2010 Young Innovators Under 35

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Positive Deviance: jump-starting the global economy one entrepreneur at a time

The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility

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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

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.

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.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – Educate!

Uganda; Non-Profit

Educate!’s name is deceivingly simple and easy for such a complex and difficult mission. Educate! believes one of Africa’s biggest challenges isn’t poverty, disease, or conflict. At the root of it all is a lack of leadership. Their programs support and develop young Ugandan leaders, to create change through social enterprise. Educate! is all about employing local mentors to inspire rural youth, rather than using foreign volunteers to serve as examples. There are currently 830 high school students (Educate! scholars) enrolled in their 2-year, after school curriculum. Through the curriculum and work with a mentor, each scholar creates their own project to address a need in their community. Some Educate! success stories include a pig-keeping business that pays for school fees of impoverished children to working with schools and churches to reforest a community. Educate! provides leadership skills, as well as a mentor and role model to inspire their students.

This post was originally published on Enterprising.In as part of a theme issue called ‘JUGAAD- The Spirit of Free Enterprising India.’

Many cite freedom as a defining characteristic of entrepreneurship. As your own boss, you don’t have to answer to anyone and can operate how you want. But, what about others? As an entrepreneur, you have the unique ability to free others as well—from desk jobs, from hunger, from unsanitary living conditions.

How? By giving them jobs.

The India Labour Report 2009 reveals that the population will grow to 1.4 billion by 2026—83% of which is in the 15-59 age group. That’s nearly 1.2 billion additional workers in the workforce, about 12.8 million a year, the report estimates. But, where are these jobs going to come from?

Well, entrepreneurs, they should come from you. Entrepreneurship is not a new concept in India—we ranked fourth on Fast Company’s list of entrepreneurial countries in a 2004 article—but what is new is the idea of “employership,” or the creation of jobs where none existed before. Continue reading

The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet.

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In Pakistan, Watching Lifetimes Get Washed Away

Green Data Center Market to More Than Triple Over Next Five Years

Alex Nicholls says social entrepreneurship is growing up

Social Entrepreneurship in India–The Complete Guide to Funding, Profitable Sectors

India’s southern coast has long been famous for its cantilevered Chinese fishing nets, one of Kerala’s main tourist attraction. However, peaceful fishing scenes such as the one pictured on the coast of Fort Cochin in Kerala, are becoming increasingly rare. From Gujarat to South India, coastal fishermen and their communities are facing serious threats to their livelihoods from all directions due to environmental and economic pressures.

Earlier this month, the Times of India reported that high tides have wreaked havoc on a number of coastal villages in Valsad, Gujarat. Over 50% of the inhabitants of these villages have fled for safety as the sea continues to encroach upon their land. One village, Danti, has experienced a population decrease from 13,000 to a mere 3,000 in the last 10 years. Climate scientists predict that sea levels will continue rising in parts of the Indian Ocean, potentially putting more coastal villages in danger. Continue reading

The trash problem presents a growing mound of an issue.  Some statistics say the world produces 10 billion pounds of garbage every day. Turning trash into cash, several entrepreneurs have found new use for discarded waste. This week, we bring you five creative waste recycling enterprises.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Social Enterprise of the Day – BUVAD

Uganda; Non-Profit

The ubiquitous plastic water bottle is wasteful, but supplies clean water. What if its life supporting sanitation were to continue after it had been drunk dry? With BUVAD’s Bio-Tech venture, it does exactly that. Discarded water bottles, which can choke local landfills, were used to build a large toilet facility for a local school. After the successful project with Bwetyaaba Primary School, they hope to spread the technology so other communities in Uganda’s Kayunga district can use it in construction. The bottles are stuffed with earth, and then used in place of traditional bricks. The benefits of the bottle-bricks are numerous: they build cooler structures, are better at withstanding earthquakes, are quick and easy to make, and avoid the gouging and burning practices used to make traditional mud bricks. Instead of ending up in a landfill, the bottles are now fulfilling a crucial community need.

Beyond Profit “On the Spot” with Anoop Jain from Beyond Profit on Vimeo.

McLeod Ganj in Himachal Pradesh is home to the Dalai Lama, as well as thousands of Tibetan refugees fleeing the Chinese government’s religious and political oppression. Beyond Profit spoke with changemaker Anoop Jain at a monastery cafe in McLeod Ganj, about his work to build a group kitchen and restaurant with the local Tibetan community. Jain hopes the project will promote healthy nutrition and provide vocational training for the refugee population.