WE WANT TO CULTIVATE A MARKETPLACE WHERE PROFITS MAKE SOCIAL SENSE AND PRINCIPLES ARE AT ITS HEART. ISN’T THAT BETTER FOR EVERYONE?

BUSINESS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY AT THE SKOLL CENTRE

THE SKOLL CENTRE P24 THE SKOLL FOUNDATION P25WHAT WE BELIEVE IN P26 WHAT WE DO P27 WHO WE ARE P28

If you are like me, chances are that when you first came across the term “social entrepreneur”, you probably assumed it referred to an entrepreneur who loves to party

WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP?P4

THREE KEY CONCEPTS P5 HOW TO SPOT A SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR P6 WHO ARE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS P8

HOW TO GET YOUR FEET WET P10

DATES FOR THE DIARY P13JOIN THE SI-OBN P14ATTEND THE EMERGE CONFERENCE P14BECOME AN IMPACT LEADER P15 MEET THE EXPERTS P16GET CAREER SUPPORT P17 DO YOUR EP/SCP ON SE P17 POST-MBA OPPORTUNITIES P18 IN MY EXPERIENCE P20

ABOUT US P27

Hopefully, by the end of your MBA at Saïd Business School (SBS), your understanding of what social entrepreneurship is about will have expanded to include other aspects as well (most social entrepreneurs DO love to party).

But let me begin in the spirit of full disclosure. I might be the Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, and I might have spent a good part of my career immersed in what is dubbed, “social entrepreneurship”, but the reality is, I increasingly dislike the term. Why? Because it conjures up the world of “do-gooders”, “charities” and “volunteerism”, and this is problematic for those of us who doggedly cling to markets as the most effective way to improve the state of the world. This is not to say that charities, volunteerism and wanting to do good are not all wonderful ways of trying to make the world a better place – but it’s just not the lens social entrepreneurs use to go about it.

So what is “social entrepreneurship”? Why would a top ranked business school like SBS place such emphasis on it? The big secret is as follows: social entrepreneurs and their commercial counterparts are two sides of the same coin. Both are innovators

who see opportunities others don’t to create a new or improved product or process – and in doing so, they transform outmoded or ineffectual systems and practices. Neither is driven primarily by money – it is the love of the challenge that drives them to pursue their ventures. Just ask Richard Branson or Muhammad Yunus, and you will see the similarities immediately. So how are they different? And why would SBS have a Centre dedicated to this approach – rather than just simple “entrepreneurship”?

The truth is, our ultimate goal is to erase the false dichotomy between the two. All entrepreneurship must become “social entrepreneurship”. Why? If there is one thing we have learned in the past few years with the economic meltdown, it is that society can no longer afford to separate how people make money from how people do good and exercise environmental stewardship. Business is a primary vehicle in that regard. But to do so, we must go beyond the “corporate social responsibility” reports and the token philanthropic gestures corporations traditionally make to foster goodwill in the communities where they are located. It is much harder than that. It is about embedding responsible business practice in a company’s DNA – and that

includes its supply chain practices, its products, its human resources and remuneration policies, etc.

This is tough stuff. But top business schools like SBS recognise their critical responsibility in ensuring that the business leaders of tomorrow are up to the task.

Making money is easy. Making money in an ethically and responsible manner is not. Are you up to the challenge? We are here to do everything we can to inspire, guide and provide practical connections that set you on your way to become a leader of business in the 21st century. We look forward to accompanying you on the ride.

We see a new generation of innovators. A movement of students who want to do well and do good. We ignite their passions and challenge them to act on their vision of a better way.

Pamela Hartigan Director, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship

SOCIAL FOCUS The primary mission of the individual, network or organisation is to create social and/or environmental change. Organisations may take different forms: some non-profit, some hybrid social businesses, some for-profit. The choice of structure is a function of its social mission and the business model applied to achieving that mission.

INNOVATION A social entrepreneur may develop new products or services, use existing products and services in new, more socially productive ways, or redefine social problems and suggest radical new ideas to solve them.

RESOURCEFULNESS Social entrepreneurs, like all entrepreneurs, are able to quickly - and often cleverly - find ways to overcome difficulties and problems. They “punch above their weight” because they can mobilise resources of all kinds to their cause. Howard Stevenson at Harvard University describes this as “the pursuit of opportunity in the absence of resources currently in hand”.

Social entrepreneurship is an approach that combines innovation, opportunity and resourcefulness to create social and environmental impact. It challenges conventional structures and identifies new opportunities to address the root causes of our most pressing problems. It generates systemic change and provides sustainable solutions.

WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

THE 3 KEY CONCEPTS

05 / WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

1 They take a pragmatic approach, and are not blinded by ideological bias

9 They jump in before they are fully resourced

5 They show grit and determination to accomplish their vision, pushing them to take risks others would not3

They focus on social value creation

and, in that spirit, are willing to share their innovations and insights for others to adopt

4 They innovate by coming up with a

new or improved product, service, or approach to social and/or environmental problems

10 They display a sense of urgency

to address the problem they see and intolerance for those who are indifferent or blind to the problem

8 They balance their impatience for change with a zeal to monitor and

measure effectiveness

2 They have an unwavering belief in everyone’s capacity to contribute to economic

and social development6

They infect others around them with their vision and are able to build an effective team that shares that vision

7 They are consumed with their venture 24

hours a day, 7 days a week. Work-life balance does not exist because their venture IS their life

CAPTURING THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCH DIVERSE ENTREPRENEURS IS TOUGH, BUT HERE ARE TEN TRAITS COMMON TO MANY OF THEM.

