By Olivia Allen Each year in the Social Enterprise Institute’s introductory social entrepreneurship class, Professor Shaughnessy designates a handful of high-impact social entrepreneurs to the proverbial “Mount Rushmore” of social entrepreneurs – a group of innovative social disruptors that have pioneered a fundamental impact. This currently includes Muhammad Yunus of Read more…
The impact investing area with the social enterprise space is receiving a lot of attention lately, and for good reason. There is great potential for accelerating global development by deploying private capital to achieve social good, so long as it is done in an informed and responsible way.
Traditional businesses find a path to financial sustainability by growing their revenue, improving their gross and operating margins, increasing their free cash flow, efficiently managing both capital expenditures and working capital, and building their asset base. Achieving these financial performance indicators typically result in easy access to financing and higher stock prices.
Launched by President Clinton in 2007, the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) aims to engage the next generation of leaders on college campuses around the world. CGIU convenes annually with over 1200 students, in partnership with youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities to discuss and develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. CGI U’s five focus areas include: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.
If you are one of the millions of people who drink coffee every morning, consider drinking Green Mountain Coffee, or using one of their Keurig machines. Here’s one reason why.
I was walking up a steep hill in 100 degree heat in Northern Nicaragua earlier this month, with 25 of our social enterprise students, as part of our senior capstone class. We were in the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and in one of its poorest regions, when we came upon a sign saying that Green Mountain Coffee, through its corporate social responsibility program, had supported a poor smallholder farmer cooperative with community investments.
Located outside of Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua, La Chureca is a community of 1,200 individuals living in the city’s municipal dump. The community is severely underserved in access to public services and unable to sustain themselves. Manna Project International (MPI), an organization working to empower communities in need through volunteer Read more…