New Entrepreneurs

Gary Kosman

Social Edge — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:57:00 -0700

Interview with Gary Kosman, Founder & CEO of America Learns

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Gary Kosman launched America Learns as a non-profit organization, and it struggled like many NPOs. But when Gary realized that people and institutions were ready to pay for his technology, he switched to a for-profit model and America Learns is now selling products and services to schools and universities in 14 countries.

America Learns helps school districts and universities track, evaluate and provide ongoing guidance and training to tutors, mentors and student teachers. Clients include Berkeley, Yale, Georgetown University and Harvard.

Gary Kosman tracks his social impact through constant interviews with his clients, and he asks his customers to provide case studies of good practice. His standard is the accomplishment of four goals:
- To insure that educators and mentors get the support and guidance they need to do their job
- To help educators and mentors capture innovative strategies occurring on the ground and in the classroom and share them among their staff
- To ensure that organizations spend just the right amount of money and time on evaluations and reports
- To help the central offices of education organizations run smoothly by knowing what is going on on the ground.

America Learns is now profitable. Gary says it is incredibly liberating to know he can meet these goals while no longer depending on foundations for support.

His advice for fellow social entrepreneurs: “Care for your hands!” He worked so much at a keyboard that he could not touch anything for a period, as he explains in this video.

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Chris Asch

Social Edge — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:51:00 -0700

Interview with Chris Asch, founder, US Public Service Academy

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Chris Myers Asch has taught elementary and middle school for three years in Sunflower, Mississippi, as part of Teach for America/AmeriCorps and one year in Taejon, South Korea, with the William J. Fulbright program.

He co-founded the Sunflower County Freedom Project in 1998 and received an Echoing Green fellowship in 2007 to launch the US Public Service Academy.

The Academy doesn't exist yet - Chris is currently petitioning the US Congress to fund the launch of the Academy so it can matriculate its first class in 2011.

The Academy will be a civilian counterpart to WestPoint and the US military academies -- a four-year college that provides a free education in return for students’ commitment to serve in the public sector for five years after graduation. Chris sees a need for the US to reinvest in civilian leadership. Shortages are developing in the public sector from the local to Federal levels as the current generation of leaders retires. And there is a huge desire on the part of the post 9/11 generation to serve their country but needs choices beyond the military.

The US Public service Academy will be different from other leadership programs in that the entire college will be focused on public service leadership. Its graduates will help change the image of America in the world and will send a message to young people that civilian public service is noble and honorable.

Chris Asch's advice to other social entrepreneurs: “Have adaptive persistence – adapt as necessary to conditions, but stay determined and move ahead.”

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Toni Blackman

Social Edge — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:51:55 -0700

Interview with Toni Blackman

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Toni Blackman is America's Hip Hop Ambassador – the first hip-hop artist chosen to represent the United States around the world.

She works for the US Department of State as a cultural ambassador to change the mainstream media's negative picture of the hip-hop culture and to emphasize how it can be used for social change. She also serves as an American cultural specialist and a musical ambassador in several US State Department programs, taking her music and poetry around the world to show the diversity of American culture.

Her most recent assignment was to go the Democratic Republic of the Congo to work with other musicians to celebrate International Stop Violence Against Women Day. While there, she organized local artists to develop musical Public Service Announcements to promote respect for women.

Another of Toni's projects is the Lyrical Embassy, an umbrella organization that includes her ambassadorship, her music, her poetry and her book. Her most recent book, Inner Course: A Plea for Real Love, is a collection of poetry currently available on her website and on Amazon. She is working on two new books and three albums.

Toni's advice to social entrepreneurs: “Stay true to your original idea and don’t be deflected - sometimes it is important to sit still and just listen to your own heart.”

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Maile Broccoli-Hickey

Social Edge — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:25:21 -0700

Interview with Maile Broccoli-Hickey, Founder and Executive Director of English at Work

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Maile Broccoli-Hickey left her job as a waitress when a nearby English-language school moved away from her restaurant’s neighborhood and she saw her fellow employees lose their source of English instruction. Being a volunteer English as a Second Language instructor, she decided to start teaching English at the restaurant. That grew into English at Work, now in hotels and restaurants and factories throughout Austin, Texas.

Maile applied twice for an Echoing Green Fellowship – she was rejected the first time, but suggestions for improvement from the judges enabled her to earn the award on the second try. The Fellowship has enabled her to expand English at Work across the city of Austin.