HOW TO SPOT A SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

WHO ARE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS?

MUHAMMAD YUNUS’ Grameen Bank – spearheading the microfinance movement worldwide by making small loans to the poor for self-employment

CARLO PETRINI’S “slow food movement” - leading 100,000 members in 132 countries committed to rescuing cultural traditions and preserving biodiversity

WENDY KOPP’S Teach for America - ending educational inequality by recruiting top university students to work in America’s worst public schools

AND WHO ARE NOT SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS?A successful businessman has decided to help the less privileged in society and “give back”. He endows a foundation to support early childhood education and to set up hospitals in poor countries. Such a person is a philanthropist who has set up a charity. Philanthropists are critically important in society – and many of them support social entrepreneurial activities. But philanthropic largesse is not social entrepreneurship.

A passionate animal rights activist volunteers to campaign against the practice of whale hunting. Later, he raises money to lobby governments to protect the rights of laboratory animals. This person is an activist working to bring pressure on policy makers and the public to stop a specific practice. No alternative

options or solutions are proposed. We need activists – but they are not social entrepreneurs.

Foodmart is a global grocery market chain which promotes employee safety, wellbeing and community service. It achieves high marks in environmental standards across the supply chain. The company is a socially responsible business that has incorporated corporate citizenship into its business practice. We would love more responsible companies like this - but their priority is to make money for their shareholders – which is not social entrepreneurship.

RECOMMENDED READING: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACADEMIA 101Primer on Social Entrepreneurship and the growing supportive ecosystem

The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship by Greg Dees (downloadable online)

The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan

Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition by Roger L. Martin & Sally Osberg (downloadable online)

Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Change by Alex Nicholls

A Positive Theory of Social Entrepreneurship by Filipe Santos. INSEAD. Working Paper, 2009-11-07

Social Intrapreneurism And All That Jazz: How business innovators are helping to build a more sustainable world Grayson, David, McLaren, Melody and Spitzeck, Heiko.

Disruptive Innovation for Social Change Clay Christensen et al. Harvard Business Review, May 2009

Re-examining Scale in Social Ventures edited by Paul Bloom

From the Margins to the Mainstream: Assessment of the Impact Investment sector and Opportunities to Engage mainstream investors World Economic Forum, September 2013

Closing the Pioneer Gap Dichter, S., Katz, R., Koh, H and Karamchandani, A. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2013

WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP? / 08

HOW TO GET YOUR FEET WET

DATES FOR THE DIARYMICHAELMAS TERM

• MBA pre-course

• Emerge Conference

• Building a Business starts

HILARY TERM • Skoll Scholarship Applications –

Stage 1 and Stage 2 deadlines

• Venture Capital Investment Contest (VCIC)

• Social Venture Capital Investment Contest (SVCIC)

• Social Innovation Case Competition

• TATA Idea Idol Final

• Social Impact Careers Conference

TRINITY TERM • Skoll Scholarship Applications –

Stage 3 and Stage 4 deadlines

• Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford (SVCO)

• Power Shift

• Venture Fest

• Good Governance Conference

CHECKLIST OF WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

£ Join the Social Impact Oxford Business Network (SI-OBN)

£ Attend the Emerge Conference

£ Apply for the Skoll Centre Leading for Impact Programme

£ Sign up for the VCIC and SVCIC competitions

£ Sign up for the Social Innovation Case Competition

£ Get the latest from the bi-weekly Skoll Centre newsletter

£ Attend the Social Impact Careers Conference

£ Sign up to meet one of the Practitioners-in-Residence

£ Set up a trek to visit entrepreneurs focused on transformational change

£ Do your EP on a financially viable entrepreneurial venture

aimed at achieving social and environmental impact

£ Sign up for an SCP with an entrepreneurial social venture

£ Apply for the Shell/IBL Fellowship

£ Apply for the Skoll Centre Ecosystem Awards

£ Apply for the Skoll Centre Venture Award

WE SEE A NEW GENERATION OF INNOVATORS. A MOVEMENT OF STUDENTS WHO WANT TO DO WELL AND DO GOOD. WE IGNITE THEIR PASSIONS AND CHALLENGE THEM TO ACT ON THEIR VISION OF A BETTER WAY

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PARTICIPATE IN THE EMERGE CONFERENCE Emerge brings together young professionals (and those who are “young at heart”) as well as graduate students seeking to pursue market-based careers with positive social and environmental impact.

The Skoll Centre co-organizes this event with Student Hubs each year in November, and over its five years, Emerge has grown to become one of Europe’s leading events of this nature, drawing over 600 participants from all over the world.

