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Home // Programs & Centers // Undergraduate Business // Global Engagement // Act // Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship Abroad

Entrepreneurial business techniques for social change

Greg Van KirkGreg Van Kirk, Ashoka Fellow and founder of Social Entrepreneurship Corps, spoke at Mason on Oct. 4, 2010.  Working as an investment banker, Mr. Van Kirk decided to put his business talents to work in developing countries by joining the Peace Corps.  Following success as a volunteer, he started Community Enterprise Solutions, which employs his innovatively designed "MicroConsignment Model" of Business.  Speaking to Mason Undergraduate Business students, he encouraged them to "Think big, act small". 

Ashley Post with Guatemalan school childrenRead about Senior Ashley Post's experience working with Social Entrepreneurship Corps in Guatemala.

Social Entrepreneurship incorporates business methods with the entrepreneurial spirit to help mitigate the social problems that many parts of the world are facing.  Focusing on such social problems as poverty alleviation, education, access to drinkable water, human rights, environmental conservation, and economic development social entrepreneurs tackle these issues with both passion and innovation. 

The social entrepreneurship movement only recently started gaining momentum; most notably with the 2006 Nobel Prize award to Muhammad Yunus.  Prof. Yunus established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, pioneering the practice of microfinance to the poor.  The business model established by Prof. Yunus was replicated in over 100 countries worldwide.  With the success of the Grameen Bank, corporations and social activists alike are taking note of how to promote economic prosperity even with the poorest of the poor.

David Gordon working with tree nurseries in Kenya.Social entrepreneurs are also gaining recognition.  Businesses are now connecting with social entrepreneurs as ways to build their own companies.  Supporting social entrepreneurship projects gives businesses an outlet to be socially active and civically engaged. 

Mason School of Business is at the forefront in preparing business students interested in the social entrepreneurship field, partnering with W&M Office of Community Engagement to provide opportunities for students to participate in social entrepreneurship opportunities.