Students solidify their projects

We are more than half-way through the 2-week Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship at Babson College, and I am happy to say the impact is definitely visible.

Student groups have been working hard on their ventures, and are putting together their action plans. Yesterday we held a "nay-sayers" workshop in which facilitators of the program challenged assumptions, needs-assessments, etc... While it was challenging for students to have to backup and explain their ideas and plans, the projects have emerged stronger than before.

The program will continue to focus today on "Action Plans" and "Business Plans", in preparation for the final two days of the Symposium, which will be focused on finalizing plans and "pitching" projects to the faculty and facilitators.

We are all very excited to hear the final projects!

*Photo courtesy of Emily Tavoulareas, ICF International

Social Earth

Great site and resource!

http://www.socialearth.org/

And the Forum is on the front of their website!

Should all business be ethical or socially focused?

As a follow-up to the debate that we had today on whether or not all entrepreneurship was SOCIAL... see the video below, done by ClearlySo (referenced in an earlier post today), in the U.K.

ClearlySo - Social Business

Great resource!!! http://www.clearlyso.com/




I have added the link to "related links and resources" section in the left column of the blog.

The beauty of virtual communities...

12 countries created this virtually... who doesn't love social media?

Symposium, Day 2

Day 2 of the Symposium began with this:



We're off to a great start.

Symposium Launch

The Symposium has officially begun!

The program began over the weekend with a lively introduction to the campus and a film project in downtown Boston. Classes began on Monday, and were focused on splitting the students into the project groups that they will remain in through December.

Stay tuned for updates on the Symposium as it unfolds.

You can also follow us on twitter: @EmilyTav and #ussaudiforum

Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship

The time has finally come. Tomorrow morning I leave for Boston, where I will be linking up with all our partners and 30 students from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the 2-week Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship.

I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that has made this program what it is, and I look forward to seeing what all the students will accomplish following the Symposium at Babson College.

The Symposium will be taking place on the Babson campus for the next 2 weeks, and is being implemented by Babson College, the Wellesley Centers for Women, and ICF International in partnership with the Middle East Partnership Initiative.

Stay tuned for ongoing updates during the Symposium- and join us for discussion in the comment sections!