Social entrepreneurship MBAs working to change the world

Here, TopMBA.com looks at how many MBAs are becoming social entrepreneurs and how they are seeking to change the world using their business knowledge.

C.K. Prahalad begins his seminal work, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid with the simple, yet revolutionary proposition: "If we stop thinking of the poor as victims, but rather as resilient and creative entrepreneurs as well as value-conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up." Social Entrepreneurship has become a global phenomenon that impacts the lives of citizens by using innovative business approaches to solving social problems. The best known modern practitioner is Dr. Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Prize for his micro-finance enterprise serving millions of farmers in Bangladesh, the embodiment of this growing body of business missionaries.

Social Entrepreneurship at forefront of B-school agenda

"Millenial generation" entrepreneurs are now seeking an MBA not simply to achieve career progression, but because they are genuinely motivated to start or work in businesses which can benefit society.

Evidence of this growing interest is demonstrated by the expansion of Net Impact Conferences which began with the participation of a handful of students in 1995. In November 2008, Wharton students host the Net Impact Conference which will welcome well over 1,800 students, government and NGO representatives from throughout the world, to discuss corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship. In addition, business schools are now ranked by the Aspen Institute for the presence of social responsibility material within their courses in the "Beyond Grey Pinstripes" ranking.

As a result, Business Schools around the world are establishing centres or electives for Social Entrepreneurship, to help guide the best and brightest minds towards innovative solutions which can help millions of people as well as themselves.

"The fact that millenials are largely interested in social entrepreneurship has been a real boon for UCLA Anderson, says Mae Jennifer Shores, Assistant Dean and Admissions Director at UCLA Anderson. “We have seen an increasing number of applicants who possess a strong track record of involvement in the community and a genuine interest in pursuing careers that allow them to give back to society in a demonstrative way."

Shores continues “Our Price Centre for Entrepreneurship has become a focal point for many prospective MBAs who are interested in the public and not-for-profit sectors and who view the University and the City of Los Angeles, in which 98% of firms employ fewer than 100 people, as a natural destination."

How are business schools teaching Social Entrepreneurship?

B-Schools are tackling the teaching of Social Entrepreneurship in different ways. Several schools have set up dedicated centres. INSEAD, the France-based school, has a centre for social innovation and a course for social entrepreneurship. Kellogg, in Chicago, also has a centre for social entrepreneurship.

Santiago Iniguez is Dean of IE Business School in Madrid, which specialises in entrepreneurship. He takes an alternative view. “An holistic approach is need to social entrepreneurship. Good management equals responsible management and needs to feed into every course. Many initiatives can start with the student body and the school must provide the environment to allow these initiatives to prosper."

More and more schools are working closely with NGOs and community organisations, creating an opportunity for students to gain experience working within these environments. “We hope to give students the bug which will make them passionate about CSR for the rest of their lives", says Arnoud De Myer, Dean of Cambridge University, Judge Business School.

MBA impact on poverty

Deans of some of the world's top business schools see an opportunity to develop multi-disciplinary approaches to finding solutions to the big issues of today; the health of the plant, childrens' health and poverty. Tom Robertson, Dean of Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, says: “Penn is a single, integrated campus with many well-funded institutes and departments, operating at the leading edge of technologies. Wharton professors are working on many global health initiatives."  Roy Vagelos (ex-CEO of Merck) funded the Institute for Life Science Research. Our Mack Center works with engineering, medicine and life sciences on research programs, with a view to the creation and diffusion of innovation, turning ideas into commercial realities. Robertson adds “Much of the problem in underdeveloped nations is a lack of management capability and entrepreneurship. Wharton is at the forefront of creating social impact.  Our faculty is active in entrepreneurial capacity-building initiatives domestically and around the world. For example, Professor Ian MacMillan has been working on projects in Zambia, in partnership with the Penn Veterinary School, to increase yields on chicken feed an entrepreneurial initiative which is active on the ground and successful. Jordi Canals at Spain IESE Business School reports: “IESE and CEIBS (China) faculty and students work with Asia Link, an initiative by the European Commission to promote sustainable regional and multilateral networking and development. IESE professors have also been working on a project with the International Finance Corp, part of the World Bank Group on creating public-private partnerships to strengthen the skills of managers in Africa, expanding and enhancing opportunities for management education and training across Africa, particularly in Kenya, South Africa and Ghana."

MBAs involved in tackling big issues

Robertson observes: “Almost 50% of our students become involved in socially responsible projects during their time at Wharton. There are many student-run consulting projects aiding businesses in developing countries to access developed markets." Robertson is delighted to welcome the Net Impact Conference to Wharton. “Conferences won't change the world, but they can point people who are passionate about these issues in the right direction."

Shores at UCLA adds, "We are accepting more students with backgrounds in government, not-for-profit firms, and international agencies. The MBA is no longer seen as primarily a degree for those who wish to pursue careers in investment banking, consulting, and consumer goods or manufacturing. Rather, the MBA is now recognized as a degree that provides a breadth of skills that are applicable to virtually any career, including those dedicated to social entrepreneurship."

Gabriel Bellomusto, an Alum of Madrid's IE Business School , has founded Roba Kapaz supplying clothing suitable for both disabled and non-disabled people with support from the Association of Disabled People and Casa Madrid in Spain. Roba Kapaz has distribution through Spain's largest retailer, El Corte Ingles, as well as direct marketing to 4 million disabled people in Spain, and will soon be looking at a European market of 50 million disabled people.

QS, which I founded in 1990 whilst at Wharton, has long had a socially entrepreneurial mission: “To enable motivated people to fulfil their potential through international mobility, educational achievement and career development."  As a result, six years ago, we established the QS Education Trust, to offer scholarships for deserving candidates who have demonstrated socially responsible leadership in their communities. To date over 27 people, all of whom attend the QS World MBA Tour or QS World Grad School Tour -  have won partial scholarships to study MBAs or postgraduate masters at schools like Wharton, Chicago, INSEAD, LBS, SDA Bocconi, IE Business School, Politecnico di Milano and many more. QS Educational Trust has also contributed to funding the building of a missionary school in Burma.

QS Education Trust is funded by delegate fees from the QS Asia Pacific Professional Leaders in Education Conference which encourages business leaders from around the world to network and forge partnerships for the development of education. www.qsapple.org
Net Impact Conferences information is available at www.netimpact.org

Aspen Institute information is available at www.beyondgreypinstripes.org