2008 Social Capitalist Awards : FastCompany

Check it out - useful list with pointers to - in their view- the best in the field

MMM Good: Social Entrepreneurship Day at Stanford

As Social Entrepreneurs we must routinely flirt with Media and Money. The event at Stanford on Sunday (info in my previous blog) was an incredible such opportunity. But if you missed the Feb 24 event -not to worry. Catch up in the blogosphere. I am still pretty caught up with eweek so will get to my musings later but I wanted to get the ball rolling - For starters let me point you to great pics from Mitchell Tsai and a detailed writeup on the panelists from Project View John Kuner.

For the panel - Kriss pointed out that the debate was not about "what is social entrepreneurship?" - an endless and incredily engaging topic in and of itself - but about "how to be a social entrepreneur" by showing the Greg Dees definition of social entrepreneurship. For me this really set the tone of the event in a positive fashion - less intellectualizing and more action. All the panelists were stellar in providing practical "how to" advice. I liked "Do Good Smart" from Jessica who said she first heard it from someone else.

Digital Vision Fellows - that's us showcasing projects in all areas from Tele-medicine to Digital Big Game- attending "in the flesh" and "in the virtual" created an incredible buzz with their passion and energy. I met some new people and we all made new connections and partnerships that should further the cause of social entrepreneurship.

Ah yes - in answwer to the question "what else is the one thing, besides money, a social entrpreneur needs?" - the answer was - "Mentor" - and talking about mentors Stanford eweek is piloting a program called "Coaches On Call" a mentor match up program -

MMM Good is my summary: for social entrepreneurs - easy to remember- MMM - its Mentor (to bounce ideas in a supportive fashion), Money (SE is a new business model so it is extra efffot getting started and be prepared to do something fo a while before you get any), Media (get the word out and let them find you) but most importantly "Moi" - i.e that's you - the social entrepreneur - its about your focus, your passion and your leadership that will get the M3 chasing you an not the other way round.

Or, to quote: Just do it!

gotta go -

Give Them Technology

One month after announcing the world’s cheapest car — the $2,500 Tata Nano — India has unveiled the telecommunications equivalent: the $20 “people’s phone.” Developed by Spice, the Indian telecoms group that is listed in Bombay and worth $2 billion, is angled at the very lowest end of the market.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330784,00.html
http://www.india-forums.com/news/article.asp?id=75438
I think the world ought to sit up and take notice. These are early indicators of a change in the making. An important change; a great change: where lower cost comes from reducing non-essential features in product design not from using older, cheaper technology developed for a market with completely different economic drivers.
For years technology has been associted with “expensive”, “complicated” and most importantly “irrelevant” for the poor or people living on less than $2/day. This is a red herring. Give them food, give them medicines and ah yes give them education; but technology?
Yes technology - the best and latest technology; the kind developed for the market that represents the next billion.
Affordability and access (communiction, transportation) are backbones of productivity - imagine what the world would look like if not just two billion but the gobal population, 6.6 billion people, were engaged in the innovation process!

Invitation Social Entrepreneurship Day, Feb 24, Stanford

You are invited to a free panel discussion on funding social enterprises, and a Social Entrepreneur Showcase, sponsored by the Center for Social Innovation and the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and the Digital Vision Program this Sunday, February 24, at Wallenberg Hall, Stanford University, from 3:00-5:00 PM. The event is part of an exciting week of activities for Entrepreneurship Week at Stanford University.
Kriss Deiglmeier, executive director of the Center, will moderate a lively discussion among funders of social enterprises and their grantees, including: o Jenny Shilling Stein, executive director of the Draper Richards Foundation o Jessica Jackley Flannery, cofounder and director of business development of Kiva.org o Amy Clark, Global Fellows Program Leader at Ashoka o Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, Ashoka Fellow and founder of BUILD The event is open to all, with no registration required (but we recommend that you arrive early). For more information, visit eweek.stanford.edu. Immediately afterwards, from 4:00-5:00 PM in Wallenberg Hall, the Stanford Digital Vision Program will host a fair showcasing social entrepreneurs from around the world. Meet these entrepreneurs in person and learn about the innovative IT-based applications they have developed in the areas of health, education, and financial services.

Entrepreneurship Week, Stanford Feb 22-29

Stanford e-week is coming up ( eweek.stanford.edu) and Social Entrepreneurship Day is Sunday Feb 24, Wallenberg Hall, from 3-5: agenda is
Panel – Funding Social Enterprises 3-4 (this one is being put up by Center for Social Innovation)
Showcase of Social Entrepreneurs 4-5 (this one is being put up by Digital Vision Program - that's us!)
See you there.