Social Enterprise Symposium: Transforming Business for the Global Good
5 – 9 p.m. Thursday, March 25
Frank Auditorium, 1524 Van Munching Hall

True Life: I'm a Social Entrepreneur

The University of Maryland is an ardent supporter of entrepreneurship. In this session, students had the opportunity to hear the stories of three local social entrepreneurs. The session, moderated by Professor Oliver Schlake, explored differences between entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs and provided students with the chance to ask the three speakers about their career trajectories and their experiences.

Casey Golden is the Founder and CEO of Small Act, a company focused on helping nonprofits to fully utilize social media in order to connect with their audiences and to inspire action (either advocacy or fundraising).  He described the way that Small Act takes chaos out of social media and helps nonprofits to function better.  Casey explained that a social entrepreneur is someone who makes sure that the benefit to the world is woven into the business model.

Trevor Young is a Maryland alumnus who took advantage of the resources afforded by the University to create Tseai Energy.  His company operates in Sierra Leon to bring electricity to rural communities. Trevor explained that a social entrepreneur is unique because there is a focus on having a positive impact. He explained the importance of being in a position in which you can create an entity that has a social impact and can be sustainable. Trevor believes that social entrepreneurship is here to stay. He explained that a company’s motivation is less significant than their actions in creating necessary change and warned about the dangers of overanalyzing a company’s motivation.

Michael Wegner is the Co-founder and Communications Director of Open Action, an open data server to talk about social projects. Michael explained that he is a social entrepreneur because his focus was on starting a new company with a larger vision in mind. He went on to explain that increased transparency and accountability were key components as well. Michael stated that social entrepreneurship is not just a label, but rather can generate revenue in a way that also recognizes a social cause. The trigger point between entrepreneur and social entrepreneur can vary by day, depending on what tasks need to be taken care of but that it is important to recognize that companies can do well by doing good.

The session concluded with a conversation about taking on entrepreneurial activities and how to mitigate risk. All three panelists encouraged students to take advantage of the resources available to them and to recognize that students are best positioned to take on risk because they have less responsibility.  Finally, the panelists encouraged social entrepreneurs to pick something they were so passionate about that they would be able to do it for life if the opportunity to cash out did not present itself.  (By Sarina Gerson, MBA '11)