Archive for August, 2010

By lighting up rural communities, a new group of social entrepreneurs are illuminating a whole new group of opportunities for rural residents. They’re making health clinics run more efficiently, giving small-scale entrepreneurs the power to scale up, and powering classrooms. Not to mention, most rural energy initiatives run on wind and solar power, lessening the impact of dirty coal and kerosene burning. This week, we bring you five social enterprises bringing electricity to off-the-grid areas.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Power Up Gambia

Gambia; Non-Profit

Running a hospital without electricity isn’t difficult – it’s near impossible. Keeping vaccines and medications at temperature, running life supporting machines, or having enough light to perform a surgery require some amount of power. Power Up Gambia hopes to fill that need, using sustainable solar energy. The organization is working clinic by clinic, to install solar panels. They’re at varying stages of completion in three different clinics, which altogether reach a potential 643,000 Gambian patients. Public health heavyweight Paul Farmer has already praised the project for its green efforts.

Embarking on an epic journey is the start of many a great story. One where the hero leaves what he knows to discover something new about himself. The Odyssey. The Hajj. Eat Pray Love. (Just kidding.)

The Tata Jagriti Yatra hopes to do the same thing – take 400 young people out of their comfort zone to find something new. But instead of mere self-discovery, the entrepreneurs who run the journey hope to ignite an entrepreneurial spirit over the course of an 18-day quest. Starting in Mumbai, the Jagriti Yatra travels 9,000 km by train around the perimeter of India. Along the way, they meet with social entrepreneurs from all over the country, observing how they create opportunity and employment. The hope is that by hearing success stories, the Yatris (as they’re called) will be inspired to start businesses of their own.

» Continue reading “A Quest for Enterprise-Led Development”

Beyond Profit “On the Spot” with Eirik Sorlie from Beyond Profit on Vimeo.

August 12, 2010, marked the beginning of the United Nations’ International Year of Youth, which aims to promote dialogue and understanding between youth of all cultures. The Urban Youth Fund, a program under the UN-Habitat umbrella, recently announced the 51 projects that will receive funding this year. Beyond Profit spoke with Project Manager Eirik Sorlie about the fund, some of the successful projects and sustainable development.

We at Beyond Profit believe in the power of entrepreneurship to drive development. But creating a new social business isn’t an easy task – it involves a huge risk (personal and financial), and a special mix of business know-how and savvy street smarts that aren’t easily taught in a classroom. How can we both inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to take that risk, as well as equip them with the skills to be successful? This group of social enterprises is doing just that. This week, we bring you five organizations supporting the next group of changemakers.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Youth Engagement Services

Pakistan; Non-Profit

In a nation like Pakistan, it’s easy for youth to feel disempowered. Flooding, political strife, and misused aid are daunting problems for even the most seasoned development worker. But Youth Engagement Services (YES), the first youth service organization in Pakistan, helps Pakistani youth realize that they can still have an impact on seemingly massive issues. YES helps youth create and lead their own service projects, in fields like education, technology, health, and relief work. YES doesn’t only reach out to higher income, educated youth looking to give back. They reach the non-educated sector as well, instilling a sense of ownership over the future of their country. Youth Engagement Services provides skill training, and support their creation of a business plan. Startup seed funding is provided through a variety of donors. And once the business gets off the ground, YES continues monitoring and metrics, to make sure they’re growing effective enterprises. Beyond social enterprise, YES hopes to create a new generation of active Pakistani citizens.

The TEDGlobal Fellows program had their TED Global Conference this July in Oxford. Twenty-three individuals came from 20 countries and sectors as diverse as dance, agriculture, technology and biochemistry. Beyond Profit is bringing you exclusive interviews with select TEDGlobal fellows, for insight on how they are using innovative ways to create sustainable change. This is our last profile in the TED Talks series.

TEDGlobal Fellows profile: DK Osseo-Asare

The “Design for Development” movement is a controversial one. Many argue that it leads to architects and designers from industrialized nations designing for, rather than with, the citizens of developing nations. Ghanaian-American architect DK Osseo-Asare has seen similar, well-intentioned mistakes. “Definitely not all, but some of the emerging ‘humanitarian design’ initiatives today show up in communities without adequate partners, and fund their own design visions,” Osseo-Asare says. “We are wary of scenarios in which design is in a sense forced into local communities.” His two organizations, the think tank DSGN AGNC  (Design Agency) and architecture studio LOWDO (Low Design Office), aim to reverse this debilitating trend. For Osseo-Asare, design isn’t about constructing buildings – it’s about building connections.

