The business of changing the world
Jobs for homeless veterans in Boston, access to electricity in Pakistan, food storage for small farmers in Sri Lanka, water purification in Bolivian villages: They’re pressing issues that span the globe, with one thing in common. Harvard students are trying to solve them. As seven groups of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Sociology 159 — commonly known as the SE Lab, for Social Entrepreneurship Collaboratory — gave one-minute pitches for their socially conscious startups, it was clear that Harvard houses the energy and creativity to tackle complex, public problems. To succeed, however, would-be social entrepreneurs need practical skills to attract investors, carry out projects, and collaborate across the boundaries between public and private institutions. With that in mind, analysts and investors gathered at Harvard Kennedy School’s (HKS) John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on Friday to sketch a roadmap to the future of socially responsible business. “The Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurship” was...