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TiE Boston Social Entrepreneurs Group (SE SIG) Activities in Boston

TIE is a global, volunteer run organization with a focus on supporting and encouraging entrepreneurship with over 10,000 members in 50 plus chapters. Our local chapter, TIE Boston, with over 800 members, is one of the largest and most active chapters. At TIE Boston, we have taken the lead in founding a Social Entrepreneurs (SE) group that has been active for over two years.

The mission of the SE group is to create a forum for social, business and technical entrepreneurs with a strong interest in social entrepreneurship that will assist them in translating that interest into substantial social contributions. We support this with activities that expose and engage our members to opportunities with leading groups in this area, by mentoring emerging organizations and by building bridges with other social entrepreneurs in other communities and geographies. Over this period, we have organized over a dozen events that have covered various themes in Social Entrepreneurship and have built an interest list of 800 plus members.

In 2007, we launched an annual conference at Boston University to draw on the world class social entrepreneurial talent in Boston, to provide forums for networking, to encourage interaction and to serve as a solid foundation that encourages growth of a Social Entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region. The response was overwhelming and we had to shut registration down a week before the event with over 250 people attending. The first conference on Social Entrepreneurship was held on Nov 2 and the event website is at http://www.bu.edu//ForSE The second conference ForSE 2008 conference was held on October 10th and was a sold out success. You can see a sample of the agenda at the event website.

In addition, we hold a discussion/panel every 6-8 weeks on key issues in Social entrepreneurship in Boston. After piloting the idea at our annual technical conference, TIECON 2004, we have held several events over the past two years. Some of them include:

  • Social Enterprise Track at TIECON EAST 2009 consisting of three panels in the track - 'Healthcare Innovation in a Global Village', 'IT & Communications for the Developing World' and 'Feeding 9 Billion people'.
  • Talk by Satish Jha, CEO & President, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) India, June 9, 2009.
  • Talk by Ramji Raghavan, Founder Agastya, May 5, 2009
  • Is there a Green Premium? Climate Change Risk for the Investment World – Roger Berry, Climate Change Capital, April 21, 2009
  • Talk by Ashish Karamchandani, Monitor India, Inclusive Markets Group; Vibha Krishnamurthy, Founder Ummeed, April 19, 2009
  • The 140-Character Mission: Social Media & Entrepreneurship – Ken George, WBUR, Joe Waters, Boston Med Ctr and others, April 8, 2009
  • The Changing landscape of Microfinance in India - Royston Braganza, CEO Grameen Capital, November 17, 2008
  • ForSE 2008: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs – October 10, 2008. Annual conference on Social Entrepreneurship with over 200 attendees. Keynote panel by Nishith Acharya, Exec. Dir., Deshpande Foundation and closing keynote, Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO, Year Up.
  • From CSR to Global Social Entrepreneurship: Achieving Social, Environmental, and Economic Responsibility - BrandeisUniversity on September 18th
  • Billions of thirsty people – why water and sanitation are the next major global challenge - at MIT on July 31, 2008 with Denise Knight, Coca Cola; Lotika Paintal, Water Centric; Michael Delaney, Oxfam; and Prof. Bala Rajagopal, MIT.
  • Giving Smart, Getting Impact -New Models of Social Philanthropy – with Desh Deshpande speaking of the Deshpande Foundation, Jim Matheson from Flagship Ventures and Miki Akimoto co-founder of Saffron Circle. April 9, 2008
  • ForSE 2007: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs. November 2, 2007
  • The Indigenous Arts Movement: Expanding Horizons towards Sustainability – an international panel and gallery show with six organizations supporting indigenous arts and crafts around the world. October 11, 2007
  • Fireside Chat with John Moskal, Senior Energy Policy Advisor, US Environmental Protection Agency and M. Raja Chidambaram, founder and CEO, URs Productively, September 6, 2007
  • Appropriate Design for the Developing World with MacArthur Fellow Amy Smith, Tim Prestero Founder & CEO of Design that Matters, Peter Haas, Exec Director Appropriate Technology Infrastructure Group. July 31, 2007
  • MINI-Conference on Fighting Human Trafficking & Slavery with Social Enterprise Bhuwan Ribhu Founder of Save the Childhood Foundation and others. May 17, 2007
  • TIECON 2007 Conference panel on “Innovating for Social Impact” with Lisa Nitze, Ashoka; Raman Nanda, Acumen Fund; Vanessa Kirsch, New Profit.
  • Expanding the Frontiers of Microfinance with Vikram Akula, Founder SKS Microfinance, Veena Mankar, Founder, CEO & Director, Swadhaar, Shirley Devraj, Deputy CEO, ASA Grama Vidyal, and Kamran Azim, COO Kashf Foundation. April 10, 2007
  • Transforming Global Health: Breakthrough Technology, Social Entrepreneurship, and Innovative Funding with Dr. Gerald T. Keusch, Asst. Dean, BU; Dr. Thomas Burke, Mass General, Omer Imtiazzudin, Acumen Fund, Vikram Sheel Kumar,Founder, Dimagi, Neil Ryder, Exec. Director of Infectious Diseases, Novartis NIBR. and Alexis Wallace, Principal, Puretech Development, March 20,2007
  • Bridging the gap – Narrowing the achievement gap in schools with Boston Partners in Education, Akshaya Patra USA, Artists for Humanity. January 16, 2007
  • “Social entrepreneurship – opportunities to connect” with Ashoka, Child Rights and You (CRY), United Villages and other organizations. November, 8, 2006
  • Green design –Next Frontier for Social Entrepreneurs with David Greenblatt, Environmental Defense Fund; Anja Kolmuss, Tufts Climate Initiative; Barbra Batshalom, the Green Round Table. October, 18, 2006
  • Keynote Speech on Venture Philanthropy, Vanessa Kirsch Founder & President, New Profit, Inc., August 17, 2006
  • START SMART! An Approach to Basic Education in Developing Countries with S.J. Klien, One Laptop per Child (OLPC); Vikas Taneja, Pratham and other. July 21, 2006
  • TIECON 2006 Conference panel on Global Impact of Social Entrepreneurship with Deepak Verma, COO, Clinton HIV/ AIDS Initiative; Iqbal Quadir, Founder, Grameen Phone, Vikram Kumar, Founder, Dimagi
  • International Applications of Microfinance including speakers from India(Grameen Koota), Morocco (ENDA Inter-arabe) and Pakistan (Kashf) and in conjunction with Grameen Foundation USA. April 20, 2006
  • TIECON 2004 Conference panel on “Doing Well by Doing Good: High Performance Social Entrepreneurs” with David Bornstein: Author of “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas”, Andrew Wolk, CEO of Root Cause Institute, Sonal Shah: Co-founder Indicorps, John Wood, CEO, Room to Read, Poonam Ahluwalia, YES Campaign.