Emerge is a “must” for anyone seeking to be a changemaker, independent of where their career paths take them. Leading entrepreneurs inspire participants through their stories, but Emerge also draws upon key actors working in mainstream companies and social investment organizations who openly talk about their work, their challenges and their approaches. How do they orchestrate change within large institutions characterized by short-term thinking? How do they persuade traditional investors

to diversify their portfolios to include ventures that promise high social and/or environmental returns, plus a financial return on their investments?

The programme will provide you with an overview of the leading issues and innovations that are being deployed by entrepreneurs and the growing innovation ecosystem to tackle some of the world’s most important problems.

Emerge has built upon the success of the Skoll World Forum, but is geared towards students and aspiring entrepreneurs. We’re bringing the same calibre of speakers, but the event is specifically for those who aspire to be entrepreneur driving systems change, or who want to support their efforts.

INTERNSHIPSIf you chose to take electives over the summer, why not also intern with a social venture? The Skoll Centre can connect you with internships and job opportunities– many not publicly advertised – at leading organisations in our network.

THE SOCIAL IMPACT OXFORD BUSINESS NETWORK (SI-OBN) The best way to connect with like-minded students is through the SI-OBN. In 2005, the SI-OBN has been a platform for students interested in social impact to join together, support one another, and influence other students and administrative policy. The structure and goals of the group change with each year with new leadership and membership, so each incoming class can really leave its mark on the SI-OBN.

Sign up and be a part of it!

THE SKOLL CENTRE LEADING FOR IMPACT PROGRAMMEThis is a new programme offered in partnership with the DO School for selected University of Oxford graduate students. It offers a year-long programme for up to 20 students who have shown the commitment and potential to be leaders of positive social change.

This programme is offered in two phases, the “be” phase, focused on personal leadership development and the “do” phase, providing a hands-on experiential learning opportunity with a local business. The program takes place through weekend workshops, group action-learning sets, one-on-one mentoring meetings, and a final project. Contact us for more details!

SIGN UP FOR THE SUSTAINABLE VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENT COMPETITION (SVCIC)So you want to get hands-on experience with assessing and making investments? Then SVCIC is for you! The VCIC is the competition for straight commercial ventures – but our belief is there is no such thing without a social and environmental impact!

The SVCIC is a highly regarded global business competition that brings together teams from business schools all over the world. Each student team takes the role of a sustainable venture capital firm and it goes through the entire venture capital investment process in a day, working with real entrepreneurial ventures, finally deciding which one to invest in and structuring a deal.

The team must consider the investment from a financial, sustainable and social impact perspective. The whole investment process is observed by a panel of investors and entrepreneurs who act

as partners to the students’ teams. In the final round of the competition, the students have to convince the ‘partners’ that their investment decisions are sound and will enhance social and environmental impact. The judges then determine who the winner is – the team they would most like to have as an investment partner.

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SOCIAL IMPACT CAREERS CONFERENCEConfused about what the options are? Looking to get a high-impact job with a mission you are passionate about? Debating between pursuing an idea as an entrepreneur or joining an existing team? The Social Impact Careers Conference is for YOU!

It is the only UK event where you can connect with organisations of all types to learn about high-impact job roles – and meet professionals who are looking to recruit talent. The event draws over 200 students from a broad range of universities in the UK and across Europe, and includes sessions such as a ‘social entrepreneurship 101’ workshop. See www.socialimpactcareersconference.org.

THE EP AND THE SCPThe MBA programme includes two core opportunities that allow students to take the knowledge and skills they have gained and apply them to entrepreneurial practice.

THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT (EP)The EP is a requirement for all MBA students. It challenges you to develop a business plan for a new venture. Students work in small teams learn to use the Lean Launch Pad method to map out the key aspects of their venture. From there, they must develop a business plan for that venture. All in a few weeks of intensive group work with lots of support and feedback from the Skoll Centre and the SBS faculty. This is your chance to rise to the challenge to address a real issue and create a new or improved model or process that generates social and environmental transformation – and is financially sustainable! NB: A significant number of EPs go on to become viable ventures.

THE STRATEGIC CONSULTING PROJECT (SCP)The Strategic Consulting Project (SCP) lets you contribute valuable expertise to a social venture. Working in teams of four, students undertake an eight week consultancy project over the summer term. Projects take place all over the world and for all kinds of organizations. The Skoll Centre can help you identify top ventures with a social and/or environmental mission (for profits and non profits). Past examples of SCPs include working with the Walt Disney Company in Africa to assess mobile-first content strategies for Africa, and with Off.Grid: Electric in Tanzania - Africa’s first solar energy service model, which incidentally was started by SBS MBA alumni, based on their EP!

TAKE PART IN THE SOCIAL INNOVATION CASE COMPETITION (SICC) A fantastic opportunity for those who love rolling up their sleeves and working on a real challenge faced by an entrepreneur and his/her team.

“Live” ventures from around the world are carefully chosen and invited to present a document with their case and their challenge.

Students from across Oxford are invited to sign up for an intensive day of work. Last year, 72 students from 26 Oxford departments took part, making the competition truly interdisciplinary. Teams spend approximately 6 hours over the course of the day to study the challenge, and prepare a 10 minute presentation concisely outlining its proposed strategy. The teams are free to use anything within their reach during the 6 hours to help them with this case, including outside research and using their network of contacts.

