Combating Human Trafficking through Business: Annie Hilton and Freeset

"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires"

~ Nelson Mandela

In 2001 Kerry & Annie Hilton founded Freeset Bags & Apparel as a means to provide alternative employment and economic freedom to women who were victims of India’s notorious sex trade. Operating in Sonagacchi, India’s largest red-light district, Freeset has enabled ~200 women to escape debt, servitude and social exclusion and brought light to the issue across the world.

Today, Freeset is excited to take the next step and use sustainable businesses to bring economic freedom to the heartland of India. Attendees learned about what has been done thus far and what is possible for the future!.

Discussing Sustainable Investing: What is It?

"We need to defend the interests of those whom we've never met and never will"

~ Jeffrey Sachs

We were fortunate to host Bruno Bertocci (Managing Director at UBS Americas) and Bennett Freeman (VP for Sustainability Research at Calvert Investment) this February at a speaking event at Darden. The event was attend by a broad group of students and diverse faculty, as well as leaders on sustainability at Darden.

Both men shared unique perspectives and provided a historical context for the rise of sustainability. In so doing, they also informed its growth and where they see sustainable investing heading next.

For more background on the event and to read the bios of both speakers, please see our event announcement.

Darden Student Profiles: Lighting up Rural Africa with the Sun King

Last year, I sat in on a speech by Ed Freeman where he shared about how to discover Inspiration. A particularly important point he made is to look for inspiration among those around us. For Ed, inspiration came from within his family.
As we think about the Darden Family, it seemed appropriate to look for inspiration within our family. With that in mind, I'm excited to introduce Prashant Kumar to share a bit about his story.

- CJ (EMDC President)

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Student: Prashant Kumar

Deputy General Manager

Simba Solar

Prashant, you completed an MS in Electrical Engineering from UPenn in May 2010. While most of your peers pursued opportunities in the US with established firms, you moved to Nigeria to join Simba Solar.

You had never been to Africa, so what made you move to Nigeria to pursue such a unique opportunity?

My UPenn experience was a great turning point in my life. It went beyond just helping me develop my technical skills and actually gave me opportunities to build useful, innovative products. It made me realize that I can use my knowledge to build products and businesses that could have a transformative effect on society. It is at this point that I met a couple of HBS grads who were directors at the African conglomerate Simba Group and had spun off the renewable energy company, Simba Solar. Despite being at a nascent stage Simba Solar had a vision that appealed to me greatly. They wanted to make clean energy accessible to the common man in an energy-deficient continent. Also, Africa with all its challenges, presented great growth opportunities. I really felt that I could use my knowledge to create real impact here, which is why I decided to move to Nigeria.

How was adapting to life in Nigeria? What was difficult and what was easy?

I had concerns about safety, having heard multiple stories about foreigners facing incidents like kidnapping, theft, police harassment, etc. Also, I had no prior acquaintance here. So, initially, I found it challenging to adjust to the new environment. Particularly having lived in metropolitan cities all my life, the idea of having no electricity for 8 hours a day, was very disturbing. However, this further stimulated my motivation to bring about a solution to the energy problem here. Besides, I realized that the Nigerian people were extremely welcoming and nice. This helped me get attuned to the new environment and within no time, I felt that I was a Nigerian myself.

In 2011 you were part of the launch of the 'Sun King' Solar Lanterns in partnership with Greenlight Planet. What needs did you see and why did a solar lantern make sense?

It all started in December of 2010. I was on vacation from work and used this opportunity to travel across Nigeria from Lagos in the south to Kano in the north. I stopped at a local village called Moba where I saw first-hand the poor electricity situation across the country. I noticed how harmful kerosene lanterns were the only source of lighting for millions of low-income Nigerian houses. These lanterns were toxic, unsafe and costly with a recurring fuel cost. On doing some further research, I realized that more people lose their lives due to the kerosene lantern toxic fumes than tuberculosis and malaria combined. So, I really felt the need to serve this large segment consisting of 100 Million people. 

I had read about solar lanterns earlier and envisioned it to be a feasible solution. Also, Nigeria is blessed with an abundance of solar energy. So, solar energy made complete sense here. One more thing that I drew analogy was the telecom revolution. Even though Africa lagged behind in deploying telecom lines, the tremendous growth of mobile technologies had occluded the need to go in that direction. Similarly, Nigeria lagged behind in deploying transmission infrastructure to deliver electricity throughout the country. So, a decentralized solution like solar energy made complete sense in such a situation. However, the challenge was to make solar energy affordable to the masses.

