are booming."

There are several trends behind the growth in these programs.

"Several factors account for the surge of interest from students. First, turned off by stories of corporate greed, students are eager to find ways to make a contribution to a post-9/11 world. Second, with 1.4 million nonprofit organizations in the United States competing for government and philanthropic funds, charities need skilled fund raisers and administrators. In addition, their leaders are worried that scandals like those at United Way and other charities have shaken public confidence. They want to reaffirm it."

I am seeing growing interest in our programs here at Belmont among both MBA students and undergraduate business students. Many of these students are also strong advocates that the private sector is the best answer to many of society's problems, rather than relying on government programs.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:21 AM | Permalink