English at Work conducts English classes for immigrants at their workplaces. Employers and employees both love it for the convenience it offers and the valuable new skills it confers.

Her students are immigrants, 80% from Latin America, and others from Myanmar, West Africa and Eastern Europe. Her students’ average age is 35. They work hard to learn English, as it is their path to success in America. Their employers love English at Work because it increases the value of their employees at no cost.

Her advice to entrepreneurs: “If you have a crazy idea to help people, pursue it no matter what others tell you. Chances are you are right!”

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Lucas Welch

Social Edge — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Interview with Lucas Welch, President & Founder of Soliya

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Lucas Welch is the President & Founder of Soliya, an NGO that uses online technology to enable thousands of university students in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the United States to communicate online in real-time and collaboratively produce media.

Lucas left his job as an ABC news producer to start Soliya with his business partner, Liza Chambers. Liza had worked for many years as a facilitator, bringing people together across conflict lines for intensive dialogue. Soliya uses social media and web conferencing technology to connect young people in the “West” and the “Arab & Muslim World.” The program, called the Connect Program, works within an accredited university course to link students in over 20 countries.

Once online, they collaborate in projects that deepen their understanding one another’s cultures, beliefs and political circumstances.

Soliya uses before-and-after participant surveys to measure the Connect Program’s impact by determining how much the participating students have changed in their perception of what they have in common with their peers on the other side of the computer screen and the world.

Soliya has built a volunteer network of facilitators from over 20 countries who enable the online dialogue to take place. Many of the facilitators were Connect Program participants – a kind of positive feedback loop.

Lucas’s advice to fellow social entrepreneurs: “It’s a tricky balance to maintain your dreams and have a real practical understanding of your constraints. Make contingency plans for when your dreams don’t come through as you expected, but that doesn’t mean letting go of them.”

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Anthony Jewett

Social Edge — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:19:58 -0700

Interview with Anthony Jewett, President, Bardoli Global

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Anthony Jewett is the founder, President and CEO of Bardoli Global, a unique NPO that prepares US minorities and Native Americans for careers in international relations by providing them with international education and leadership and professional development opportunities.

He feels that the only way American communities of color will become self-determining and involved in the global economy is by exposing their best to the world, who in return will put their new knowledge to work at home. The program lasts 18 months, with 5 months of preparation, 5 - 8 weeks abroad and a Global Leadership Academy and internships.

Although Anthony grew up in a low income family, he traveled abroad six times before graduating from college and learned the value of seeing the world. He wants to show others what he learned, including how international travel can help a person's career. The program is also good for America –when the U.S. negotiates abroad, its diversity can be a strength. The fact that the U.S. has had two African-American Secretaries of State has demonstrated that his program can be successful and minorities can contribute to America's global role.

He says that his decision to become a social entrepreneur began with Teach for America, which inspired him to become a social entrepreneur. He learned vital skills, including teaching as leadership – the paradigm of any great leader.

His advice to fellow social entrepreneurs: “Dream big, think about system changing endeavors, and take a market approach.”

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Aaron Bartley

Social Edge — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:49:13 -0800

Interview with Aaron Bartley, Founder and Executive Director of PUSH

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Aaron Bartley and his colleagues started PUSH to use some of the lessons he learned in organizing campaigns like Justice for Janitors in Boston. PUSH began in Buffalo with an attack on the abandoned housing crises in the city – over 20,000 abandoned homes, many owned by the state and tied up for years in negotiations with banks. PUSH posted huge photographs of the Governor on hundreds of dilapidated houses across the cities to call attention to the problems and the State's role in it. That’s how the Block-by-Block Initiative started and thousands of homes were rehabilitated.

Aaron Bartley returned to Buffalo after graduating from Harvard because he realized that there were plenty of opportunities in his home town for social entrepreneurs to have an impact. He is also interested in the common problems of the Rust Belt cities in the US northeast, and at some point he may collaborate with other organizations to address regional problems.

His advice to social entrepreneurs: “Keep overhead low with donations, build strong relationships –they are key, and understand your sector and how to collaborate with others in that sector.”

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Michele Kotler

Social Edge — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:53:42 -0800

Interview with Michele Kotler, Founder and Executive Director, Community Word Project

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Michele Kotler is the founding director of the Community Word Project, an arts in education organization based in New York City whose mission is to inspire New York City youth in underserved communities to read, interpret and respond to their world, and to become active citizens through collaborative arts residencies and teacher training programs. She received her MFA in creative writing, poetry from the University of Michigan and her BA from Sarah Lawrence College.