Judges drawn from SBS faculty and the social investment world assess each of the teams’ presentations along specific criteria.

Some of the student participants have subsequently been engaged by the entrepreneurial ventures they assessed – a happy and unexpected outcome!

SIGN UP TO TALK WITH OUR PRACTITIONERS-IN-RESIDENCE All students and alumni can book one-to-one sessions with any of our Practitioners in Residence - a group of highly experienced (and very approachable) social entrepreneurs who spend some of their time with us here at the Business School. If you have a question, be it specific or general, or you just need some guidance on which way to take your project next, these experts are here for YOU.

PRACTITIONERS INCLUDE:Laurie Spengler, President and CEO of Enclude, (formerly ShoreBank International Ltd. and Triodos Facet), a specialist global advisory firm dedicated to building an inclusive and prosperous global economy through integrated capacity and capital services.

Henry Gonzalez, Head of Research, ResponsAbility Investments, one of the world’s leading independent asset managers specializing in development-related sectors of emerging economies. ResponsAbility provides debt and equity financing to non-listed companies with business models that target the lower-income section of the population and can thus drive economic growth and social progress.

Jean Philippe de Schrevel, Co-founder of Blue Orchard Microfinance and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bamboo Finance, a social investment firm that focuses on supporting social businesses in Africa, Asia and Latin America in housing, health, education and agribusiness.

Kresse Wesling, co-founder of Elvis & Kresse that turns industrial waste into innovative lifestyle products. Elvis & Kresse’s first line is made from decommissioned fire hose, and 50% of the profits from this line are donated to the UK Fire Brigade Charity. While Kresse is a Canadian, she is recognized as one of Britain’s 100 Most Entrepreneurial Women.

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SOME POSSIBILITIES POST-MBA

APPLY FOR THE SHELL FOUNDATION/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LEADERS FELLOWSHIPLooking for a challenging opportunity with a social business post MBA? Want to “live the experience” to decide if this is the career path for you? This particular Fellowship is offered through the Skoll Centre and provides hands-on experience through offering salaried position opportunities for up to one year with social businesses. Opportunities are largely in emerging markets and require employers to offer candidates a role to fill an open position. Throughout the year, the Fellow will give practical support to the venture to enhance its scale and financial viability, guided by the detailed job description agreed when accepting the position.

The roles offer hands on involvement in building companies in challenging markets, from start-ups to growth stage ventures. Selected candidates often report directly to senior management of the company.

APPLY FOR THE SKOLL CENTRE VENTURE AWARD (SCVA) Have an idea for a market-oriented venture with a social and/or environmental and financial bottom line ? The SCVA offers up to £20,000 start up funds to get going, but the competition is very stiff and no more than 3 aspiring ventures get awarded. This is your chance to get funding for a very strong EP that you are sure is a viable business opportunity with a social purpose.

PAST AWARD WINNERS INCLUDE

• Travability UK, a web platform designed to make it easier for disabled people to organise and book travel

• iGBL, an interactive game-based learning platform enabling highly effective and engaging techniques to teach abstract concepts for schools, NGOs and businesses

• Odyssey Sensors, producers of affordable environmental sensors for aquaculture and agriculture for rural communities in developing world countries.

• Biocarbon Engineering, an automated industrial scale reforestation venture, which plans to use unmanned quad-copters, remote sensing and automated mapping to plant 1 billion trees each year.

APPLY FOR THE SKOLL CENTRE ECOSYSTEM AWARDS

Open to graduate students at Oxford University only, this is a chance to work with some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs who are combining innovation, opportunity and resourcefulness to transform systems and practices that are harmful to people and the planet. Areas of work include health, education, water and sanitation, sustainable livelihoods, human rights, and others. Placements are worldwide.

The Award offers a full time one-year professional placement with entrepreneurs currently recognized as Skoll Awardees by the Skoll Foundation. The Skoll Centre will provide an additional £15,000 grant to supplement the salary that can be offered by the organizations for the first year. The award is meant to encourage committed but budget constrained Oxford graduates to pursue careers with highly effective entrepreneurial organizations that could benefit from their talents.

BOOKS BY HIGH IMPACT ENTREPRENEURS IN ACTION Revolution in a Bottle: How Terracycle is Redefining Green Business by Tom Szaky

Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor by Paul Farmer

However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph by Molly Melching

Wish You Happy Forever: What China’s Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains by Jenny Bowen

Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus

A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn’t in Providing an Excellent Education for All by Wendy Kopp

Crazy Is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags by Linda Rottenberg

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HOLDEN BONWITAfter working within an incubator and with startups for the few years before my MBA, I had an excellent sense of how to build products and how to tackle challenges with scarce resources. What I didn’t fully understand was the startup funding process – our last venture failed to attract a Series B investment despite strong technical results.

One of my primary motivations in coming to Said Business School was to master early stage finance. While classroom courses such as “Entrepreneurial Finance” and “Social Finance” helped me appreciate the different motivations of various investor types, my main extra-curricular activity cemented the relationship building between founders and various allies including investors. Leading the SBS Seed Fund, a

student-run fund investing real capital in real startups, was an irreplaceable part of my Oxford education.

