SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twenty social entrepreneurs, working all over the world from Namibia to Nepal, have been selected to receive mentoring, training, and on-campus instruction as part of the Global Social Benefit Institute’s (GSBI) 13th annual GSBI Accelerator program at Santa Clara University.
The entrepreneurs use nonprofit or for-profit businesses to solve major social problems, which include unsanitary water conditions, lack of business opportunities, youth unemployment, and maternal health care.
Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society has been training social entrepreneurs since 2003.
“The incredible sophistication and accomplishments of this year’s class of social entrepreneurs is a reflection of the maturation of the social entrepreneurship field,” said Cassandra Staff, director of GSBI programs at Santa Clara. “We are very excited to play a role in helping them reach their goals for scale and impact.”
The acclaimed Accelerator program pairs one leader from each social enterprise with two experienced, startup-savvy Silicon Valley executives and advisers for a total of 10 months. The aim is to help the entrepreneurs focus on and solve the largest obstacles keeping their businesses from “scaling,” or reaching exponentially more beneficiaries.
After six months of online work with GSBI staff and mentors, the cohort will come to Santa Clara University’s campus Aug. 12 for nine days of focused, customized work. On Aug. 20 the entrepreneurs pitch their businesses before an audience of “impact investors” and others interested in accelerating the work of social entrepreneurs, at an “Investor Showcase.”
This year, the GSBI Accelerator received hundreds of applications from social entrepreneurs to attend the program.
Sponsors of the GSBI Accelerator program include: eBay Inc. Foundation, Applied Materials, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, and the GSBI Endowment Fund supported by Jeff and Karen Miller and Howard and Alida Charney.
Twenty-one percent of the social enterprises are operating in Kenya; 17 percent are operating in India; 30 percent of the entrepreneurs are women. A list of this year’s class, their locations, and their impact are available at www.scu.edu/socialbenefit/entrepreneurship/gsbi/gsbiaccelerator2015.cfm.
GSBI ACCELERATOR CLASS OF 2015
1. Judith Joan Walker; African Clean Energy (ACE); Lesotho South Africa; efficient biomass cookstove producer.
2. Pavin Pankajan; Aquasafi Purification System; India; water purification provider.
3. Sanjay Banka; Banka BioLoo; India; installer of biotoilets to treat human waste with bacterial cultures.
4. Eric Sorensen; Carbon Roots International; Haiti; converter of agricultural waste biomass to carbon char dust for cooking briquettes.
5. Rob Taylor; Columba Leadership; South Africa; youth development.
6. Anya Cherneff; Empower Generation; Nepal; trainer of women as energy entrepreneurs.
7. Prashanth Venkataramana; Essmart; India; retail marketplace builder in rural locales.
8. Renata Szeles; Gastromotiva - Food HUB; Brazil; culinary training and kitchen rental space for micro-entrepreneurs.
9. Jonathan Mativo; ICT for Development; Kenya; supplies community-based information and communications technology and job training.
10. Rebecca Kaduru; KadAfrica; Uganda; producer and seller of passion fruit and trainer of girls in agribusiness.
11. Kirsten Gagnaire; Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA); Global, including South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria; provider of health messages to expecting women and their families via mobile phones.
12. Michael Njoroge; Multi-Link Investments Group; Kenya; clean cookstoves.
13. Anoop Ratnaker Rao; Naandi Community Water Services; India; builder and operator of Community Water Centers (CWCs) for safe, reliable, and affordable water
14. Dr. Asher Hasan; Naya Jeevan; Pakistan and Mexico; provider of health insurance to working poor.
15. Dr. Haywood Hall; PACE MD; Mexico; community-based training in emergency care and community health.
16. Karim Abouelnaga; Practice Makes Perfect; United States; five-week summer enrichment program to erase achievement gap among low-income students.
17. Rahul Noble Singh; Rangsutra Crafts India; India; creator of a marketplace for artisans and farmers in remote villages.
18. Wamuyu Mahinda; The Youth Banner; Kenya; developer of entrepreneurship and business skills for youth.
19. Isabel Graefin von Medem; X-Runner; Peru; dry toilet and waste pickup.
20. Dr. Hilmi Quraishi; ZMQ; India; health information, solutions, and services to rural poor.
About the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Santa Clara University
Founded in 1997, Center for Science, Technology, and Society is one of three Centers of Distinction at Santa Clara University that embody the University’s mission to create a more just, humane, and sustainable world. The Centers bring together the University’s students and faculty, the Silicon Valley community, and international social entrepreneurs who are employing innovative approaches to tackle the world’s most challenging problems. Through programs such as the GSBI, the Center has worked with over 300 social enterprises affording us unique insights into leading business models and innovations for the developing world and emerging markets. For more information see www.scu.edu/socialbenefit.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