How did you convince the company to pursue this new product line? Were there any steps you took that were critical in selling your idea to management?

Firstly, I pitched the idea to the Board by showing how it is in alignment with company’s vision of providing clean energy to the masses. I also led a market analysis, which suggested that this is a 1.3 Billion dollar market and we had the opportunity to gain first mover advantage here. Besides, the positive publicity that Simba as a Group will garner by engaging in this great initiative was a big motivating factor for the Board to go ahead. 

To reduce our risks, I proposed the Board to start with a pilot of 1000 solar lanterns. This would also allow us to test-market our product and make any product design changes based on customer feedback. This helped convince the Board and I got the go-ahead for the project.

What challenges did you face in the design and distribution of the solar lantern? Did you realize the economic returns and social impact you expected?

I faced 2 major challenges:

• Firstly, most of my target customers were the Base-of-the-Pyramid or BoP segment, which means they lived on less than $2 a day. So, any product which would replace the kerosene lantern had to be extremely cheap as well as superior. Solar energy was not considered for the masses then and I had to ensure our product is viable to the masses.
• Secondly, since 90% of our target customers were rural, there were no existing distribution channels to reach them. No mainstream Nigerian company had targeted the rural BoP segment earlier because of the poor rural infrastructure and the low margins; hence BoP was a neglected segment. 

To overcome the first challenge, I decided to partner with a China based manufacturing company because of their low-cost manufacturing capabilities. Our market-research revealed that the product would need to supersede the kerosene lantern in parameters like illumination, lighting-time, durability and portability. Also, it had to be priced less than $20 to achieve traction in market. This is because kerosene lanterns were priced at $2 and had a recurring kerosene cost of around $6 a month. So, $20 product would pay back in 3 months and by creating credit facilities, we could push the product. So, after 2 months of collaborative R&D between our technical team and our partners, we developed a high-quality product within the pricing constraints. However, before mass-production, I decided to test-market the product and, releasing 1000 lanterns in February 2011. Using feedback, we were able to further fine-tune the product and get the retail price down to $18. 

With the product ready, I decided to target 3 segments: rural Base-of-the-Pyramid, low-income urban and institutions like Ministries, NGOs, etc. and developed separate strategies for each segment. My reasoning was to diversify our risk across channels. I then delegated the execution of these to 8 experienced sales managers and their teams and monitored their progress. However, with the BoP – the key audience for the product, I faced tremendous challenges in distribution. I realized we needed to create a separate distribution channel which would be cost-intensive, but would give us a sustainable competitive advantage. So, I brainstormed with my team to strategize building a direct-selling channel with an external sales force of door-to-door, entrepreneurial-distributors. This ensured us access to the remotest villages and allowed even the BoP segment to buy on credit. To accomplish this, I had to motivate my team to identify and develop entrepreneurs. We organized aggressive marketing activities including the use of Social Media channels. I personally appeared on national television, coached at Nigeria’s nation development program NYSC and collaborated with Lighting Africa, which is a World Bank and IFC program to raise awareness about generating employment through solar energy distribution. 

Consequently, we were able to grow monthly sales by 500% within 6 months and establish first-mover advantage in this $1.3 Billion segment. On the social side, this meant providing clean affordable lighting to around 100000 low-income households in the first year, while simultaneously creating 100 young entrepreneurs in the process. Successfully leading such an impact-creating project was the best validation of my decision to move to Nigeria.

Since Simba Solar, you've been an entrepreneur and helped found a social media analytics company in India. What do you hope to do after Darden?

During my time at Simba, I managed 4 successful product lines, out of which I had launched 3 of them. I feel I have been able to achieve the impact on market and society through these businesses and also gained the confidence and skill-sets to start my own business. I was always fascinated by social media. Even at Simba Solar, we were early adopters and used social media heavily not only for marketing, but customer service and distributor-generation as well. In this new decade, the amazing growth of social media had revolutionized company-consumer relationship and I saw a great opportunity in this space. 

