Turning passion into action

YSA’s List of the 25 Most Powerful and Influential Young People in the world is hot off the press and seven are Youth Venturers! Congratulations to Dylan Mahalingham, Cassandra Lin, Jonny Cohen, Christopher Yao, Zander Srodes, Grace Li, and Mohammad Barry! Read blog posts from each awardee on the Huffington Post.

Hip Hoppin' for Changemakin'

It’s about time someone made a changemaking tune! Check out this music video created by the Youth Venture team Think Big featuring world-famous artist Shaggy. Their song World Citizen will get you shaking and grooving to inspirational lyrics about change. 

Lead Venturer Salahdin Said from Berlin joined us at Youth Venture Summit, Miami back in 2010. Watch this video to learn more about the inspiration behind his first venture, Youth Without Drugs.

Documentary 'Three Minutes to Change the World' premieres May 20th!

TV Special Follows Four Young Entrepreneurs Competing to Change the World

(Seattle, Washington) May 14, 2012 – Three hundred young entrepreneurs entered. Four finalists were chosen. And now they have three minutes to change the world. This is one television event you won’t want to miss, as the Emmy Award-winning Public TV series Biz Kid$ presents a one-hour special, Biz Kid$ - Three Minutes to Change the World, presented by The Lemelson Foundation.

Biz Kid$ - Three Minutes to Change the World gives you a front row seat to the Staples/Ashoka Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition and a backstage pass into the days leading up to the big competition at the prestigious Techonomy conference in Tucson, Arizona. Viewers will experience the gut-wrenching nerves and epic thrills that accompany such a high stakes competition as they meet the four entrepreneurs who have caught the eyes of the judges.

Spend the day with Eden, a budding solar power inventor working to reduce the cost of electrifying the developing world. Practice making a pitch with Karthik, creator of a website working to connect blood donors with their matches to save lives. Step onto stage with Vineet as he tries to break the cycle of chronic, preventable diseases among high-need populations through interactive health education applications. And join Vivek as he presents his plan for reducing harmful carbon emissions in front of some of the world’s most influential technology leaders. Biz Kid$ - Three Minutes to Change the World is one power-packed hour of entrepreneurial innovation, daring determination, and thrilling victory.

Which entrepreneur will master their three minutes and become the crowned champion of the Staples/Ashoka Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition? Tune in to find out.

Biz Kid$ - Three Minutes to Change the World premieres Sunday, May 20, 2012 on public television stations across the United States.  Meet the winners at http://ashokayouthcompetition.org/. 

Watch the trailer!

The Lemelson Foundation is inspiring and enabling the next generation of inventors and invention-based enterprises in order to build a stronger US economy and create social and economic change for the poor in developing countries.  For more information, visit http://lemelson.org. 

Ashoka is the pioneer of the social entrepreneurship movement.  Ashoka builds communities of innovators who work collectively to help every part of society become more successful by having more changemakers to take initiative and bring about positive change. For more information, please visit www.ashoka.org. 

Biz Kid$ is the fun, fast-paced public television series that teaches viewers how to use credit wisely and shows the importance of saving, budgeting, investing, and giving back to the community. In every episode, young business owners inspire viewers to turn their passions into profit. Educational segments based on national financial literacy standards and spoofs of popular movies make the series a hit with teachers, parents, and kids.

The series, produced by the creative team behind Bill Nye the Science Guy, premiered in January 2008. Since then, Biz Kid$ has been broadcast to more than 111 million households and aired in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, on more than 330 public television stations. In 2010, Biz Kid$ won a Silver Telly Award for Outstanding Children's Financial Literacy Education Television and Education Materials. The series has received seven National Daytime Emmy Award nominations and one Emmy in 2009, and the Environmental Media Award. Biz Kid$ features a website, www.bizkids.com, with free activities and lesson plans for educators and parents.

1 Banking On Youth Competition + 1 YV Summit = 2 Opportunities that make CENTS for CHANGE

Youth Venture wants to make your ideas for social change a reality. That's why we're calling for youth leaders and changemakers to apply for the Banking On Youth Competition and to join us this summer for the Youth Venture Summit!


The Banking On Youth Competition is for young people with big ideas for social change or for those who have already launched a social venture! Any youth age 13-20 in the US can apply for prizes ranging from $1,000 project funding to the grand prize of $15,000 and the opportunity to take a course with the University of Florida on social entrepreneurship. Plus, six entrants will win an all expenses paid trip to the Youth Venture Summit. Submissions are in the form of 90-second videos, plus an entry form describing the idea or venture. For more information, please visit bankingonyouth.org before June 10th!