One of the CWP's projects is the annual Writing for Our Future program, which brings kids together to read their work alongside established poets and actors. Another is The Murals, created by children 7 -17 under the guidance of artists who help them interpret a line of their poetry into a visual.

One of the objectives of CWP is to put and keep art back into public schools that have been stripped of risk-taking and imagination by the focus on testing. “Arts provide children with a way to take risk and grow without danger.”

Her advice to social entrepreneurs: “Look at other organizations to learn from and collaborate with; always be open to sharing information and working together.”

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Peter Haas

Social Edge — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:39:21 -0800

Interview with Peter Haas, Founder and Executive Director, Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group

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Peter Haas launched AIDG, the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, to help businesses solve infrastructure problems in villages by banding together and working on village scale projects.

He started AIDG when he compared two pig farms in Cuba. One worked well because it had a bio-digester that provided energy, saved trees, and solved waste problems. The other did not and was awash in pit waste. He saw first hand what the right technology could do.

One of AIDG's endeavors is the Product Place Program which allows people in the US with design and engineering skills to work on village needs. It matches designers and engineers with villages that are willing to serve as test sites for the products the American teams design. It is a powerful source of data to designers to use to create and adapt products for developing country environments.

Peter received a B.A. from Yale University in philosophy and psychology. Before founding AIDG, he worked both in the information technology field as a consultant in network topology, RF and wireless, and on a sustainable organic farm doing infrastructure improvement work.

Peter's advice is to social entrepreneurs: “Have a good exit strategy and real, definable goals for the enterprise. Also, be realistic in your goals – understand from the beginning what you will do if the project takes longer than you first anticipated.”

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Kyra Bobinet

Social Edge — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:09:44 -0800

Interview with Kyra Bobinet

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Kyra Bobinet launched Vision Youthz in 1998 as she was finishing medical school, with the help of an Echoing Green Fellowship. A San Francisco-based organization that sought to transform the lives of incarcerated children, Vision Youthz began when Kyra Bobinet had a spiritual awakening in medical school.

She realized that she could make more of a contribution as a social change agent rather than as a clinician, and she began volunteering at juvenile hall, counseling young people in jail. She and two friends had regular dialogues with youth, using non-traditional means to reach them.

Currently the CEO of Interage Research, Bobinet is trying to create a for–profit model that can bring social change through workspace wellness and mind-body training. She is now finishing a master's degree in healthcare management and innovation, studying business, health and education models at Harvard University. She plans to apply them in her products and services that promote human development and social change.

As a person who has run for-profit and non-profit organizations, Bobinet understands that the business takes on the qualities of the entrepreneur, both strengths and weaknesses. Very few entrepreneurs go on to become the managerial types needed as the business matures, and she believes that it is imperative for entrepreneurs to “have exquisite self-awareness and reflection on their impact as they build their organization.”

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Kara Bobroff

Social Edge — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:44:32 -0800

Interview with Kara Bobroff, Founding Principal of the Native American Community Academy

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Kara Bobroff received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2005 to establish the Native American Community Academy as one of the first urban academies to support language, culture, health and college preparation for Native American youth.

There are over 25 tribes in New Mexico that make up a large urban population, and the community saw a need for a school that would address language, culture and history while preparing students for college.

Kara is now principal of that school which teaches by engaging the community, with local residents who serve as role models and add culture not available in other public schools. For instance, NACA offers a strong Pow-wow club that teaches students songs, history, language and culture.

Kara's immediate goal is to focus on 6-12th grade students in Albuquerque who will go to college and return as role models.

Her advice to social entrepreneurs: “Be clear about your mission, have a plan, recruit dedicated people, trust yourself and engage a community that shares the same vision for change.”

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Farajii Muhammad

Social Edge — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:38:52 -0800

Interview with Farajii Muhammad, President of the New Light Leadership Coalition

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At the age of 19, Farajii R. Muhammad and his wife Tamara founded the New Light Leadership Coalition in Baltimore, MD, while they were students.

He has built it into a powerful voice for the young people of Baltimore. He saw that many social institutions had "dumbed down” the perception of young people and he started the Coalition to turn that around by training young leaders. He started with a national youth conference, which he still produced, and then moved into leadership development programs to get young people ready to become leaders as adults.

His goal is to create a national movement – the youth empowerment movement – engaging young people in their communities. His secret is that he is a great communicator who can share a vision with a radio program that reaches thousands of youth in Baltimore.

