The Business Plan ideas are served

Now that the 2011 Minor in Social Entrepreneurship is coming to an end I would like to share with you the results of the "Business Plan Writing for Social Enterprises" elective. Nine student groups have identified opportunities for social change and written detailed business plans.

Start-up ideas include:

1. a portable cooling box for vaccines, 
2. ERP Software for African SMEs, 
3. organic roof top gardens, 
4. a healthy fast food chain, 
5. a vocational training program to help indigenous Bolivians become chefs and restaurant owners, 
6. a Social Entrepreneurship conference in Denmark, 
7. an IT platform to help immigrants integrate in society, 
8. a green markerting website, 
9. and a market place for philanthropic ideas.  

You can see their brief overviews here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/J28-Business-Plan-Writing-for-Social-Enterprises/263780646986240?sk=wall&filter=1

A Social Enterprise since 1964: Minnesota Diversified Industries

When reading about social enterprises one might get the impression that this is an invention of the last decade. But in reality social enterprises have been around for much longer. An interesting social enterprise is Minnesota Diversified Industries which has employed people with disabilities for nearly half a century. MDI describes what it does as offering progressive development and employment opportunities in competitive business enterprises. Its goal is to create real jobs that create a sense of pride, value and independence in its workers’ lives.

Read more: http://www.mdi.org/index.php/about-mdi/

Food for thought

The Danish NGO Ibis has just launched a new collaboration with Danish food entrepreneur and celebrity Chef Claus Meyer. Meyer recently visited Bolivia where he and ibis looked into the possibilities of opening a "food culture and cooking school" for indigenous people of Bolivia. The project will train 15-19 year olds recruited locally with help from several Bolivian social organizations. Bolivia, which is South America's poorest country, has a large and vulnerable indigenous people, but also a fantastic commodity basis. Meyer wants to explore how Bolivians "can use food, as an effective instrument in providing unskilled and disadvantaged young people a reason to be a generation of grassroots entrepreneurs who will be able to lift their families and communities out poverty and hunger."
Read more at: http://www.clausmeyer.dk/da/claus_meyers_fond.html

New book out on Aravind Hospital

On the 7th of November BK Business press will launch a new book "Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion". The book describes the story of Dr. Venkataswamy who has founded Aravind Hospital, an Indian eye-clinic, which has put conventional business logic on its head by allowing patients to choose whether or not they pay for the services they receive. As a result millions are treated for free (making Aravind the largest provider of eye care on the planet). One key source of success is Aravind's ability to provide its services at a hundredth of what providers in developed countries charge. The study of fast food franchises has been one source of inspiration for this amazing success story.