So, in March 2012, I co-founded Mirc Media, which is a social media analytics services provider. We basically mine data from conversations on the social web to help Fortune 500 brands derive actionable insights and formulate data-driven marketing and branding strategies. This got me interested in consulting and I liked the idea of solving high-impact problems for Fortune 500 companies. It was my motivation behind coming to Darden, especially given Darden’s rigorous case-study based curriculum. I hope to work in management consulting after Darden and gain the business skill-sets to start my own business somewhere down the line. At this point, I am just enjoying my Darden experience and looking forward to the tremendous opportunities that Darden opens for me in the future.

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Prashant Kumar grew up in Mumbai, India and studied Electronics Engineering from the University of Mumbai. He then moved to the US to complete an MS in Electrical Engineering. Embarking on an eventful journey since then, which includes working at a solar energy firm in Nigeria, Africa to co-founding a social media analytics firm in India, life has come a full circle for him having moved back to the US to pursue an MBA at Darden. He is a passionate Arsenal fan and like a true Gunner, he is always ready for a beer or two over a game of soccer! 

Crossing Borders: Rethinking International Development

Crossing Borders: Rethinking International Development

Mon, Feb 24th @ 9:00 am - 5:00 pm - Law School

Given our rapidly developing world, it is important to bring together students, academics, and practitioners to discuss the implications of international development efforts on effective governance, human rights, and business interests. The symposium will feature four panels: Anti-Corruption and Democratic Governance; Measuring Success: Human Rights, Development Projects, and Stakeholders; International Finance in Emerging Markets; and Investor-State Arbitration. Panelists include professors from across the nation as well as attorneys from the United States Agency for International Development and some of the nation's top international law firms.

Sustainable Investing: Perspectives from UBS Americas and Calvert Investments

The NEW Paradigm in Asset Management:

CR 130 - Wed, Feb 19th @ 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Sustainable investing is one of the fastest growing fields today, with $3 trillion in assets already under management. As mainstream investors increasingly seek to invest in such funds, the demand for seasoned practitioners is going to grow. 

Join us for lunch and hear from Bruno Bertocci and Bennett Freeman about how investors are reacting to this potentially radical market change

BRUNO BERTOCCI

Bruno Bertocci is a Managing Director and the lead portfolio manager at UBS Global Asset Management (Americas) Inc. of the top‐performing Global Sustainable Equity strategy, an all‐cap positive screening global equity portfolio. Prior to joining UBS, Bertocci worked at Stein Roe & Farnham, Rockefeller & Co. and T. Rowe Price Associates. He has earned a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

BENNETT FREEMAN

Bennett Freeman is the Senior Vice President for Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Investments where he leads the environmental, social and governance analysis, shareholder advocacy and public policy work of the largest family of sustainable and responsible (SRI) mutual funds in the U.S with over $12 billion assets under management. Freeman has served as a presidential appointee in three positions at the U.S. Department of State in the Clinton Administration. He earned an M.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford and an A.B. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Hosted in partnership with Net Impact and Darden Capital Management

BBSF Conference: Disruption by Design

Disruption by Design

Leading Change through Disruptive Thinking

We have an awesome program planned, including a design-thinking workshop facilitated by Jeanne Liedtka and co-sponsored by the Darden Business Innovation & Design Club! After learning skills that can be used to increase our disruptive presence, Kimberly Campbell (D’ 04), Manager of Innovation & Business Development at Weight Watchers, will lead us through a real-time case on disruption and provide an opportunity to flex our newly minted disruptive muscles. Our conference keynote is Daryn Dodson – Venture Consultant for Calvert Group’s Special Equities Program. Daryn also serves on the board of directors for Ben & Jerry’s and is part of the leadership team of Impact Hub DC, a business incubator and idea lab for change agents seeking to impact the world. 

Attendance is limited to 120 participants and we are expecting to fill up quickly, so make sure you sign up now! Please register here.

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Daryn Dodson

Venture Consultant, Calvert Group; Board of Directors, Ben & Jerry's

Daryn Dodson advises companies, foundations and universities on impact investments. He currently co-leads the Special Equities Program at Calvert Funds. Through this program, Calvert has invested more than $69 million in impact investing funds and companies. Post Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Dodson served as Director of University and Corporate Partnership for the Idea Village, where he created a platform engaging leading private equity firms, business schools, and Fortune 500 companies to invest more than 50,000 hours and $2 million into New Orleans entrepreneurs. Prior to New Orleans, he built a coalition of national banks and faith-based institutions to educate Congress on reforms needed to stabilize the subprime lending market with Self-Help Credit Union. Mr. Dodson currently serves as a Board Director for Ben and Jerry’s, Stanford Business Alumni and Impact Hub DC. He earned a MBA from Stanford and an AB in Public Policy from Duke University.

