ENTR 2206: Global Social Enterprise

Formerly known as “Social Entrepreneurship”

Designed to provide students with an in-depth exposure to entrepreneurship in the social sector, a rapidly growing segment of the global economy. Uses the case method to expose students to leading entrepreneurs who have developed and implemented business models to solve social problems such as extreme poverty, disease, illiteracy, and economic and social dislocation. Focuses on uniquely creative and driven people who have dedicated their lives to making a difference in the lives of others through values-based entrepreneurship. 

ENTR 3210: Social Impact Investing: Connecting Capital and Compassion

Studies the investors, entrepreneurs, and enterprises comprising the global impact investing universe. Social impact investing is a rapidly emerging sector within the global investment community in which investors fund innovative enterprises dedicated to creatively solving the world’s most difficult social problems, such as extreme poverty, access to clean water, sanitation, agricultural productivity, and literacy. Historically, these initiatives were organized as nonprofits or charities and received funding from donations and grants from foundations and government agencies. Today, many social entrepreneurs are instead using for-profit and hybrid business models to attract investment capital in the form of equity investments, loans, and other forms of so-called patient capital. Offers students an opportunity to develop a practical, real-world, and sustainable impact investing portfolio.

ENTR 4506: Advanced Studies in Social Enterprise

Focuses on a single developing country. Offers an opportunity to analyze the role of socially-driven entrepreneurship or “social impact enterprises” (SIEs) in alleviating poverty and its symptoms (for example, disease, illiteracy and chronic unemployment) in that country. To prepare for an intensive field experience working with local SIEs on one or more hands-on projects, students have an opportunity to study the history, politics, and development of the country, with an emphasis on the role that private-sector initiatives have played and hope to play in addressing widespread poverty and with a focus on the failures and successes in economic and business development, economic growth, and poverty alleviation. Offers students an opportunity to develop a plan for a micro-investment strategy focused on these and/or similar businesses and organizations having a significant social impact in a developing country. 

New Faculty

Sara Minard, Ph.D

Executive Professor, Assistant Academic Specialist

Dr. C. Sara Minard is a socio-economist, lec­turer, writer, devel­op­ment prac­ti­tioner and pol­icy ana­lyst with 15 years of expe­ri­ence work­ing in the areas of eco­nomic devel­op­ment pol­icy, market-based approaches to devel­op­ment, design meth­ods for devel­op­ment prac­tice, social entre­pre­neur­ship, social finance, and pro­gram design, mon­i­tor­ing and eval­u­a­tion. Before join­ing North­east­ern, Dr. Minard taught for five years in the Eco­nomic and Polit­i­cal Devel­op­ment con­cen­tra­tion at Colum­bia University’s School of Inter­na­tional and Pub­lic Affairs (SIPA) where she launched the school’s first courses in social entre­pre­neur­ship for devel­op­ment and social enter­prise in India, and taught the core courses in meth­ods for development practice.

Prior to Colum­bia, Dr. Minard’s eco­nomic pol­icy research exper­tise includes five years at the OECD (Paris) lead­ing research and pol­icy dia­logues on pri­vate sec­tor devel­op­ment, infor­mal econ­omy and pol­icy coher­ence for devel­op­ment in 18 countries in West Africa, and con­sul­tan­cies with the World Bank, IFC and UN agen­cies where she has designed strate­gies on socially respon­si­ble invest­ing and bank­ing, as well as pol­icy strate­gies for cre­at­ing enabling envi­ron­ments for social enterprise, includ­ing the tools for social impact assess­ment and report­ing. She serves as the Chair of Colum­bia University’s Advi­sory Edu­ca­tion Sub-Committee on Socially Respon­si­ble Invest­ing and sits on sev­eral social enter­prise boards

Dr. Minard earned her PhD in Eco­nom­ics from Sci­ences Po in Paris (high­est hon­ors) and a dual-degree Mas­ters in International and Pub­lic Affairs from Columbia/SIPA and Sci­ences Po. She is flu­ent in French, Span­ish and Wolof, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal.