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Picture by Becky Darling, Entrepreneurship Capstone - Advanced Studies in Nicaragua

In This Issue

▪ From the Founder & Director
▪ Faculty Spotlight
▪ News & Student Spotlight
▪ Upcoming Events
▪ Past Events
▪ New Course
▪ Internships & Co-ops
▪ Other Opportunities
▪ Contact Us

From the Founder & Executive Director

Doing Something That Changes Lives Every Morning, One Cup at a Time…

If you are one of the millions of people who drink coffee every morning, consider drinking Green Mountain Coffee, or using one of their Keurig machines. Here’s one reason why.

I was walking up a steep hill in 100 degree heat in Northern Nicaragua earlier this month, with 25 of our social enterprise students, as part of our senior capstone class. We were in the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and in one of its poorest regions, when we came upon a sign saying that Green Mountain Coffee, through its corporate social responsibility program, had supported a poor smallholder farmer cooperative with community investments.

Reverse Innovation & Social Entrepreneurs

By Dr. Sophie Bacq

On March 11, 2013, we had the opportunity to welcome Dr. Vijay Govindarajan—known as VG— as part of President Aoun’s Speaker Series on “Profiles in Innovation”. Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, VG is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and innovation.

Read more here

News & Student Spotlight

▪ Read about Sarah Hodsdon, a senior Northeastern student, and her independent study project in Kenya on income development and burgeoning markets, as well as her work with a start up company called MobileSurvey.
▪ Andrew Cabasso, a Northeastern and SEI Dominican Republic Field Study alumni, explored law and international development at Fordham’s School of Law, worked with Grameen American, opened a microfinance branch in the DR with Esperanza, and founded OffSprout.
▪ Read about Sean Smith, a Northeastern Alumni who moved to Nairobi to open Invested Development's first international office. Invested Development is an impact investment management firm that focuses on the development of tech startups that serve the world's underserved markets.
▪ Nathan Cutler talks about his international co-op in Cochabamba, Bolivia at Fundación Pro Hábitat where he is helping to design and implement a community-based project to improve the living conditions for the impoverished masses in Bolivia.
▪ Professor Gordon Adomdza talks about his new course called Business Model Design for Social Impact. Read why this course is different from any other.
▪ Katie Messick, Country Director of Manna Project International Nicaragua, explains the new situation of La Chureca, the largest municipal dump in Nicaragua.

Upcoming Events

SEI March Lecture Series

On Wednesday, March 20th, Angela Ambroz of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) and Heather Lanthorn of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) will speak for the March Social Enterprise Lecture Series, Translating Evidence into Action.

Location: 716 Columbus Place, 6th Floor, Alumni Center, Boston, MA 02115
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM
RSVP: here
Contact: sei@neu.edu

Volunteer with SEI at More Than Words

Join the Social Enterprise Institute on Saturday, March 30th for 2 hours at More Than Words, a local social enterprise based in Boston's South End neighborhood. More Than Words is a youth run bookstore which also facilitates a training program to empower Boston youth who are currently in either the foster care system, homeless, or out of school. At this two hour service event, volunteers will help to organize books at their bookstore, which is the income generating wing of their non-profit organization.

When: Saturday, March 30
Time: 11AM to 1PM
Location: 242 Berkeley St. 2nd Floor, Boston MA 02118
RSVP: here
Contact: beylerian.a@husky.neu.edu

Coopportunities Expo Students 032113Logo

SEI More Than Words Drive

From now until April 26th, SEI is collecting books, DVDs, CDs, and video games to donate to More Than Words.

What can you donate? Paperback or Hardcover books, Fiction, Non-fiction and current text books, audio books, Music CDs, DVDs, BluRay Discs, Video Games. MTW Drive Boxes will be located at: The Social Enterprise Institute (220 Hayden)

For more information, check out More Than Words

For questions, contact: Aline Beylerian at beylerian.a@husky.neu.edu

Social Venture Boot Camp at Boston University

On Saturday April 6th, from 9:30am-5pm, Philips and Ashoka's Youth Venture will host a Be A Changemaker Bootcamp at Boston University's School of Management. This is a social venture creation bootcamp that will allow undergraduates from Boston and Northeast-area colleges and universities to engage with each other and with Ashoka YV facilitators over the course of a day to build out social ventures they hope to launch and lead following the bootcamp. In addition to follow up venture support opportunities through Ashoka's Youth Venture, there will also be an opportunity out of this bootcamp for students with particular engineering and business related career interests to network with Philips about future career opportunities. The event will be held at The Boston University School of Management on 595 Commonwealth Ave., Classroom 208.