Jeanne Liedtka

Faculty ; Author, Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Toolkit for Managers

Jeanne M. Liedtka is a faculty member at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business and former chief learning officer at United Technologies Corporation, where she was responsible for overseeing all activities associated with corporate learning and development for the Fortune 50 corporation, including executive education, career development processes, employer-sponsored education and learning portal and web-based activities. 

At Darden, where she formerly served as associate dean of the MBA program and as executive director of the Batten Institute, Jeanne works with both MBAs and executives in the areas of design thinking, innovation and leading growth. Her passion is exploring how organizations can engage employees at every level in thinking creatively about the design of powerful futures. 

Her most recent books are: The Catalyst; How You Can Lead Extraordinary Growth (winner of the Business Week best innovation books of 2009); Designing for Growth: A design thinking tool kit for managers (winner of the 1800 CEO READ best management book of 2011); and The Physics of Business Growth. She has a new book in 2013, Solving Business Problems with Design Thinking: Ten Stories of What Works as well as a field guide to accompany Designing for Growth, forthcoming in January, 2014.

Kimberly Campbell

Manager of Innovation & Business Development, Weight Watchers

Kimberly Campbell is an innovation strategy leader at Weight Watchers International. Kim joins WW with more than 14 years of experience including venture capital, entrepreneurship, and strategy consulting. At WW, Kim is responsible for growing the core business through new program offerings and business development opportunities. 

After completing her MBA from the Darden Business School, Kim joined the venture capital subsidiary at Johnson & Johnson where she advised internal biotech experts in creating the business case for their new venture ideas. Kim helped J&J scientists secure $14 million in funding to start new J&J ventures. Kim has also worked as a strategy consultant with Accenture, Booz Allen and Peer Insight, leading client engagements for some of the most respected companies in the world including P&G, Group Health Cooperative, Sanofi-Aventis, The Veterans Affairs Hospital, and The Hartford Insurance Company. 

“I have had exciting professional experiences; however, I am most proud of the wellness program that I developed for a local faith-based organization a couple years ago. I created two 3-month long healthy lifestyle challenges for a church community that significantly impacted the lives of approximately 250 members. The impact of the challenges included reports of participants being taken off medication from their doctors, renewed self-image, lifestyle change, 956lbs of weight lost, and transformed mindsets. The programs I implemented not only empowered hundreds of people to embrace a healthier life, they inspired me to pursue a career more in-line with my passion to enable health transformation.” 

Kim is passionate about improving the health and wellness of our nation. She is a certified holistic health coach and a sought after speaker in the areas of Holistic Health, Personal Leadership, and Spirituality in Health & Fitness. Kim completed her undergraduate studies in Management at The American University in Washington, DC where she was a Division I College Basketball Player and scholar athlete. Kim is a member of the 2004 Darden MBA Class.

BiS Conference: Scaling Small Business Impact

Scaling Small Business Impact

CR 50 - This Friday @ 1:15 pm - 2:00 pm

50% of people in the US work for a small business. Like large businesses, small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) need to consider a variety of stakeholders. These players work with customers, financiers, nonprofits and elected officials. The scale of impact of small business can be captured in the two charts below that show that 77% of private sector jobs today are in small businesses, and that 70% of jobs created this decade came from small businesses.

During this session, our panelists will draw upon their mix of experiences and backgrounds to discuss how small businesses engage with their communities as stakeholders, and their role in creating economic development and communal vitality. How do businesses scale their impact and what drives that?

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Ridge Schuyler

Following 10 years on Capitol Hill serving as Chief of Staff to US Congressman Rick Boucher and Policy Advisor to Senator Chuck Robb of Virginia, Ridge Schuyler became the Director of the Nature Conservancy’s Piedmont Program from 2000-2008. In 2008 Congressman Tom Perriello (VA-5) asked Ridge to serve as his “boots on the ground” District Director, a position he held for 2 years. On his own initiative, Ridge published the Orange Dot Report in 2011 which analyzed the economic struggles facing a considerable portion of Charlottesville families and proposed innovative approaches to job creation. In 2012 Ridge, an U.Va. law graduate, ran President Obama’s voter protection efforts in Virginia. 

