All Posts Tagged With: "social entrepreneurship"
Want to work for a startup?
Grads will be paid to work in poor cities
A new non-profit organization called Venture for America will give bright university graduates a crash course in entrepreneurship — if they’re willing to move to a town with a struggling economy.
The idea is to help graduates learn about entrepreneurship, while helping impoverished cities like New Orleans, Providence, R.I., and Detroit to get back on their feet.
After all, business graduates don’t usually move to such economically depressed areas. In that sense, Venture for America is modeled after Teach for America, the highly-successful organization that pays new teachers to move to places where they wouldn’t otherwise move, helping to fight poverty.
VFA will pay its fellows a modest salary of $32,000 to $38,000 per year for two years.
Photo courtesy of Birmingham City University
The startups will get free workers. The workers will get to see a company grow from the ground up.
“These fellows are going to end up in the midst of a really exciting ecosystem and they’re all going to have access to all the entrepreneurs in the region,” Andrew Yang, founder and president, told Fast Company. Some graduates will find success in their new towns and stay permanently, he said.
And one of those grads will get $100,000 at the end of two years to start a business of their own.
But competition is tough. Yang expects 5,000 applicants for the first 50 placements in September.
Heading to Oxford
Hey Everyone, My name’s Brendan, and I’m a recovering engineer… ..eerrr, let’s start that again, shall we? Well my name is Brendan, and I have been an engineer. Studied as an engineer at UBC. Worked as an engineer in Canada. But it wasn’t long before I felt other areas pulling my attention away. I’m also [...]
Hey Everyone,
My name’s Brendan, and I’m a recovering engineer…
..eerrr, let’s start that again, shall we?
Well my name is Brendan, and I have been an engineer. Studied as an engineer at UBC. Worked as an engineer in Canada. But it wasn’t long before I felt other areas pulling my attention away. I’m also a fairly socially-motivated person, and I basically concluded that I could have more impact in business development and entrepreneurialism than while working as an engineer. More chance to build something world-changing. That kind of thing. So I’m heading to Oxford in a few months, to take the MBA, with a focus on social entrepreneurship.
It’s been a long path to get here. Like many 20-somethings I know, I’ve struggled with my career path at times. In my case, it’s been an attempt to reconcile a love of the technical with a desire to tackle tough social challenges. This sometimes translates into a conflict between micro and macro approaches. It has led to a fair amount of work with Engineers Without Borders, both in Africa and Canada (a fantastic organization, and very likely strong at your university), as well as work with other organizations working in the area of appropriate technology. Before starting at Oxford, I’ll finish up with Practica Foundation in Ethiopia, where I’ve been working to set up an office over the past year.
I’m excited about Oxford. It’s been a long time coming. I started thinking about it almost two years ago, while taking courses at Cambridge. I decided that it was the right path, and set about trying to get there. Actually, for an MBA, the tough part is trying to pay for it, especially if your aims are more… say, social than financial. But the more I thought about it, the more I realize that my career goals, to start and grow various socially-minded organizations, would seriously benefit from the skills and credibility of an MBA. So I’m biting the bullet.
Oxford is an odd place, chock full of tradition and Harry Potter-ness. Anyone accepted by the 800+ year old university for study must also be accepted by a college, which forms a social network, support and accommodation. I’ll be joining Oriel College a mid-sized College established in 1324. Yep. 1324. My college is almost five times as old as our country. It’s an odd feeling for a Canadian.
I’ll leave it at that for now, and will check back in in the next few weeks as I get everything prepared to head to Oxford. Feel free to fire me any questions, either here or via my personal blog. I’ll do what I can to answer quickly.
Cheers,
B
- photo courtesy of Monica