After the MBA, I will return to early stage companies, but in an investing or operations role, rather than as a full time engineer.

“Coming into the MBA, I had little experience with entrepreneurship. On the basis of the amazing experiences I’ve had over the past 10 months, I’ve decided to take the plunge and start my own social enterprise.

SBS is a great place to explore entrepreneurship, with great classes (from “Entrepreneurial Finance” to “Strategy and Innovation”) and great extracurricular activities. For example, I really enjoyed competing in the Venture Capital Investment Competition VCIC) where you negotiate the terms of a seed investment with real entrepreneurs.

Three parts of my MBA experience have been particularly pivotal in my decision to take a more entrepreneurial path:

ATTENDING THE EMERGE CONFERENCE: this spiked my

interested in social entrepreneurship early on, with inspirational speakers sharing the excitement of starting their own ventures

TAKING THE “EIGHT KEY CHALLENGES OF HIGH

IMPACT ENTREPRENEURS” CLASS: this gave me tools to think through the entrepreneurial challenges, with

practical advice on building a team, financing options, building for scale and how to continue innovation as your venture grows.

ENGAGING IN THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PROJECT: this intensive two-week project might just have changed the course of my life. This was an amazing opportunity to explore a business idea with classmates in the safety of the classroom – when else will you get such a low-risk, high-support opportunity to explore entrepreneurship? ‘

“Post MBA, I’m moving to Kenya to launch the venture that our group came up with during the Entrepreneurship Project.”

IN MY EXPERIENCE 1

2

3

“POST MBA, I’M MOVING TO KENYA TO LAUNCH THE

VENTURE THAT OUR GROUP CAME UP WITH DURING

THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT.”

ISABELLA GAWITH HORROCKS

“AFTER THE MBA, I WILL RETURN TO EARLY STAGE COMPANIES, BUT IN AN

INVESTING OR OPERATIONS ROLE, RATHER THAN AS A FULL TIME ENGINEER.”

“I RETURN WITH A TOOLKIT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS,

INSIGHTS AND CONTACTS THAT WILL HELP ME STRENGTHEN OUR MODEL

AND CREATE IMPROVED SOCIAL OUTCOMES.”

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NATASHA GARCHA “Prior to the MBA, I founded the Hyderabad centre of the Shades of Happiness Foundation (SOHF), a non-profit organization in India. The challenges I faced when working on creating sustainable social impact with SOHF highlighted a strong need for me to hone my entrepreneurial skills, and it was the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship that drew me to the Saïd Business School.

Over the year of the MBA course, I have been able to explore entrepreneurship from a unique and unconventional perspective; here are a few of my highlights:

• The social entrepreneurship electives are brilliant, and they have helped me learn about the multiple challenges social entrepreneurs face – and how not to be outfaced by them!

• The entrepreneurial project (EP) guides students to build a business plan from scratch literally within the span of a few months. The EP not only equipped me with the tools to pre-empt business problems,

but also introduced me to the concept of lean analytics – absolutely imperative for any entrepreneur.

• As the co-chair of the Social-Impact Oxford Business Network (SI-OBN), I worked closely with the Skoll Centre and was able to connect to other entrepreneurs in the social impact space.

At the end of an amazing year at Saïd in Oxford, I return with a toolkit of entrepreneurial skills, insights and contacts that will help me strengthen the SOHF model and create improved social outcomes.”

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NICOLÁS ARGÜELLO “If you plan to start a social enterprise after your MBA, there’s no reason you should wait until you graduate. SBS offers a host of opportunities for you to build an idea into a viable venture by the year’s end. But start early.

Are you interested in exploring an idea or a particular sector? Choose to focus on that sector for your ‘industry analysis’ in Managerial Economics (Michaelmas term) or GOTO (Hilary term). There are many class projects that allow you to delve deeper into an area of your interest.

As you work in groups and get to know your classmates, keep an eye out for potential teammates for your Entrepreneurship Project (EP) later in the year. References are important as there is no way you’ll get to know a sizeable portion of your class during the first few months. The EP is a great way to apply the ‘lean startup’ methodology to test your idea. Take it seriously. Recruit teammates who would also be willing to further build the idea over the summer for the Strategic Consulting Project. This way, you won’t need to take classes over

the summer, and you can spend more time on your venture.

During the Hilary-Trinity break, when most students are going on career “treks,” organise your own trek to do market research and validate key assumptions in your business model. Apply for fieldwork grants to get your college to fund the trip. Then, in Hilary, participate in the Entrepreneurship Centre’s Lean Launch Programme (with your same team). Take advantage of opportunities to pitch your business idea at events like the Tata Idea Idol contest. Apply to get mentored by the Skoll Centre practitioners in residence.

There are a plethora of ways you can use your time at SBS to develop a social enterprise. Use your time wisely! One year goes by extremely fast at Oxford.”

KJERSTIN ERICKSON “I believe that entrepreneurship starts first and foremost with inspiration. When thinking about how to take advantage of the incredible entrepreneurship resources that Saïd has to offer, think first about the question of ‘Why?’