Following the campaign, Ridge founded the Charlottesville Works Initiative, a non-profit affiliate of the local Chamber of Commerce, which is implementing the ideas from the Orange Dot Report. He currently serves as the Charlottesville Works Initiative’s Director. That effort is working to create jobs by connecting small local businesses through hubs to the anchor institutions that drive our local economy, and by working to connect individuals to those newly created jobs through a peer network.

Casey Gerald

Casey currently serves as the CEO of MBAxAmerica, an organization he co-founded. He has worked as a strategist with startup social ventures like Reboot & The Future Project, and established companies like the Neiman Marcus Group. He began his career in economic policy & innovation at the Center for American Progress. Casey is a second-year MBA at Harvard Business School, and graduated from Yale College.

Dave Fafara

David Fafara is the owner of Shenandoah Joe Coffee Roasters and Espresso Bar as well as Sun Sports, a pool management company, in Charlottesville, Virginia. A former University of Virginia men’s and women’s diving coach, he coached four Atlantic Coast Conference Divers of the Year. Prior to coaching at Virginia, Fafara spent three years as diving coach at West Virginia University. He also taught and coached in the Santa Cruz, California city schools for five years and coached at Cabrillo Junior College from 1982-85. Fafara earned a B.S. in physical education and health from North Park College and a master’s degree in counseling from West Virginia University.

Bidhan "Bobby" Parmar - Moderator
Assistant Professor Bidhan ("Bobby") Parmar teaches First Year Ethics and a Second Year elective on collaboration at the Darden School of Business. Parmar's research interests focus on how managers make decisions and collaborate in uncertain and changing environments to create value for stakeholders. His work helps executive better handle ambiguity in their decision making. His recent research examines the impact of authority on moral decision making in organizations. Parmar’s work has been published in Organization Science and the Journal of Business Ethics.

Parmar is a fellow at the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics and the Olsson Center for Applied Ethics. Prior to teaching at Darden, Parmar taught at the U.Va. McIntire School of Commerce.

Parmar lives in Charlottesville with his wife and two daughters.

How Economic Inequality Harms Societies

Last week, in order to set the tone, we looked at some astounding facts about global inequality. If you've been following the news, you know the firestorm that the latest Oxfam report has caused and how politicians, business leaders and media are each considering responses to it. Notably, the World Economic Forum in Davos has made this topic its main agenda item, so perhaps its time we became better informed. What are the consequences of inequality? Is it always bad? Don't you need inequality to create incentives? To start with, let's look at the case against inequality. 

In 2011, Richard Wilkinson spoke at TEDGlobal 2011 and outlined compelling evidence showing how economic inequality is correlated with almost every meaningful quality of life indicator. Wilkinson uses this to build a case about the incredible and broad-ranging harm that inequality causes in society. Do you agree with him?

Global Conference: Innovation & Entrepreneurship as Engines for Growth

Innovation & Entrepreneurship as Engines for Growth

CR 40 - This Friday @ 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

The story of the global economy over the last century has been one of incredible economic growth. One need look no farther than the latest annual letter from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for evidence of the great strides made in eradicating poverty and disease the world over. A great way to visualize this is through the freely available GapMinder World application that contains historical data series for a number of health and wealth indicators. Just consider that the life expectancy on nearly everyone on the planet today, is higher than the highest life expectancy merely a century ago.

The tables above show life expectancy and income the world over between 1900 and 2012. Each circle represents one country

But where is this growth coming from and how is it sustained? If we rely on current long-run economic growth models, then the source of growth is increases in technology, where 'technology' refers to a broadly defined set of capabilities. But how does technology increase over time? We posit that both innovation and entrepreneurship are key components of increasing the technological stock of a country.

More importantly, if we talk about wealth creation, then we must understand what is required to spur innovation, and what ecosystems are necessary to encourage entrepreneurship. But we are not the experts, and so we're excited for a chance to meet some. Join us this coming Friday to hear from three great panelists whose experiences shape different perspectives on where growth comes from.

