Step No. 2: Issue a nationwide challenge to young entrepreneurs, and inspire high school students, college students, and millions across the country to think innovatively about our future and the global challenges we face. Our nation’s esteemed council of innovators and entrepreneurs should partner with Ashoka’s Everyone a Changemaker program to learn how social entrepreneurs can thrive and shape incredible innovation for the public good. By mobilizing the nation and inspiring millions of people to start a company, together we can unleash the creativity and private capital needed to fund the next wave of innovation and create millions of jobs in the process.
Number 2 on Nareen Jain’s “five things our President should do to bring entrepreneurship back to the U.S.”

Source: inc.com

Want to learn venture planning for social entrepreneurs?

Then read on: Ashoka and the University of Florida are offering a new online course to give you the tools & strategies needed to start your own organization or social business.  

Earn two credit hours from UF just for launching your venture, while getting all the guidance and support you need to turn your social change idea into reality.  

We believe that the skills you gain in designing, launching and leading a venture that solves a social need are critical for succeeding in today’s fast-paced, constantly changing world.  We are here to help you develop those changemaker skills and to have fun while creating impact around you.  What better way to learn valuable skills and earn college credit while doing something meaningful?  

You must act quickly, though, because the course starts on August 22!  Find out more about the course: Venture Planning for Social Entrepreneurs.  

And yes, scholarships are available - Enquire with Gretchen Zucker at gzuckerATashokaDOTorg.

Source: distance.ufl.edu

Are you a change-maker?


Video created by the Summer Associates on the US Team: Anne Von Petersdorff, Alice Goresbeck, Natalie Dance and Wendi Oppenheim.

Hack Capitalism For Social Good

Although many people hold a citizenship and therefore civil rights in their country, a huge number of those are not citizens of the economy - no access, no rights or privileges. Think about how often you take for granted that you have a bank account, can take a loan or get credit. Our coworkers working on getting every citizen an economic citizenship, can celebrate a small win: their essay around our solution just won Harvard Business Review/McKinsey’s M Prize for Management Innovation.

In the words of the Full Economic Citizenship Program (FEC), the solution is a hack on capitalism:

Just as Ashoka earlier hacked “business entrepreneur” and made a hybrid – the social entrepreneur,  FEC hacked a respected business model, “value chain” to create the Hybrid Value Chain,  whose structure forges collaboration to deliver private profit and social value, becoming the renewable source of energy for innovation and the new paradigm for inclusive and sustainable capitalism. 

Read their winning essay here.

Thinking outside the box - literally.

Heard of Caine Monroy? He’s a 9 year-old entrepreneur who built an arcade out of cardboard boxes in his dad’s garage, and is now making the rounds on the media circuit, because he, as Steve Case puts it “is inspiring countless others to think outside box”.

The documentarist Nivan Mullick had heard of the kids efforts and decided to do a fun flash-mob at the kid’s homemade arcade, to see the look on his face when he got real customers. 

The video went viral and with virality came TV and a mass audience. But the immense attention is not just buzz; it’s now giving Caine Monroy an education.  

“Now that the video has gone viral, the Caine’s Arcade Facebook page boasts over 45,000 Likes, with fans and supporters having raised over $100,000 for his scholarship fund in just three days”, notes Shira Lazar of What’s Trending. Watch her interview with the young Changemaker and get inspired:

- Anna

What Would Harry Potter Do?

Today I stumbled across Andrew Slack, the Harry Potter fan featured above, who realized an opportunity to mobilize young changemakers connected by their passion for pop-culture phenomena. The Harry Potter Alliance & now The Imagine Better Project asks the millions of fans of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and other fantasy series to draw parallels between the fictional worlds of these stories and the physical world in which they live to create social change. Have fun exploring the many ways in which you can channel your inner Katniss to change the world!

-Kila (self-proclaimed Game of Thrones junkie)

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