Center for Social Innovation

Twenty years after the first Rio Earth Summit, the world’s most vexing sustainability problems around health, environment, agriculture and economic growth haven’t changed. But technologies have -- and they could provide critical and innovative solutions.

To start off 2012, I’m looking at Mountain Hazelnut Venture, a triple bottom-line business that is doing something at scale and having an impact in Bhutan. Local partners in this endeavor are Bhutanese farmers, who will raise hazelnut trees, harvest the nuts, and process them in modern facilities. I recently spoke with managing director Justin Finnegan, MBA ’09, about what it takes to get a socially conscious company up and running in the developing world.

Rupert Scofield, President and CEO of FINCA International and author of The Social Entrepreneur’s Handbook: How to Start, Build and Run a Business That Improves the World, talks about social entrepreneurship and his experiences as a microfinance pioneer.

Recognizing my own alcoholism was not easy. I was a Stanford MBA with a good job, savings, and not a single DUI on my driving record. But on closer examination, my world had become very small. Unhappy with my life and filled with anxiety about the future, drinking became the only time I felt happy and comfortable in the present. At first I was terrified and ashamed about attending AA. Now I feel enormously lucky that I had the willingness to walk into AA when I did.

This month, I’m focusing the spotlight on Evergreen Lodge, which is much more than a tourist resort nestled in the woods bordering Yosemite National Park. This is an example of a highly successful for-profit social enterprise whose social mission is fully integrated into the fabric of the business.

I recently spoke with cofounders Lee Zimmerman and Brian Anderluh (GSB ’94 grads) about how Evergreen Lodge works as a social enterprise and a business rolled into one.

This comprehensive table displays funding opportunities available for social ventures, including business plan competitions, foundation grants, and conference fellowships/scholarships.

Welcome, and thank you for joining us to celebrate our 40-year strong community committed to a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world. This program was among the first of its kind at an American business school, has shaped many notable leaders intent on creating positive social change, and has influenced other business schools around the world to educate socially conscious leaders.

1- The Stanford Graduate School of Business was just ranked #1 in the world for social and environmental impact by the Aspen Institute.

2- The Public Management Program (PMP), was the first program of its kind at an American business school.

3- The Board Fellows program has been emulated by numerous business schools around the world.

My internship at SEAF was a great way to test my career aspiration for private equity investing in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets. The internship affirmed my belief in the critical role played by small, privately run businesses in delivering sustainable economic development. In addition, the internship confirmed the existence of a lucrative segment of SME private equity investments in emerging markets.

As summer draws to a close, and fall begins, I wanted to share lessons learned from my over 30 interviews with Acumen portfolio and administration staff as well as chapter heads, investee CEOs, for-profit VCs in the U.S., nonprofits and designers.

Last time I blogged about our work in Knowledge Management, so I wanted to share the takeaways from my qualitative research on the Post-Investment Management side. Our goal was to determine 'How might we facilitate the exchange of best practices and solutions to common challenges among our CEO Network?'