July 31st, 2008: Billions of thirsty people – why water and sanitation are the next major global challenge

Today more than 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation and over 1 billion people are living without clean water. Every year, nearly 2 million men, women, and children die of waterborne diseases, most of them from diarrhea. What challenges do we face in addressing this pervasive issue? What are the innovative solutions of yesterday and the promising ones of tomorrow?

July 31st 2008, MIT Stata Center, Room 32-123

For more info: www.tie-boston.org

Featured speakers include Denise D. Knight of the Coca Cola Company’s Water Sustainability Initiative, Michael Delaney, Director of Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Response, Dr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Director Program on Human Rights and Justice at MIT and moderated by Lotika Shaunik Paintal, Founder & Executive Director of startup nonprofit Water Centric,


September 18, 2008: From CSR to Global Social Entrepreneurship: Achieving Social, Environmental, and Economic Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been one of the key business trends of the past decade. Almost every Fortune 100 organization now makes meaningful charitable contributions every year. And many have invested significant executive time into innovative corporate / non-profit partnerships. CSR is evolving as responsible organizations are setting even more aggressive goals for social, environmental, and economic accountability. As Louis Brandeis once defined, a professional business is: (1) an occupation for which the preliminary training is intellectual; (2) which is pursued largely for others; and (3) in which the amount of financial return is not the accepted measure of success.

And just as Boston was on the cutting edge of CSR, with leading groups like the Bank of America Foundation and Common Impact, we are now driving the move to global social entrepreneurship. From breakthrough alternative energy ventures, to innovative fair trade businesses, Boston is mapping the path for businesses around the world to achieve true social impact. On September 18th, Brandeis International Business School, Executive Minds for Social Innovation, and TiE Boston, invite you to a breakthrough program on Global Social Entrepreneurship. The evening will start with an exclusive workshop on responsible business practices (VP and C-level executives only please), followed by a dynamite panel highlighting Boston’s leading innovators in social entrepreneurship. And as always, there will be plenty of opportunities for networking

Silver Auditorium, International Business School, Brandeis University, 415 South St, Waltham MA 02454

Agenda

  • Executive Workshop: 4:30pm (International Hall)
  • General Registration & Dinner Reception: 6:30pm
  • Panel Discussion: 7:00pm


October 10th, 2008: ForSE 2008: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs

Our annual conference on Social Entrepreneurship and your opportunity to attend the leading event that brings together like minded professionals from technology, business and social sectors with a focus on social entrepreneurship. Over 250 people participated in last year's conference, making it the largest one focused on social entrepreneurship to date in New England.

  • Leading social innovators from around the world
  • More than one-third were senior for-profit or non-profit executives (CEO, Executive Director, or Board level)
  • Nearly 10% of participants were Founders or co-Founders

Testimonials from attendees and participants

  • "Excellent! One of the best I have attended and I go to a number of conferences on social activism/entrepreneurship."
  • "I was fortunate to attend ForSE 2007 as I was just getting started. It not only helped me recruit a key board member…but also introduced me to [my] legal counsel.
  • "We had a great opportunity to pitch our model to over 200 interested attendees"

Last year we were sold out and had to close registration. Don’t miss this year’s event!! For more information: www.bu.edu/forse

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