Why are you interested in entrepreneurship? Is it because you have something specific you want to accomplish in the world, but you need the tools to do it? Is it because it you like the creative process, and want to be involved in early-stage, high-risk ventures? Or is it because you want to make sure you know more about the field, because it seems like this is all that people are talking about these days?

The answers to these questions should drive your approach to accessing the resources that Oxford has to offer. If you already have an idea that you want to explore, ask yourself what resources you most need in order to make it happen. For some people, that will be mentors. The Skoll Centre and the Entrepreneurship Centre can be fabulous sources of mentors and inspiration, as can the wider Oxford community and even the people you might meet on a trek. For others,

it will be collaborators. Your group work, your Entrepreneurship Project, and the many possible competitions provide excellent opportunities to work with potential collaborators and co-founders, and the OBNs can help you connect with like-minded people. For still others, what you’ll need is a game plan. For this, the Lean Launchpad program, the EP, and even a summer thesis can provide good support.

If you aren’t set on an idea but want to stay open to opportunities in start-ups, there will be a constant stream of events to attend. Stay on top of the speaker schedule at the Skoll Centre - you can often have a chance for a one-on-one with the practitioners in residence if you plan in advance. Oftentimes, just being around the energy of the Oxford Launchpad can provide the inspiration and direction you’re looking for.

And if you just want to learn a little more about people who are crazy enough to start companies, that’s cool too! Come to the events, engage with your EP, and get involved with a competition or two. You’ll learn more by throwing yourself in than any other way.”

A BIT ABOUT US

In 2003, the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was launched at the Saïd Business School to advance the field of social entrepreneurship worldwide. On the MBA programme, we teach, support co-curricular activities, conduct and support research, and connect you with global practitioners and the widening ecosystem of their supporting organisations.

WAIT, SO YOU’RE NOT THE SKOLL FOUNDATION? No, we’re the Skoll Centre. The Skoll Foundation is our key partner and funder of the Skoll Centre. They are based in Palo Alto, California; we’re based here in Oxford. They invest in and finance high impact social entrepreneurs; we support research, learning, and teaching of social entrepreneurship.

The Skoll Foundation was created by Jeff Skoll, the first president of Ebay, in 1999. (In December 2009, Change.org noted eBay going

public as the Number One Top Moment of the Decade in Social Entrepreneurship because it “created the wealth and the opportunity that have done arguably the most to build social entrepreneurship into a recognizable field over the last ten years.”) We work closely with the Skoll Foundation, especially on the Skoll World Forum (SWF). SWF is the world’s premier event for social entrepreneurs. Every year it brings over 800 delegates and speakers from over 60 countries to Oxford.

WE WERE FOUNDED WITH AN INITIAL $7.5 MILLION INVESTMENT BY THE SKOLL FOUNDATION, THE LARGEST

FUNDING EVER RECEIVED BY A BUSINESS SCHOOL FOR AN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME IN SOCIAL

ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

Cultivating Talent and Emerging Leadership to shape and guide responsible organizations

in a time of unprecedented and unpredictable social, environmental and financial change

Carrying out and supporting actionable insight through engaging top Oxford

research faculty with deep expertise in policy and practice relevant to entrepreneurs and organizations in the supporting ecosystem

Catalysing deep exchange by bringing together successful and aspiring entrepreneurs,

leading academics, a range of investors, senior corporate leaders, policy makers and media professionals to promote joint reflection and spearhead collaborative endeavor.

WE INVEST IN THREE KEY AREAS1

2

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WHAT WE BELIEVE IN COLLABORATIONEverything we do is united by a sense of connectivity across sectors, networks, and key players. We believe we have the greatest impact by connecting people and ideas, bridging learning and practice, and interfacing between diverse communities. We promote multidisciplinary teaching and research in social entrepreneurship that advances its legitimacy as an academic discipline; and with students, we provide opportunities to engage with, learn from and support the world’s leading and emerging practitioners.

VALUING OUR TEAMWe believe that successful entrepreneurial initiatives are directly linked to the people driving them. So we strive to provide opportunities for our community to grow through development and on-going feedback and reinforcement, and by acknowledging that each has a right to a healthy balance of professional and personal commitments.

INTELLECTUAL RIGOR AND HONESTY We pursue the highest level of academic excellence in education and research, underpinned by principles of honesty, integrity, and ethics. We honour Oxford University’s tradition of intellectual fulfillment for our team, students, and the wider community. Our pursuit of rigor and honesty includes our responsibility to monitor and address our impact through ongoing constructive and thoughtful self-critique, systematically engaging with our stakeholders in this process.

SYSTEMIC IMPACTWe are driven by a mission for systemic social impact. Social entrepreneurship, at its most powerful, creates systems-change to threats and inequalities, and provides sustainable pathways to scalable, replicable solutions. We seek to enable others to affect change that reimagines current paradigms and in turn, endures as new systems for operating.

GLOBAL FOCUSWe are international in reach and scope. We promote activities, including teaching, case studies, research and events to the global community of practice and scholarship.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP We believe in entrepreneurial approaches to social change. We are guided by, and committed to, market-driven approaches aimed at finding solutions to poverty and environmental deterioration. We recognise that social entrepreneurship practice can be found in the public, private and citizen sectors and that organisations created by social entrepreneurs can be legally constituted as non-profit or for-profit entities.

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OUR FAVOURITE BOOKS FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIPLucky or Smart? Secrets to an Entrepreneurial Life by Bo Peabody

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Where good ideas come from by Steven Johnson

The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation by Frans Johansson

The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society’s Toughest Problems by W. Eggers and P. Macmillan

The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World by Andrew Winston

Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value by Daniel Isenberg

Capital in the Twenty- First Century by Thomas Picketty

The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future by Joseph Stiglitz

Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy by Barbara Ehrenreich

The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power and Politics of the World Trade by Pietra Rivoli

The Rise of Islamic Capitalism: Why the New Muslim Middle Class Is the Key to Defeating Extremism, by Vali Nasr

PAMELA HARTIGAN -DIRECTOR

Pamela runs the Skoll Centre – or perhaps the Skoll Centre runs her. She is proof positive that if you are an entrepreneur, you

can reinvent yourself many times over. She has worked in the public, private and citizen sector as an entrepreneur spearheading new ventures and as an “intrapreneur” launching innovative programmes within organisations.

More recently, she was the first Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, responsible for its vision and strategy during its first 8 years of operations. She left the Foundation to launch her own venture, Volans, based out of London.

Pamela speaks English like a “Yank”, but don’t let that fool you. She came to the US from Latin America at 17, so Spanish is her mother tongue. Her passion is doing everything in her power to make sure the business leaders of the future use their talents to create social and environmental value, not just shareholder value. Her current favourite place in the world is the French Alps which she has called home for 15 years, and where you will find her when she is not at Oxford or in New York teaching at Columbia Business School.

ALEX NICHOLLS - PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Alex is the Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford and has been hanging around

the hallowed halls of the Skoll Centre for eleven years (phew). Prior to getting to drink port, wear subfusc (look it up), and gaze at the Dreaming Spires he worked his way up through various other universities in the UK and North America masquerading as a business academic (mostly in marketing) whilst waging a guerilla war against conventional notions of economics, entrepreneurship, and society.

In a variety of other bizarre past lives, Alex campaigned for Central American revolutionaries, wrote papers on medieval saints’ lives, edited a dictionary, worked for the largest retail cooperative in Europe, and even studied for an MBA at Oxford when the business school was a hospital. Today he does his best to upset students’ preconceptions of social entrepreneurship, to disrupt lazy ideas about business models saving the world, and to include arcane references to 1980s indie music in his writings. Each day Alex is intoxicated by how fortunate he is to be doing a job he loves and is made sober by the fact that there is so much more he needs to do. He drinks Fair Trade coffee and wears Fair Trade shirts. La lucha continua.

ZELGA ANDERSON – OPERATIONS MANAGER

Responsible for the smooth operations of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurship Centre, including the

wonderful world that is known as the Launchpad. Having completed her degree in Business and post-grad year studying Management, Zelga went on to spent a few years in financial Marketing (Client and Agency) becoming the youngest UK JP in her spare time. She then discovered her passion for Education, working with young students in the teaching of Economics, Enterprise and Business where in her free time she set up the first Oxfordshire network of Economics, Enterprise and Business Practitioners. She co-founded O2i, connecting the Institute of Directors to Schools in addition to joining Oxford Business X as a Trustee. Zelga continues to further her love of education through her MSc studies in Teaching and Learning at Oxford.

In her spare time (hmm, what is that again?) she is a self-confessed road-bike junkie with a penchant for good coffee, as well as eating anything sweet and dancing whenever possible. Likely to be found with an ‘I’d rather be cycling’ look on her face. She considers herself uber-lucky to be able to spend days working with her team as well as hearing all of the inspiring personal stories of the people who interact with the Centres.

BREANNE SVEHLA – PROGRAMME MANAGER

Breanne is responsible for the administration of the Skoll Scholarship, and supports student

engagement. Prior to Oxford she served for three years as a US Peace Corps volunteer working with university students in the Republic of Moldova. She’s also worked on international development projects in Armenia and the Republic of Georgia for the US Department of Agriculture and previously was the director of Policy Internship Programs at Texas A&M University. As she puts it: “I think I was trying to do Social Entrepreneurship before I even knew what it was called, or that it existed!”

Breanne has visited around 25 countries and lived in four. Known as “the glue” of the Skoll Centre, Breanne is highly organised, and enjoys making the world a better place one act of kindness at a time. So don’t be shy, come by and say hello (but don’t mess up the right angles of her office supplies which are strategically placed on her desk).

PERMANENT INVITATION TO THE OXFORD LAUNCHPAD Want to hang out with like minded people from across the University who are working on promising ventures ? The Oxford Launchpad is THE meeting place. Housed in the glass-enclosed room off the main School reception area, the Launchpad welcomes students, faculty and alumni as well as local entrepreneurs, and brings together under one roof all the great ideas, enthusiasm, and skills necessary for entrepreneurial success. Drop in to find out what’s going on and how to get connected and take a look at www.oxfordlaunchpad.com.

