This is a partner column in conjunction with Ashoka’s Change InSight blog. Every week I’m covering the top news, highlights, events and opportunities in the realm of social entrepreneurship.
Young Entrepreneurs of Canada: Inaugural Youth Social Entrepreneurship Conference
On March 27-28, 2010, YSEC is bringing together the top 100 young changemakers in Ontario to re:Vision change. Do you fit the follow criteria?
Cape Town B-School Embraces Social Entrepreneurship
South Africa’s oldest and most prestigious business school helps underprivileged students get ahead and teaches entrepreneurship for a continent in transition
Mobilizing Efforts and Resources: Ashoka Fellows Respond to Reconstruct Chile
On the 27th of February Chile was hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the fifth most powerful earthquake in history. Moments after the earthquake, Ashoka’s staff in the Southern Cone were in contact with the 34 Ashoka Fellows residing in Chile to offer them psychological support and appraise their needs.
No, Not All Poor People Are Entrepreneurs
There is a troubling trend among social enterprises to romanticize the poor as entrepreneurs. Call it the entrepreneur myth. While it’s an attractive one, this kind of doublespeak not only masks the reality of the social constraints and challenges the poor face — it also hampers our ability to innovate high-impact poverty interventions.
Singapore Launches New Youth Social Entrepreneur Program
Singapore International Foundation has been around since 1991 carving out greater community understanding on the western seaboard, but this year marks the first time they’ve instituted a camp for young, aspiring social entrepreneurs. In partnership with Volans Asia, they’ve launched a three-day camp at the YWCA Fort Canning Lodge in Singapore to cultivate the basics of running a social enterprise.
Your Role in Selecting the Next Generation Of Social Innovators
The Unreasonable Institute is one great big experiment. It stems from a group of recent graduates in Boulder, CO, who thought that with all this buzz about social innovation, there oughta be a place where people like them could get a jump start on creating the next generation of world-changing businesses and nonprofits. A couple years later, they are about to close down the first phase of that journey and begin the next.
Stillerstrong Brings More Than Just Comic Relief to Haiti
On the subject of charities, comedian Ben Stiller has come a long way from his days of “Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can’t Read Good and Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too” to arrive at something quite possibly even funnier: STILLERSTRONG. His organization to ameliorate poverty in Haiti proudly boasts the slogan: “stealing great ideas from other people’s charities to build a school in Haiti” and despite the tongue and cheek, his business plan is viable and he has already achieved considerable success.
Theory of Change: A Collaborative Tool?
“The Theory of Change is a methodology, designed to create the kind of change social entrepreneurs are interested in.” Says Charles “Hipbone” Cameron on SocialEdge. Keep reading to find out more on his perspective of change and join in the conversation.
