Alleviating Poverty through Entrepreneurship Summit
Posted By Sidney on February 24, 2009
Dr. Hippolyte Fofack, The World Bank Group
It is not often that I get the chance to attend a free one-day meeting that offers great networking opportunities and knowledge-packed presentations. On Friday, I attended the Alleviating Poverty through Entrepreneurship Summit at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The summit was a student-organized event lead by Business Builders Club, Net Impact, and the non-profit International Development Collaborative (founded by Fisher alumni); along with key involvement of Dr. Sharon Alvarez and Dr. Geoff Kistruck . The movement-worthy buzz was palpable all day as presenters shared their initiatives and ideas of how the theory and practice of entrepreneurship (both for and by the a targeted group) could positively impact developing, emerging, or otherwise impoverished economies. Presenters represented a diverse group that included: OSU student organizations; a corporate foundation; the Ohio Governor’s Office of Appalachia; The World Bank Group; the Peruvian Embassy and the African Embassy of Cote d’Ivoire; researchers from two top-ten ranked business schools in the U.S.; The BridgeSpan Group nonprofit consulting firm; and several international businesses like AfricXpress that are dedicated to a double-bottom line of profit and community change.
During the coming days, I will post a few take-a-ways as well as unresolved questions that resulted from the event, namely:
- Promise of embedded innovation using the Base of the Pyramid protocol;
- An argument for more creating and supporting social innovation that addresses issues in our own backyard as opposed to disproportionately directing activities to non-U.S. emerging markets;
- My top five reasons the philanthropic sector and the academic sector should collaborate to address “big issues” with “bigger ideas”.
For now, I simply want to give major kudos to the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and the students that planned and implemented one of the best day-long events I’ve ever experienced. This summit affirmed my belief in the words of Peter Drucker :
Every pressing social and global issue of our time is a business opportunity.
I dream of the day when all business opportunities are designed to embrace social change as a separate but equally important bottom line.
Sidney, thanks for attending and blogging about this meaningful event. We are already beginning to plan for next year’s event!