Each year the Youth Venture Summit brings together over 100 young changemakers in a one-of-a-kind peer learning conference. This year it will be in Washington, DC at George Washington University July 26-29. It's the only youth-led conference on social entrepreneurship where youth participate in and lead workshops, give keynote speeches, contribute to panels, and much more. It is an amazing opportunity for passionate young leaders to network and exchange ideas. Looking for fundraising ideas to pay for registration and travel? Use prize money from the Banking On Youth Competition for Summit costs! Visit youthventure summit.org to register and apply to be a workshop presenter!

A New Brand of Social Entrepreneurship?

The article below originally appeared in Stanford Social Innovation Review on 4/9/2012.

Each year 900 distinguished social entrepreneurs gather in Oxford for three days and nights and work toward finding innovating, accelerating and scaling solutions to social challenges.

This conference, known as the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, brings together representatives from virtually every field including finance, private and public sectors. Recent attendee and consultant Jason Saul recently wrote a thoughtful piece in which he discusses what he took away from the conference. Read his article below and then tell us what you think in the comments section!

Catch some of the highlight of the 2012 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship!

Flux to Flex: Takeaways from the 2012 Skoll World Forum

The Skoll World Forum—an amazing alchemy of the world’s greatest social entrepreneurs, big thinkers, financiers, philanthropists, and academics—is often a zeitgeist of the latest thinking in the social sector, and this year didn’t disappoint. While the officially programmed theme of the conference was “flux,” the real themes played out in informal hallway chatter, over drinks with colleagues at the Oxford Retreat pub, and in the Twittersphere.

Having participated in a number of these informal “sessions”—in addition to moderating a formal one—I sat down to consider what I heard. Here are my five main takeaways:

1. It’s OK to make an economic return from solving social problems. There was a sea change in thinking this year; social entrepreneurs seemed increasingly fascinated by the market as a mechanism to advance their social agendas. Scott Gilmore at Peace Dividend Trust (PDT) is a case in point. PDT renamed itself Building Markets (the name transition says it all) and even created a spin-out for-profit affiliate called Anchor Chain to leverage the private sector in advancing its mission of building local supply chains. I also spoke to the founder of a leading nonprofit consultancy who confided that he wished he had founded his organization as a for-profit instead, admitting “It really doesn’t matter these days, and the transparency is a real problem for us.” 

Heidi Kuhn, Roots of Peace founder, and her daughter Kyleigh are the perfect inter-generational metaphor of the times: Both aim to impact the quality of life for Afghanistan’s poor, but in very different ways. Heidi founded a nonprofit to remove landmines and help Afghan farmers tap into the market by teaching new, higher-value agricultural practices; Kyleigh created a for-profit business called Twenty Four Suns to help local artisans in Afghanistan by creating a market for them in the US.

Also, funders themselves seemed increasingly open to the market as a force for change. One foundation director I spoke with openly contemplated investing in for-profits alongside traditional grants: “Why not?” she asked, “If we’re really about impact, it shouldn’t matter!”

2. Measurement is no longer optional. Measurement had its big coming out party at Skoll this year as the foundation announced its first attempt at portfolio-level measurement. The language and references this year were different too. In past years, there was always talk of “effectiveness” and “accountability,” but this year, I heard more about “returns,” “moving the needle,” and measuring “value.”  Foundations and corporations alike appeared universally obsessed with measurement—no doubt due to upstream pressure to demonstrate some ROI.

I had a fascinating conversation with Andrea Coleman of Riders for Health who found the Skoll Foundation’s focus on outcomes liberating from the regime of randomized control trials imposed by other funders. It was good to see Jed Emerson (father of social return on investment) make a return to the forum and say that he was glad to see the measurement conversation finally happening in earnest.

3. We’re in an age of social entrepreneurship 2.0. This year I observed a new breed of social entrepreneur—more entrepreneur than social. These entrepreneurs (mostly nonprofits) have flipped the paradigm; they see social change more as a business strategy than as a charity program. These social entrepreneurs are finding new and creative ways to leverage the market to advance their social agenda.

Kiva.org is a good example. Kiva’s head of development, Bennett Grassano, and I talked about the evolution of Kiva’s strategy—going beyond microfinance to become a source for microlending to other “social markets,” such as education (for example, scholarships) and affordable housing. Ned Breslin from Water for People is another example of social entrepreneurship 2.0. Ned describes his organization’s work as creating new “water economies” in emerging markets like Rwanda and Honduras, and has leveraged the private sector to catalyze his market development efforts.

4. It’s cool to be corporate. “I never thought we’d have a McDonald’s representative sitting at the Skoll World Forum … and I’m massively excited!” So said Pamela Hartigan, who directs the Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford and moderated a panel on partnerships between social entrepreneurs and big business. In opening the panel, Pamela observed that there is an exciting movement inside companies led by social "intrapreneurs" who are leveraging the core business to make positive social change and profits. McDonald’s presented together with the Marine Stewardship Council to discuss the rollout of sustainable fisheries and eco-labeling Filet-O-Fish sandwiches in Europe.