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LeAnn Chapleau

At the United States Department of Commerce International Trade Administration, LeAnn is an Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere on U.S. trade and investment policy in the Americas. In this role she is committed to working with senior government officials and private sector leaders from the hemisphere to work towards a level playing field for U.S. businesses overseas and increased competitiveness in the Americas. She is the U.S. representative to the Inter-American Competitiveness Network, and she has represented the U.S. to the Organization of American States (OAS), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

Lily Bowles

As Village Capital’s Global Operations Manager, Lily is committed to facilitating the organization’s growth through her work managing internal operations, leading investor relations, spearheading research initiatives, and supporting the organization’s development efforts. Prior to joining the VilCap team, Lily interned at the Aspen Institute, B Lab, and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. In spring 2012, she earned a BA in Political & Social Thought from the University of Virginia, where she co-founded the University’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, and was a Jefferson Scholar.

Achraf Fahmy

One of the co-founders of FabLab Egypt, Achraf has seen first had the challenges in spurring innovation in a context very different from most of us. Following the seeds of the Arab Spring, Achraf and his partners founded the Egyptian chapter of FabLab, a fabrication facility designed to spur creativity and encourage entrepreneurial thinking. Conceived at M.I.T. in Boston, the FabLab is a space designated to both teaching young thinkers, as well as testing new ideas. Much like a community center, it provides the support structure for a network of entrepreneurs.

The Astounding Facts about Global & US Inequality

In the coming weeks we will be posting a series of articles on the growing discussion about global inequality. The catalyst for this conversation is a recent report from Oxfam that shares some astounding facts about the degree and nature of wealth and poverty in the world today. This article merely attempts to set the stage by sharing some basic statistics that might spur some reflection. The full Oxfam report can be accessed here.

• Almost half of the world's wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population

• The wealth of the 1% of richest people on earth amounts to $110 trillion. That is 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world's population

• The bottom half of the world's population owns the same wealth as the richest 85 people in the world.

• 7 out of 10 people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years

• The richest 1% increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012

• In the US, the richest 1% captured 95% of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90% became poorer

IS THIS NEW?

Zooming into the US, the chart below shows the share of wealth of the top 1% over the past century. What we see is that during much of the 20th century, the US was a more equal society. The last time inequality approached current levels was in 1928. This was followed by the Great Depression, launched on September 4th, 1929 (Black Tuesday).

There are many causes and explanations for these trends and this isn't necessarily bad news. It's just NEW news.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a closer snapshot of income gains in the last few decades across various economic strata. The graph below shows the change in after-tax income for various economic groups since 1979. What is material to note is that while all incomes are rising, they are rising much faster on a percentage basis for the richest. We expect income gains for the richest to be larger in absolute terms. However, the wide gap in gains in percentage terms shows that the rich are getting rich much much faster than the poor.

Hopefully food for thought!

UPDATE: Global Conference Profile: Jessica Matthews & the sOccket

UPDATE:

Due to an immediate travel commitment, Jessica will be unable to attend this year's conference and sends her sincerest apologies. However, we have been coincidentally fortunate in having an offer from Thomas Gibson (Founder of SEAF and President of the Institute of SME Finance) to come to Darden to speak at our conference. Keep an eye out for more Conference profiles.

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On January 31st, Darden will be hosting it's first every Global Conference. Hosted by a broad coalition of affinity clubs at Darden, the conference brings in speakers from around the world with experiences from Africa, to Asia and Latin America. In the run-up to the conference we will be profiling various speakers and panelists. You can register for the conference for free and check out our website for more information.

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Jessica Matthews | CEO & Founder of Uncharted Play

The sOccket looks like a regular soccer ball, but it doubles as an energy-harvesting source that can help light up communities without access to electricity.

Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman, who are in their early 20s, came up with the idea for the sOccket while working on a class project during their junior year at Harvard. They were taking an engineering class for non-engineering majors and were tasked with addressing a social issue through art and science.

Both had traveled extensively through Africa – Matthews is Nigerian-American – and knew that soccer was a hugely popular sport. They also noticed that African children made soccer balls out of just about anything, including discarded plastic bags.

“We wanted to create a product that would change their lives,” says Matthews. In Africa, limited access to electricity leads to the use of fume-emitting kerosene lamps that are expensive to fuel and harmful to the health (The fumes the children inhale from these lamps are the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.)