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WHO WE ARE

REBECCA MOORE

Rebecca coordinates all events and logistics for the Skoll Centre - if you want to find out details for any of our events, she’s the one to

ask. Rebecca heads up logistics on all of the Skoll Centre’s amazing initiatives including the Skoll Ecosystem Awards, the Shell/IBL Fellowship, and the Practitioners in Residence scheme.

Rebecca completed her masters in English Studies at University of Oxford last summer and in addition to her work with Skoll, she writes features, reviews and a weekly column for The Oxford Times. When she’s not on-hand for all Skoll-related queries she’s probably punting down the river, performing stand-up comedy or writing poetry and short stories.

DANIELA PAPI – CONSULTANT AND LECTURER

Daniela helps manage student programming through the Skoll Centre, and was a key team

member behind the launch of Oxford’s Social Impact Careers Conference as well as the Skoll Centre’s social leadership training programs. She is a Skoll Scholar alum, and graduated from Saïd Business School’s MBA programme in 2012. Prior to coming to Oxford, Daniela spent nearly a decade working in Asia, with six years living in Cambodia where she founded an education and youth leadership organization as well as an education travel company.

Daniela is passionate about youth leadership as a key for driving positive change in the world, and loves learning about new cultures Her travels and interests have taken her around the world to work with and support a range of social enterprises, educational institutions, and child’s rights organizations. She continues to support the work she helped create in Cambodia and also does consulting for a range of social impact organizations. She is rarely found very far from a white board, and loves brainstorming, idea generating, and helping people find new solutions to their problems, so pop on by the Skoll Centre as she’s always delighted to get out the white board markers!

YOU

You are a critical part of the Skoll Centre team. You help us create new programmes, spread social entrepreneurship learning across Oxford

and provide the energy and passion to help our work thrive. How you get involved is up to you, but we can’t wait for you to be part of our team!

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BECKY FISHMAN – MARKETING AND OUTREACH LEAD

Becky heads up all aspects of marketing and communications at the Skoll Centre. This

means that she is the Website Curator, the Social Media Mama and the Chief Tweeter. She also compiles and sends out the very cool Skoll Centre newsletters (sign up for these if you haven’t already done so!), writes press releases and pushes out news of all the exciting awards, events and opportunities that the Skoll Centre offers across the year.

An Oxford alum herself (Modern Languages, St Hilda’s 1992), Becky spent much of her working life in the world of publishing, both academic (OUP, Macmillan Publishers) and activist (New Internationalist Magazine) - mostly in roles that involve people and words, which are the things she loves most. She has lived and worked in New York, London and Perpignan in SW France, where her French accent got seriously bent out of shape, and now lives in Oxford with her family. Her secret super powers include child-wrangling, blues singing, and bad poetry.

JAMES MURRAY – LAUNCHPAD CURATOR

James is in charge of the Oxford Launchpad – the new co-working and pre-incubators space at

the University of Oxford. He’s also responsible for pulling together the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Oxford with various events and workshops (every Thursday night) which basically means he gets to go to a lot of social events and have fun inspiring would-be entrepreneurs and helping match up potential team mates or alliances. Prior to Oxford he worked at Cardiff University and the University of Dundee running their multidisciplinary experimental entrepreneurship events. He’s also been self-employed (with two small exits), worked for a financial policy think-tank and helped run a new school in Malaysia – he really misses the fab weather!

When James isn’t in the Launchpad you’ll never get him to stop going on about his passion for anything that flies, drives or is new and innovative – although he drives a British sports car twice his age... He likes to be involved in motorsport whenever he can: his favourite track is Brands Hatch, and he recently drove Le Mans. But his honest passion is helping people realise their potential and start new, innovative businesses which have a real positive impact.

PIPPA HICHENS – FINANCIAL COORDINATOR

Pippa takes care of the Skoll Centre’s finances, and spends her time wrangling

spreadsheets and mired in the mysteries of the central University’s finance systems. Amazingly, she remains pretty cheerful in the face of this. A self-confessed relic of the empire, Pippa originally trained as a horticulturalist and worked for the Royal Horticultural Society as Show Manager for the renowned Hampton Court Palace Flower Show before becoming immersed in the engaging and invigorating world of social entrepreneurship – although she still harbours a passion for all things that bloom and grow. She lives on a farm with her family of hooligans in a house that she and her husband designed and built.

THANKS TO THE COUNTLESS FACULTY MEMBERS AND ADMINISTRATORS WHO CONTRIBUTE SO MUCH TO THE WORK OF THE SKOLL CENTRE AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACROSS OXFORD UNIVERSITY. YOU ARE A HUGE PART OF OUR TEAM TOO!)

WANT TO KNOW THE LATEST? Head online where you can find the most up to date information:

www.skollcentre.orgwww.skollcentreblog.org

WE KNOW TODAY’S CHALLENGES HAVE

SOLUTIONS AND THAT SHARING OUR IDEAS

MAKES THEM GREATER. IT’S NOT EASY TO STAND

UP AND BE COUNTED, BUT WE BELIEVE WE CAN

ACCELERATE OUR IMPACT IF WE ALL MOVE TOGETHER