Social Entrepreneurship

This month the British Library Business and IP Centre’s Inspiring Entrepreneurs Series is offering Kick-starting the Sustainable Economy. For anyone interested in general entrepreneurship and/or social entrepreneurship, this seminar will be offered on BIPCTV--YouTube 24 hours after it is held: http://www.youtube.com/BIPCTV. The panel for Kick-starting a Sustainable Economy includes Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project;
Paul Myers, President of the World Fair Trade Organization; Safia Minney, founder and director of Fair Trade fashion brand People Tree; Albert Tucker, Independent Consultant and formerly of TWIN TRADING, a founding partner in Café Direct and Divine Chocolat; and
Anne MacCaig, CEO of leading Fair Trade brand Cafédirect.

This seminar should be of interest to the Fort Collins social entrepreneur community which acknowledges that the world of business is changing, and many consumers and entrepreneurs are supporting businesses that exhibit genuine values and integrity. In this more difficult economic climate, generating jobs and evolving a sustainable economy can fall to these ethically driven entrepreneurs.

Check with the British Library Business and IP Centre for more information: http://www.bl.uk/bipc/

In its May 1 online issue, BusinessWeek SmallBiz published a list of its most promising social entrerpreneurs. BusinessWeek SmallBiz team asked readers to collaborate on tracking down trailblazing companies, in operation for at least a year, that aim to turn a profit while tackling social problems. Here are some of the nominees: $4 million BigBelly Solar, based in Needham, MA, has sold more than 2,000 solar-powered trash compactors around the globe, promising municipalities savings on time, fuel, and trucks used to haul garbage. CraftNetwork, with offices in New York and Bali, boosts employment in marginalized communities by connecting artisan producers with wholesale and retail customers in wealthy nations. Its founder predicts over $600,000 in revenue by the end of the year. And 12-year-old PharmaJet, based in Golden, CO, which just received clearance from the Food & Drug Administration to sell its needle-free injection device, plans to commercialize the gizmo in third-world countries to prevent injury and the spread of disease.
Here are the top three (by vote):
No. 1 Better World Books: a 200-person company sells books it gets for free from a network of individuals and institutions across the country. The Mishawaka (ID)-based company has donated over $5 million to literacy programs and libraries around the world since it launched in 2002. Better World Books expects to secure around $4 million in equity investment in total, to bring in $30 million in revenue this calendar year and be profitable in 2010. The company sells about 10,000 books a day.
No. 2 Impact Makers, based in Richmond, VA, is a $300,000, nine-employee health-care management and consulting company that constructs disease-management programs, and performs IT work, systems consulting, and program audits. One of its big social goals is to provide free medication to the uninsured through its primary nonprofit partner RXpartnership.org.
No. 3 Stonyfield Farm Londonderry (N.H.)-based organic yogurt.
The online magazine is a good tracker of the social entrepreneur community and should be a favorite for all entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. http://www.businessweek.com/

To learn more about Social Entrepreneurship, check out the PBS series on The New Heroes: http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/ .