McDonald’s was just one of 150 companies at Skoll this year—more than double the companies who attended in 2011. Corporations have crossed over into the mainstream of social change. It’s no wonder: Last year, corporations in the US. generated $1.6 trillion in profits, representing the single largest potential source of funding for social agendas. In the session I moderated, Beyond Charity: from Reporting to Returns, Cisco made a presentation about its new approach to market development partnerships (MDPs).

5. People want to move the needle. This year, the dialogue seemed more elevated and urgent than in the past. Entrepreneurs and funders are increasingly impatient with the pace of change; the conversations seemed much more focused on transformation, scalability, and sustainability than ever before. There appears to be a growing distinction between those who are content to “do good” versus those who are committed to “solving social problems” within our lifetime. Some of this urgency is driven by the growing number of living mega-donors, including Jeff Skoll, Gordon Moore, and Bill Gates, and others who are increasingly impatient with the charitable approach of funding nonprofit programs and hoping they add up to something. Questions I heard time and again were:  “Are we really moving the needle?” and “How do I answer the 'so what' question?”

It's clear that there is a "new" brand of social entrepreneurship emerging - one that is more market driven, measurement-oriented, and corporate-friendly than before. The question is: Will these trends lead to greater social impact? 

We're Banking on YOUth!

The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) Foundation and banks from all across the country have partnered with YV to bring you the Banking on Youth competition! Banking on Youth is an exciting opportunity to showcase your great idea for a venture that directly benefits society.

If you are age 13-20, show us your venture idea through a creative and fun 90-second video and entry form to compete to win one of 33 different $1,000 seed money prizes provided by our sponsoring banks to bring your idea to life. Check out the map below and see how many $1,000 seed money prizes are available where you live!

And, it gets even better! The top six entrants, chosen by the CBA Foundation and Youth Venture, will win an all-expenses-paid trip to the annual Global Youth Venture Summit in Washington, D.C. in July to compete in a “pitch-off” for the chance to win the Audience Choice Award of $5,000 or the grand prize of $15,000!

Whether you have a new idea or one you launched years ago, we want to hear from YOU! APPLY NOW!

Injaz al-Arab named amongst the Top 100 Best NGOs in 2012

Earlier this year the Global Journal released its inaugural list of the “Top 100 Best NGOs.” On this list, alongside our very own parent organization, Ashoka, was Injaz al-Arab, another remarkable NGC that is paving the way for social entrepreneurs in the Middle East.

In 2008, PBS and Frontline released a documentary showcasing the work of Injaz al-Arab in Egpyt. The 20 minute documentary focuses on Injaz al-Arab’s annual competition to find the best student-run company and their quest to “instill in Engypt’s youth the entrepreneurial spirit and the entrepreneurial skill-set so that they can create their employment opportunity.”

Click here to watch the short documentary on the PBS website or watch it below!

Clinton Initiative Launches Student Entrepreneurs

The following blogpost originally appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek on 3/30/2012

Every spring, the Clinton Global Initiative University meeting brings together some of the world’s most promising student entrepreneurs, who come to the group’s annual meeting with ideas they hope will bring about social change.  This year will be no different, with 1,000 college students from more than 75 countries and 300 colleges and universities convening for the event, starting today at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

President Bill Clinton founded the program five years ago to inspire students to make a “commitment to action” to tackle a problem in their community, and give them the skills necessary to implement the idea. This year one of the sessions on the meeting’s packed agenda will focus on the global economic crisis and the impact it has had on recent college graduates. With few jobs to go around, many have started their own companies. According to the Clinton Global Initiative University’s website, 20 percent of Millennials have started their own businesses, and 40 percent envision doing so in the future.

During a conference call this Wednesday, Clinton highlighted what he thought were some of the more promising student ideas to come out of the program. Some of these students’ “commitments” have become businesses, such as Triple Thread Apparel, a promising startup with a social entrepreneurship bent launched by Kyle Lloyd McCollom Jr., who came up with the idea while attending Vanderbilt University in 2010. Today, the custom T-shirt company employs former criminal offenders and has been able to raise more than $65,000 in capital, Clinton said. Another promising idea came from Christine Schindler, an engineering student at Duke University who’ll be starting a mentorship program in 2013 to educate teenage girls in her community about the benefits of an engineering career, and help them build low-cost medical devices for hospitals in developing countries.

In the past few years, many business schools have been putting more of a focus on entrepreneurship in the curriculum, but is there really enough support at universities to enable students to take their business ideas to the next level? I asked President Clinton if he thought schools need to do more to make entrepreneurship a more feasible career path for today’s students.

