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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Social Edge and Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society Partner to Identify Best Candidates for Sixth Annual Global Social Benefit Incubator
Up to 20 candidates to be selected to attend the Summer 2008 session on a fully paid scholarship.
“Through the access to world-class resources, participating social benefit entrepreneurs will be able to accelerate their innovations. This is a transformational program for people with the power and vision to change the world,” says Jim Koch, Professor of Management at Santa Clara University, Co-Founder and Director of the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI). “The incubator brings together grass roots innovators and Silicon Valley executive mentors with university faculty to support the scaling up of innovative solutions that serve the common good all over the world.”
In the past, participants have come from Costa Rica, India, Namibia, the Philippines, Rwanda, Argentina, Cambodia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Jordan, Laos, Nepal, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Canada, and the United States. The cross-cultural community and personalized mentorship help social entrepreneurs accelerate progress. "The GSBI was especially helpful to me since up until that point, I had been isolated and working in a vacuum. This was the first time I was surrounded by people who supported my project," said Matt Flannery, GSBI 2006 participant and Founder of Kiva, the online global microlending venture. "Through the GSBI I made trusted connections with people across the world. I now work with one of the GSBI participants I met there and have partnered with another."
After registering, applicants go through a series of three exercises. The rigorous application is rewarding, with many applicants commenting that they learned a tremendous amount by going through the process. “Social Edge community members, GSBI mentors and business school students from Santa Clara University will log on to help aspiring social entrepreneurs, and offer them advice on their business proposition, their strategy and their application,” says Victor d'Allant, Executive Director of Social Edge. This feedback helps them to compellingly tell their story and clarify their impact and strategy for scaling their ventures, which will in turn help them to secure future funding and support.
Starting immediately, social entrepreneurs around the world should visit www.socialedge.org/features/gsbi to apply online. There is no application fee. Applicants can prepare their applications now and post them online during January and February, 2008. Social Edge members, GSBI mentors and business-school students will then score their proposal.
The 15-20 candidates who are selected for GSBI-2008 will be announced no later than April 15, 2008. Those selected from the Social Edge application process will be granted a full scholarship to attend the Global Social Benefit Incubator August 19-31, 2008. The scholarship covers tuition, room, and board for the two-week intensive immersion program focused on venture planning, beneficiary analysis, business models, metrics and successful scaling strategies. Selected candidates are responsible for their travel expenses (airfare, ground transportation, passport, visa).
More information can be found at:
Social Edge, A Program of the Skoll Foundation www.socialedge.org/features/gsbi
Global Social Benefit Incubator at Santa Clara University: www.scu.edu/sts/programsandpartnerships/gsbincubator.cfm
Contact:
Victor d’Allant, Social Edge
650.331.1036
vdallant@skollfoundation.org
Sherrill Dale, GSBI
408.551.6027
gsbi2008@scu.edu
About Social Edge
Headquartered in California's Silicon Valley, Social Edge, www.socialedge.org, is the global online community where social entrepreneurs and other practitioners of the social benefit sector connect to network, learn, inspire and share resources. It provides expert content for guidance, videos and podcasts for inspiration, and discussions and a wiki style encyclopedia written by those in the field of social entrepreneurship. Features include blogs by social entrepreneurs sharing how they are building their social ventures and discussions on vital topics led by experts in social entrepreneurship. Social Edge is a program of the Skoll Foundation, www.skollfoundation.org, which was founded in 1999 by eBay's first president, Jeff Skoll, to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs.
About the Global Social Benefit Incubator
The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), www.scu.edu/sts/gsbi/, provides an intensive two-week residential program at Santa Clara University that enables successful social benefit entrepreneurs, who have demonstrated their commitment to applying technology to address urgent human needs throughout the world, to scale their endeavors and achieve sustainability. The GSBI combines classroom instruction, case studies, and best practices with carefully matched mentoring on the specific challenges of each participating organization. Presented by the University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society and the Leavey School of Business Administration, the GSBI offers the unique context of a Jesuit university dedicated to social justice combined with leading executive resources of Silicon Valley.
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