» Continue reading “TED Talks to Beyond Profit: DK Osseo-Asare”

We at Beyond Profit believe in the power of entrepreneurship to drive development. But creating a new social business isn’t an easy task – it involves a huge risk (personal and financial), and a special mix of business know-how and savvy street smarts that aren’t easily taught in a classroom. How can we both inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to take that risk, as well as equip them with the skills to be successful? This group of social enterprises is doing just that. This week, we bring you five organizations supporting the next group of changemakers.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – ChangeFusion

Thailand; Non-Profit

ChangeFusion works with a broad range of social enterprises and NGOs in Thailand, providing design and investment advisory. But their recent endeavor has them working with a narrower niche – youth entrepreneurs in Thailand. While the youth unemployment rate is lower than the average for Southeast Asia and East Asia, young entrepreneurs still struggle to find funding for startup enterprises. ChangeFusion hopes to fill that gap, with startup investment and incubation targeted to youth businesses specifically. Since 2007, they’ve already supported projects in women’s handicrafts in India, and computer services in Thailand. As of 2009, they had serviced 50 young entrepreneurs.

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Beyond City Limits

Imagine waking up each morning in a bamboo bedroom and heading to class across a bamboo bridge to read Salinger in a bamboo classroom. Students at the Green School, an innovative new school in Indonesia, do just that. At the Green School in Bali, every one of the 75 buildings are made from a local grass called alang-alang, bamboo, and traditional mud walls. Micro-hydro power, solar power and bio-diesel are responsible for cooling the buildings.

But the green attitude doesn’t stop with the facilities. Founders Cynthia and John Hardy (known for his Balinese-inspired jewelry) integrate their green-led values into the curriculum. International students, ranging from preschool level to 10^th grade take traditional classes, and can also choose from courses in gourmet chocolate production, organic farming, and new methods of sustainable building with bamboo. The students also cultivate an organic garden—the complex uses an organic permaculture system that works in cohesion with the natural environment—that produces fruits, vegetables, herbs and even chocolate. » Continue reading “Photo of the Week: Green School Cultivates Responsible Citizens”

Twitter “Social Enterprise of the Day”

We at Beyond Profit believe in the power of entrepreneurship to drive development. But creating a new social business isn’t an easy task – it involves a huge risk (personal and financial), and a special mix of business know-how and savvy street smarts that aren’t easily taught in a classroom. How can we both inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to take that risk, as well as equip them with the skills to be successful? This group of social enterprises is doing just that. This week, we bring you five organizations supporting the next group of changemakers.

Social Enterprise of the Day – Paradigm Initiative Nigeria

Nigeria; Hybrid

Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) fills a special niche for a young entrepreneur. Often, the idea and inspiration is present, but technical skills and services are hard to come by. PIN works to bring information and communication technology to Nigeria’s youngest entrepreneurs. Through programs like Ajegunle.org and Dare to Be BIG, they hope to show Nigerian youth how to use ICT for positive social impact. PIN reaches Nigerian youth in creative, engaging ways, scheduling road shows, reality TV-like competitions, and short-term internship opportunities. PIN injects both technological inclusion and entrepreneurial inspiration.  Aware of the need to be sustainable and share their knowledge in the application of ICTs for Development, PIN offers consulting services—core to its hybrid structure—to institutions like Harvard University and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

We at Beyond Profit believe in the power of entrepreneurship to drive development. But creating a new social business isn’t an easy task – it involves a huge risk (personal and financial), and a special mix of business know-how and savvy street smarts that aren’t easily taught in a classroom. How can we both inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to take that risk, as well as equip them with the skills to be successful? This group of social enterprises is doing just that. This week, we bring you five organizations supporting the next group of changemakers.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Youth Social Enterprise Initiative

International; Non-Profit

The Youth Social Enterprise Initiative (YSEI) funds what most financiers would consider a risky investment – youth-led businesses in South and East Asia. But while others might think it’s unwise, YSEI knows it’s vital to driving sustainable change in developing countries. Their support goes beyond financial. Along with up to US$15,000 in seed funding, YSEI gives skills workshops and offers technical consulting. YSEI only funds ventures targeting poverty reduction, marginalized groups, environmental protection, gender equality and human rights. Once accepted as an YSEI fellow, young entrepreneurs have access to a wide network of potential mentors, advisors, investors and collaborators.