Clinton said he believes colleges and universities can do more in this area, from creating small business labs for students to helping them find ways to start their own companies if they can’t find a job after graduation. “It’s an opportune time for colleges that don’t do it now to think about setting up office space and other kinds of support systems for small business and startups among their graduates,” he said.

Another crucial element for these students is funding, and new “crowdfunding” legislation could soon make it easier for startups to raise capital in small amounts from investors, Clinton said. He’s also eager to help students with promising ideas. For example, he said if Schindler’s engineering mentorship program is a success, he’d like to help raise funds at the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting to scale her project, a move that could go a long way to getting more women to consider careers in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

Clinton added: “If we can get 40 or 50 colleges or universities to say they’ll do the same thing, then we can go out and try to raise the money necessary to support this on a larger scale.”

DSIC Announces its Semi-Finalists!

This post was written by YV intern Stephanie Arzate

Winners of the 2011 Dell Social Innovation Challenge

Back in February, in one of my very first blog posts, I wrote about the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, an annual competition that since 2007 has identified and enabled promising entrepreneurs that are solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since January, changemakers from over 100 countries have submitted over 1,700 innovative solutions and DSIC has just announced the 200 projects selected to move on to the Semi-Final Round.

While I was browsing through pages and pages of submissions, it was hard to pick just one submission to highlight for today. Finally, however, I narrowed it down to three. Check out some of my favorite submissions below!

The Zuia Project

The Project: The Zuia Project seeks to empower the youth and women of Ugenya to take charge of their livelihoods and their community through capacity building, economic empowerment, education, civic engagement, and art.  Founded in July, 2011 by Colorado College students in collaboration with citizens of Ugenya, the Zuia Project offers four, interdisciplinary programs. The project includes a Civic Engagement program for women; an Information Technology center; a vocational training center for disenfranchised young girls; and an HIV Health Outreach Program. The overall goal of the Zuia Project is to create a sustainable, interdisciplinary program for the community of Ugenya, that will achieve gains presently on an individual level, and have long term social and community impacts.

Why I love it: I will always strongly assert my belief that awakening the hidden potential of women in the developing world is the key to a better and brighter tomorrow. This is exactly what the Zuia Project is doing. Nothing is more sustaible than the gift of education and through its four, interdiplinary programs the Zuia Project manages to educate not just the mind, but the body and soul as well.

The Humanure Power Project

The Project: Indians lack access to two critical pieces of infrastructure, toilets and electricity. The Humanure Power Project (HPP), aims to alleviate both of these issues by connecting existing and proven technologies. It involves connecting organic waste with electricity. HPP can reduce outdoor defecation and bring power to a community with one solution. Organic waste is converted to methane gas in a digester, which can be combusted to generate electricity.

Why I love It: Catchy name aside, the Humanure Power Project hits two birds with one stone. It makes use of local resources  and, as a positive consequence, empowers the people of India in an unconceivable amount of ways. It just goes to show that with a little creative thinking two seemingly different problems can be connected to create one solution, and an endless amount of possibilities.

Woven Wind

The Project: The people living in Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán (NSCI), Guatemala are among those living in poverty and do not have access to a reliable source of electricity. The goal of the Woven Wind team to work with the Guatemalan natives to create a sustainable source of clean, consistent energy for use throughout the country as well as initiate an entrepreneurial spirit among the Guatemalan women. This is being done by working with women in NSCI who are expert weavers to create a woven wind turbine blade. Through collaboration with a Guatemalan women's weaving cooperative and Guatemalan technicians Woven Winds has designed a wind turbine that has blades made of woven material.

Why I love it: After coming back from Guatemala this summer, I returned with a suitcase full of beautiful handcrafted huipils, a traditional shirt worn by men and women of the indigenous community. The Guatemalan culture is one that is rich and vast with centuries and centuries of history under its belt. The point that stands out the most about Woven Winds is that it understands the local culture of the country and used a skill set that is so engrained in the Guatemalan identity to solve pressing issues facing the communities.

Semi-Finalist teams will now compete for a Finalist spot by submitting a video pitch and a detailed Roadmap to Success. In order to vote for your favorite project you will first have to create a profile. There are hundreds of great projects and unfortunately I could not highlight all of them. To find your favorites, click here!

Documentary about YV team is released

Last August, YV team What's Good in the Hood (WGITH) participated in a competition by Storytellers for Good and won the opportunity to be featured in a pro bono documentary filmed by Emmy award-winning producer, Cara Jones. After months of hard work and filming, the final product is complete. A huge congratulations goes out to the staff of WGITH and the city of Lawrence, MA!