His advice to young people: “Change the way you see yourself – see yourself as a leader.”

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Dan Ravicher

Social Edge — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Interview with Dan Ravicher

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Dan Ravicher received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2003. To tackle the problem of how patents are used to stymie social entrepreneurs, he launched PubPat – the Public Patent Foundation. The organization represents the public to stop harm caused by "undeserved patents," those granted to firms that ultimately force entrepreneurs into paying them off to avoid a lawsuit.

Dan Ravicher thinks that the system is skewed toward special interests that use patents to deny the public and entrepreneurs the benefits of creativity. The Patent Office often mistakenly grants many of these patents. Dan and PubPat's lawyers negotiate or even litigate to block undeserved patents or stop their holders from using them to interfere with social entrepreneurs. The Echoing Green Fellowship not only gave Dan the financial support to start PubPat, but also the emotional community support he needed.

His advice to fellow social entrepreneurs: “Give yourself a break. Don't be hard on yourself when you can't achieve your goals as quickly as you want. Work hard, do your best and stay with it.”

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Fred Swaniker

Social Edge — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:12:31 -0800

Interview with Fred Swaniker

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Originally from Ghana, Fred Swaniker has lived in many countries in Africa and received his MBA from Stanford University. His family has been starting and running schools for generations and he was handed the leadership of his first school by his grandmother when he was 18. Entrepreneurship is in Fred’s blood. He received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2006.

Fred is very passionate about Africa and wants to play an important role in its future. He thinks that Africa needs more ethical and competent leaders. That is what inspired him to start a leadership academy in Africa – that and the family tradition. He started the African Leadership Academy, a world-class boarding school on the outskirts of Johannesburg, to identify young, talented people from all over Africa. He brings them together for three years to train them in leadership skills and Pan Africanism.

His success metrics? He wants to train 6,000 leaders in 50 years in all segments of society to bring about change on the African continent. He knows that leaders don't develop overnight and that the Academy will stay with them during their life so that they are part of a network of leaders throughout the continent.

The Academy gives them a world-class academic education, training in entrepreneurship, exposure to mentors and role models, and it provides a framework that will enable them to work in an ethical environment.

Fred also established the Global Leadership Adventures for high school students from all over the world, a three-week experience to develop global awareness. Students come from about 200 schools in 35 countries (70% from the US) to attend seminars on leadership in Ghana, Costa Rica, South Africa, India or Brazil. They meet local leaders and do community service –altogether a very impactful experience that opens their eyes to the role they can play in the world.

His advice to social entrepreneurs: “Don't wait too long – do it now before you lose your energy and passion. Do it while you have the passion!”

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CV Madhukar

Social Edge — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:49:24 -0800

Interview with CV Madhukar

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CV Madhukar is Founder-Director of PRS Legislative Research, which he started because the Indian Parliament didn’t have a research service to explain the content of the bills Members were considering – a basic requirement of democracy. The service fills this need. His audience: the 790 members of both houses of the Indian Parliament, civil society organizations, the media and large corporations. The service has been well received and a third of the Parliament regularly uses PRS Legislative Research. CV Madhukar and his staff are in touch with about 100 members personally, briefing them on bills. Members use information to prepare for their debates in Parliament and for non-legislative initiatives. Members of Parliament actually call PRS repeatedly for information – it is the only unbiased source available. Before he started PRS, the media was the major source of information to Members. Now the media uses PRS, doubling the service's impact.

Echoing Green was very important to CV Madhukar as he prepared to return to India from the US. The primary funding for PRS came from the Ford Foundation, but it was the Echoing Green Fellowship that allowed him to live while he started the service. Ford is still supporting PRS and he anticipates grants from other US and Indian sources to keep it in operation. He also expects to receive donations from Indians living abroad who use PRS to keep up on India's legislation. He has also been producing information packages for corporations and institutions for a fee, earning some extra income to supplement their grant. But the service remains free for members.

CV Madhukar holds a Master in Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He also has an MBA (Finance) from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree from Bangalore University. In recognition of his innovative leadership, Madhukar has been awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship and Ashoka Fellowship. He has recently been selected as the Eisenhower Fellow from India for 2008.

His next social enterprise is to develop a way to use information to change the nature of electoral debates in state elections, which are currently personality-driven, rather than information and issue driven.

One of his failures has been his inability to engage with the civil society and NGOs of India. He is working on that.

His advice to entrepreneurs: “Take advice, trust your instincts, and go for it!”

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