SEI Student Association

Interested in getting involved with projects at the Social Enterprise Institute? SEI Student Association meetings are on Thursday, 7:30-8:30pm in 13 Int'l Village. Formerly NetImpact, we have reworked the SEI Student Association to focus on developing student-led, social enterprise-focused projects. Some examples include: Njabini Apparel, financial literacy training in prisons, and Manna Project International. We are welcoming new members for leadership, developing projects, and general members! Contact sei@neu.edu with questions.

Past Events

On March 11th, Professor Vijay “VG” Govindarajan, co-author of Reverse Innovation and C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, spoke about his ongoing work in “reverse innovation” in which product and service innovations in the emerging markets are increasingly being exported to and reshaping industries in more advanced economies. If you missed the event, you can still read the story and watch the video recording online. This event was part of President Aoun’s “Profiles in Innovation” series, and the next event will feature Coursera co-founder, Daphne Koller.

Rebecca Leventhal, Photo Credit: Laura Mueller-Soppart

Social Finance US

On February 25th, SEI welcomed Ms. Rebecca Leventhal of Social Finance US to discuss the organization's groundbreaking work bringing social impact bonds to scale. This event was the first part of "Investing for Impact", a two part series featuring innovators in the impact investing and social finance sector.

New Course on Impact Investing

Social impact investing is a rapidly emerging sector within the global investment community in which investors fund innovative enterprises dedicated to creatively solving the world’s most difficult social problems, such as extreme poverty, access to clean water, sanitation, agricultural productivity and literacy.

Read more here

Internships & Co-ops

GRIT Business Development Intern

GRIT is a social enterprise start-up with an off-road wheelchair called the Leveraged Freedom Chair (LFC). We are seeking a high-energy intern to assist us in scaling up sales of the LFC in developing countries around the world. This intern will perform market research to identify key partners and help us develop a sales and marketing plan. We are looking for somebody who can commit for a minimum of 8 weeks. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to info@goGRIT.org with “Business Development Intern” in the subject line.

Summer Internship in Bolivia

AHA Bolivia, a fair trade, ethical manufacturing organization in Bolivia, is offering students a Sustainability/Social Responsibility Internship this Summer 2013. This combined internship, learning workshop, and cultural experience program is designed to introduce students to socially responsible business practices, international business, and environmental respectfulness in business. There are various positions such as Environmental Impact, Domestic and International Marketing, Product Development and Socially Responsible Landscape. For question, or to apply, please send your resume and a letter of interest to Cecilia at ahabolivia@gmail.com

Summer Semester in Nairobi

The Amani Institute has a special program in Nairobi, Kenya. The Amani Institute Experience comprises three interlocking streams of activity: experiential learning through relevant field placements, professional skill-building to learn core skills of the future practitioner, and a personal leadership journey which helps the student reflect on their own leadership path and integrate the field experience and professional skills courses into a coherent whole picture. Students thus have the possibility of gaining academic credit (6 credits) through George Mason University. For more information visit here.

Join the Wild Gift Leader Network

Every year Wild Gift recruits outstanding new leaders to its Network of better-world entrepreneurs through an intensive application process. Through a rigorous application process, we recruit dynamic young individuals (ages 21-35) with innovative, entrepreneurial ideas. Selected applicants receive a deep wilderness trek in Idaho, up to $10,000 in grant funding, and professional mentorship to refine a leadership project that will advance the stewardship of wild nature and sustainable human development. The deadline for the application is April 15th, 2013. Apply now.

ID Intern Opportunity

Invested Development is looking for a highly motivated marketing, communications or business student for brand, and social media management assignments. Ideal candidates will have experience in these areas. Writing sample required. Graphic design experience a plus. Applicants should be comfortable working in a start-up environment with minimal resources and supervision. To apply, please email your resume, cover letter, and writing sample to Christina at ctamer@investeddevelopment.com

Other Opportunities

Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund

The Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund provides grants to students actively working for peace and justice. These need-based scholarships are awarded to those able to do academic work at the university level and who are part of the progressive movement on the campus and in the community. Early recipients worked for civil rights, against McCarthyism, and for peace in Vietnam. For more information visit here.

Co-Opportunities in an Innovation Economy

A university- wide networking event for students seeking co-ops at startups and innovative companies. All major and concentrations are welcome! Thursday March 21, 6:00PM - 8:00 PM at Northeastern University Curry Student Center Ballroom. For more information visit here.

Opportunity for Northeastern Students: Nourish International

Do you want to have a lasting impact on your campus and in the world?
Join our student movement to address global poverty through social entrepreneurship. Nourish International is currently located on 28 U.S. college campuses and are now accepting applications to expand. Nourish Chapters run small businesses on-campus during the school year, then travel and invest these funds in communities abroad over the summer, deadline is Friday, April 5. For more information visit here.

Do YOU have News for SEI?

Email your press releases, announcements and opportunities for students to nu.seinewsletter@gmail.com