Business Boot Camp: Social Entrepreneurs From Around the World Come to Santa Clara U. to Grow Their Business.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Armed with the knowledge that good intentions do not a successful venture make, 15 grass roots innovators from around the globe will come to Santa Clara University and Silicon Valley this summer to immerse themselves in a two-week "business boot camp." Mission: To emerge with a cohesive business plan that will bring their ventures to resource-strapped regions of the world.

Starting July 31, entrepreneurs and technology innovators will participate in a two-week incubator program that will allow them to network with Silicon Valley foundations, technologists, and business executives.

The intensive residential program (July 31 to Aug. 12) is aimed at helping successful technology innovators to scale up their endeavors and achieve sustainability. Sponsored by the Center for Science, Technology, and Society (in collaboration with SCU's Leavey School of Business), the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) supports the work of innovators and entrepreneurs who have demonstrated their commitment to applying technology to address urgent human needs throughout the world.

"These are award-winning innovations from diverse international communities with proof of concept ideas, not pie-in-the-sky dreamers," says Patrick Guerra, program director for Santa Clara University's Global Social Business Incubator.

The ventures range from tech training in Guatemala and Cameroon; to micro-loan corporations in rural Paraguay and frost-damage solutions for fruit growers in Uruguay; to low-cost day care in Bangladesh.

Begun in 2003, the camp recruits award-winning innovators from around the globe, and arms them with business strategies to help them develop business models that are more likely to attract funding and achieve long-term success.

Innovators like Kristine Pearson: In her travels across sub-Saharan Africa, Pearson was moved by the strength and struggles of people living with poverty and political turmoil. One of their greatest needs was to be connected to education and information.

Pearson's organization, the Freeplay Foundation, filled the information and education gap by distributing durable wind-up and solar powered radios across Africa.

Freeplay's latest program will distribute 10,000 more Lifeline radios to local NGOs and other organizations helping the economically disadvantaged of Kenya.

"All the innovators who come to us are mature, but are stuck in the mud: they need a viable strategy for scaling up," says Guerra. "They have a passion for moving beyond conventional philanthropic grants and charity, and we give them strategies for attracting other sources of funding, generating revenues from the value that their innovations provide to direct and indirect beneficiaries."

Living and learning together, participants develop know-how in the areas of marketing, finance, business planning, and organizational capacity building. The incubator combines classroom instruction, case studies, and best practices with carefully matched mentoring on the sustainability challenges of each participating organization.

"The entrepreneurial spirit and rapid development of technology that characterizes the best of Silicon Valley is propagated through this program," said Jim Koch, management professor and executive director of the Global Social Benefit Incubator at Santa Clara University. "The incubator brings together grass roots innovators and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with university faculty to support technology applications that serve the common good all over the world."

Koch added that like many Silicon Valley companies, incubator participants have been successful in uncertain business climates and against staggering odds. "Using creativity and a deep understanding of their local markets, they find new solutions that create hope and opportunity," he said. "All promising technology innovations confront the challenge of growing their capacity. Non-profit organizations need to become self sustaining if they are to grow over a period of time. Social benefit entrepreneurs in the developing world are cut off from knowledge resources that support innovation in places like Silicon Valley."

On August 12, the final day of the two-week program, class participants will present their business plans for "scaling up." "We hope the resources of our region will advance their promising technological innovations in service to humanity," Koch said. "Much of their work is happening in emerging markets and in settings ignored by conventional approaches to technological design and market development," Koch said.

Some of the recruits who will participate in this year's business boot camp are:

--Cognisense Labs Inc., California -- Solves environmental problems with science, software and sensing, focusing on removing land mines from farmland. (www.cognisenselabs.com/projects/html)

--Asociacion Abj'atz' Enlace Quiche, Guatemala -- Enables indigenous peoples to reach their full potential through the innovative use of information and communication technologies. (www.enlacequiche.org.gt)

--Comite para Democratizacao da Informatica de Brasilia, Brazil -- Provides free computers, software, community-based training and technical maintenance through Information Technology Citizenship Schools. (www.cdi-df.org.br/)

--Frost Protection Corporation, Uruguay -- Provides environmental and economic solutions to the global problem of frost damage for fruit-growing producers. (www.frostprotection.com)

--New York-based iEARN-USA -- Enables students to interact with individuals from different cultures over the Internet to address environmental, cultural and social issues. (www.iearn.org)

"Technology needs to evolve so that more than 10 percent of the world's population can use it; markets need to work for those at the bottom of the pyramid," says Koch. "Social entrepreneurship is an issue of growing interest for corporations. They can learn about developing market needs by tuning into the insights of on-the-ground social entrepreneurs in the diverse cultural settings. If technology and entrepreneurship can be tapped in less developed corners of the world, the gaps between poverty and dignity, despair and hope, can be closed."

About the Center for Science, Technology, and Society

The Center for Science, Technology, and Society fosters interdisciplinary inquiry into the societal implications of technological change. The Center links Silicon Valley to Santa Clara University and fosters rich dialogue among thought leaders on how the potential benefits of technology can serve all of humanity. This goal is highlighted through the Center's partnership with the Tech Museum and the American Council for The United Nations University for the annual Technology Benefiting Humanity Awards. Additional information about the Center may be found at www.scu.edu/sts.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,213 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the fourth-highest graduation rate among all U.S. masters' universities, California's oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu.