From the category archives:

Social Entrepreneurs

Business is Changing — for Good

by admin on August 26, 2009

in Associations, Social Entrepreneurs, The Emerging Economy, The True Self

Business is changing before our eyes.   We are in a rare confluence of these major trends:

  1. The financial rewards that drove business behavior have eroded (e.g., stock market returns, higher salaries and bonuses, real estate price growth).  Cost-consciousness is the order of the day.
  2. The business environment is increasingly transparent and open, thanks to social media.  Competitors are highly visible to your customers.  There is no where to run, no where to hide.
  3. Social and environmental responsibility are where it’s at.  People make purchase, employment, and partnership decisions on this basis.
  4. Established companies as well as new ones focus on social goals as much as business goals.
  5. Being who you really are — being authentic — is essential to succeed in this social environment.  (No more putting yourself aside to do your job.)

If you are thinking about your business, your nonprofit, you association in the same way you were last year — it’s time to update your thinking.

The future belongs to those who can:

  • deliver high value at a low cost,
  • interact positively and continouosly with their customers, and
  • add personal and social value to their products and services.

PS:  Here’s a related article at Harvard Business Publishing online.

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Valuing The Growth of Empathy

by admin on June 18, 2009 · 1 comment

in Dealing with A Personal Recession, Increasing Personal Resilience, Social Entrepreneurs, The True Self

What is the dollar value of empathy?

What a ridiculous question!  But I ask it because heightened empathy may be one of your most important acquisitions during this recession.

Many of us who are middle class are used to being able to control our destinies.  But now job loss, loss of savings, and foreclosures becoming middle class realities.  (I write as one of those affected, not from a safe distance. )

We can either look backwards at what we thought our life was like and feel deprived.  We can go a little crazy because we can’t make sense of what is going on now.  Or we can look ahead and start building anew, confident that we can make our lives better even as we face completely unexpected, life-altering events.

I assume you are someone who wants to thrive.  The most important moments for you are occuring right now, while you are, metaphorically speaking, turning your gaze away from the past and starting to look in the direction of an unknown future.  You are still, yet inside you are moving.  Your eyes scan parts of life that you couldn’t see when you were immersed in your own world.  What happens now — inside of each one of us — is what we will build our next chapter on.

I believe that truly letting go — daring to look openly, without clinging to the past — unleashes the best in us.  Those who stay trapped in resentment, numbness, or hyper-positivity, are by definition those who are still holding on, trying to make life stay the same.  It’s a losing battle.

Letting go doesn’t drop us into nothingness — it opens us up to a deeper connection to life.  We are built to pass through ambiguous times so that our heightened connection to life can become firm enough to inform our next steps.

Empathy – being able to see the world as others see it — will be your gift for persevering.

Can you see, by experiencing fear about money, how crippling poverty is?  Can you see, by losing your career, how many people are dealing with loss and how important caring for others is?  Can you see, by your own struggles to stay in your home, how important home is?  Can you see, by your own efforts to start a new career or a business, how important courage is, how essential support is?

Opening up to seeing the world as it is, fully, is painful…it can feel like resting on a knifepoint.  But if you can stay open, or at least not block that opening with anger, resentment, and numbness, your heightened awareness will, without your even trying, seep into your everyday life.

You will find that because you have become more, you can do more in the world.  You can start that book you are meaning to write, you can begin over and enjoy it, you can find greater depth in your relationships, you can find a new calling, you can create a new way to be happy.  You will cease curating your limitations and focus more on trusting your potential.

There is no prescription for something you must do with your greater empathy — it is your gift to use as you choose.

We’ve all heard people who have been through difficulty say that it was the bset thing that ever happened to them…because without the challenge they would have never been able to create the life they now have.   Those words are ones you can utter too; they are the sign of the deepest kind of success in life.

Those words are cold comfort now, while you are passing through the darkness.  They are not meant for you now.  But make them your beacon, and one day you will utter those words in your own way, and you then will be a beacon for others.  The example of the life you created out of your loss will help others.

No darkness lasts forever.  Especially not this one.

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Get in On 2009 Social and Sustainable Business Plan Competitions

by admin on March 17, 2009 · 2 comments

in Entrepreneuial Thinking, Global Economy, Pay it Forward, Social Entrepreneurs

If you run a social entreprise or a sustainable/green business, check out this great list.  Business plan competitions are a tried-and-true way for a start-up to get visibility, invaluable advice, and that all important seed funding.

Ian Fisk runs The William James Foundation competitions in Washington DC.  He recently shared this list with this year’s judges (including myself) and I am happy to pass it on.

Each listing includes what Ian knows about deadlines, eligibility, and prizes, and contains a URL to the competition site.

If you know of other competitions, please add them in the comments to make this a great list, and I will pass those back to Ian.

Global Social Entrepreneurship/Sustainable Business Plan Competitions

Ashoka Citizen Base Awards http://www.citizenbase.org/bp_competitions

Ongoing; Winners receive funding and are linked to Ashoka’s network of social entrepreneurs.

Baruch College & Merrill Lynch IPO Challenge Entrepreneurship Competition http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/bcec/college

First round in November.  Half the team must be Baruch students. $100,000 in cash prizes.

BiD Challenge http://www.bidnetwork.org/set-44007-en.html

Ongoing. Competitions in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Philippines, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Jordon.

Brigham Young University Business Plan Competition Social Entrepreneurship Category http://socialventure.byu.edu

January 14th 2009
Applicants must be currently enrolled at Brigham Young (Provo, Hawaii, or Idado). $50,000 in cash and prizes.

Business Environmental Awards http://www.acterra.org/bea/index.html

January 30, 2009 For existing companies in the San Francisco Bay area. Some Non-profit organizations are eligible.

California Clean Tech Open www.cacleantech.org

June 17, 2009;  Prize Packages Totaling $600,000

Connecticut Venture Group www.cvg.org/contest.html

April; A team member must be at a Connecticut University.

Duke Start Up Challenge (Social Entrepreneurship)  http://www.dukestartupchallenge.org/about

February 19, 2009 At least one full-time Duke student.

Echoing Green http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellowship

September; Two year fellowships for emerging social innovators.

Eileen Fisher http://www.eileenfisher.com

June 1, 2009
Five grants of $10,000 for socially conscious, woman-owned businesses.

Tufts Social Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competitions

http://gordon.tufts.edu/leadCompetitions.htm (Application is via YouNoodle)

January 16, 2009;  One member of each team must be a Tufts student.

Florida International University Entrepreneur Challenge http://fiuchallenge.com

January 30, 2009 Open to all Southeast Florida Area Residents  and all FIU Students & Alumni.

Foster School of Business CIE Business Plan Competition http://bschool.washington.edu/cie/bpc/

April 2, 2009;  Entrants must be full- or part-time college students enrolled in Washington state.

Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition http://bschool.washington.edu/gsec

November 12, 2008; At least one team member must be a current student.

Global Social Venture Competition www.gsvc.org

January 21, 2009;  One team member must be a current graduate business student anywhere in the world, or have graduated with the past two years. Prizes worth $50,000.

Gonzaga University Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program Business Plan Competition http://tr.im/htpI

February 26, 2009; Undergraduate and graduate students from Gonzaga, EWU, Whitworth and Washington State University. Prizes totaling $42,500.

Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest http://www.hbs.edu/socialenterprise/businessplan/

February 9, 2009; All teams must include at least one HBS second year student. Prizes totaling over $60,000.

Ignite Clean Energy Competition http://www.ignitecleanenergy.com/competition

March 2, 2009 A year-long training and competitive forum for entrepreneurs in the clean energy industry.

Investor’s Circle Call for Applicants

http://www.investorscircle.net/for_entrepreneurs/call-for-applicants

January 15, 2009

J.P. Morgan Good Venture Case Competition http://goodventure.org/home.cfm

February 12, 2009;  For philanthropic non-profit organizations.

JMU Sustainable Business Plan Competition www.jmu.edu/cob/cfe/business_plan.shtml

March 2, 2009; JMU students, faculty, alumni and local residents compete for up to $100,000.

LES (Licensing Executives Society) Foundation Graduate School Competition http://www.lesfoundation.org/graduate_student

March 4 2009; For licensing techologies. $10K in cash plus $45K in services.

MIT IDEAS Competition http://web.mit.edu/ideas/www/index.htm

April 15, 2009; One third of each team must be full-time MIT students. $50,000 in prizes.

McGinnis Venture Competition http://mcginnisventurecompetition.com

February 23, 2009; At least one graduate student must be a member of the management team.

NESsT Social Enterprise Competition http://www.nesst.org/competition/

No 2009 dates listed Civil society organizations from Argentina, Brasil, Ecuador and Peru.

NYU – Leonard Stern School of Business http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/berkley/bpc.cfm?doc_id=6306

October 27, 2008; All teams must include a Stern representative to compete. Cash prizes $100,000.

Oxford University 21st Century Challenge http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/21challenge/competition/

No 2009 dates listed. Must be a for-profit

Private Sector Development Research Competition http://www.ifc.org/competition

No 2009 dates listed.  This is an essay contest. Applicants must not be an employee of the World Bank.
Rice University Business Plan Competition

http://www.alliance.rice.edu/alliance/RBPC.asp?SnID=1616311824

International  – Jan 16, 2009. USA – Feb 13, 2009 The management team must consist of at least one graduate student. $700,000 in prizes.

RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service Social Innovation Competition www.utexas.edu/lbj/rgk/competition/index.php

February 20, 2009 Undergraduate and graduate level students from any 4-year university or college in the world are eligible to enter. $50,000  in prizes.

Seattle Pacific University Social Venture Plan Competition http://www.spu.edu/depts/sbe/svpc.asp

February 24th, 2009 Must include SPU student.$7,500 in prizes.

Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship www.skollfoundation.org/skollawards/index.asp

Several deadlines throughout the year: March, August, November.  Programs submitted for consideration should have a track record of no less than three years.

Social Enterprise Club Pitch for Change Competition http://www.pitchforchange.org/

January 30th, 2009; Participants do NOT need to have a completed business plan. They simply need to have a great idea that will have a significant social impact

Social Innovation Forum http://www.socialinnovationforum.org

Already chosen for 2009 Organizations and programs  in the Greater Boston area.

Stanford Social E-Challenge http://bases.stanford.edu/social-e-challenge/competition/ (Submit via YouNoodle.com)

February 17, 2009; Team must be at least half full-time Stanford students. $50,000 in prizes.

Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) World Cup http://www.sageglobal.org For High School Students

Tulane Business Plan Competition http://www.tulanebusinessplancompetition.com/

February 8, 2009 Plans can be either for profit or non-profit ventures. $20,000 in prizes.

University of San Francisco International Business Plan Competition http://www.usfca.edu/sobam/nvc/bpc/

January 7, 2009 $25,000 in prizes.

William James Foundation 2008-09 Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition www.williamjamesfoundation.org; www.williamjamesfoundation.org/sustainability;
www.williamjamesfoundation.org/dcprize

First round Deadline December 12th, 2008;  One team member must be or have been a student anywhere in the world in the past ten years. $60,000 in prizes, including special prizes for environmental sustainability and support of  the Washington, DC community.

Yale Entrepreneurial Society (YES) http://www.yesatyale.org/y50k.php

January 19, 2009 $50K in prizes.

Youth Social Enterprise Initiative http://www.ysei.org

Below 30 years old from Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Philippines or Sri Lanka

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