International Spokesperson

Last May, Matthews and Silverman set up their social enterprise, Uncharted Play, to create fun products and services that address major societal issues. The team has received funding from grants and family members to help develop their product, but Matthews says that raising money has been the toughest challenge.

“Social impact is important to us. It’s in the heart of what we do and that’s what we established our business model on. It’s hard to find the right people who believe in the same things that we believe in.” To date, they have about 6,000 sOcckets confirmed for distribution to developing countries in Africa, Central America, and Asia.

Since starting, Jessica has spoken at TEDxRio+20 and the first ever TEDWomen this past year. A current HBS student, she is committed to developing her business and inspiring young professionals to make a global difference. 

Come hear her speak this Jan 31st @ UVA - Darden School of Business.

Morgan Stanley - Sustainable Investing Challenge

The Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge harnesses the power of capital markets and student creativity to create positive impact in a world of perpetual resource scarcity and continued population growth. A pitch competition for graduate students, the Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge focuses on developing institutional-quality investment vehicles that seek positive environmental or social impact and competitive financial returns.

Contestants must propose and defend a strategy that uses finance and investment tools to address an environmental or societal challenge. The competition is an opportunity to apply core finance principles to target the economic, social and environmental challenges that drive the field of sustainable investing. Pitches might focus on areas like water, energy, food, social mobility, climate change, education or healthcare, among others. Contestants are encouraged to apply the entire spectrum of investment tools, styles and asset classes.

Teams of graduate students are invited to submit a two-page prospectus by February 25, 2014 at 5:00 PM CST that outlines an innovative financial vehicle that addresses a sustainability challenge and meets the requirements of an institutional investor. The portal for prospectus submissions will open on February 3, 2014. Each prospectus should appropriately address the guidelines provided. Ten finalist teams will be selected from the pool of submissions and announced by March 7, 2014. Finalists will present their proposals to a panel of judges at Morgan Stanley’s New York City headquarters on April 4, 2014. A panel of experienced investors and officers who currently manage pension funds, foundations, and institutional assets will review and judge the pitches. Judging criteria can be found here.

Awards

$15,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winning teams. Awards will be made for the overall quality of the proposals based on the judging criteria.

Overall First Place:  $10,000

Overall Runner-Up:  $5,000

If you are interested in participating and would like help in forming a team, email us at dardenemdc@gmail.com

Volunteer Opportunity: 6-12 weeks in Kigali, Rwanda

Our Opportunity: A New Business Accelerator to Stimulate Job Creation

African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) is a new, innovative solution to systemic unemployment in Africa. While many organizations promote entrepreneurship through training, business plan competitions or incubation, few of these interventions actually lead to job creation. 

AEC’s ideology is powerful: equip existing entrepreneurs, people who have already demonstrated success at a small scale, and support them to grow their enterprises to create jobs for others in their communities.

Founded in Summer 2012, AEC identifies young entrepreneurs with existing enterprises and accelerates their growth by providing a comprehensive suite of business education, mentorship, technical support and access to affordable capital.

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African Entrepreneur Collective’s Global Mentor Program brings experienced professionals from around the world to guide Rwandan entrepreneurs through the challenges of operating a business. You’ll work one-on-one with a young innovator, improving their enterprise, teaching him or her new skills, and, ultimately, contributing to job creation in Rwanda.

Mentoring with AEC is not the typical volunteer commitment. You will not dig wells with college students or build a small school with a high school youth group—we are in the business of growing businesses.

While we are a non-profit organization, African Entrepreneur Collective is a far cry from charity. AEC works with the best and brightest of Rwanda. You’ll spend your sabbatical or vacation supporting some of the country’s top young innovators growing their companies.

Impact: We’ll pair you with a mentee that needs your specific experience so that time in Rwanda is spent using your expertise to provide a sustained impact to their business.

Experience: Coaching young entrepreneurs in a developing country will allow you to test your professional skills in a new environment and use them to overcome new challenges.

Network: You’ll collaborate with other mentors (current and past) to make the most of your time with your entrepreneur, and meet a variety of professionals in the SME community.

The Ideal Global Mentor

• Graduate degree in a relevant field or an undergraduate degree with 2-3 years of experience
• Experience in mentoring, coaching, and/or training others preferred
• Interest in emerging markets and the developing world
• Experience abroad—in developing countries especially—preferred
• Independent working, problem solving, critical thinking, patient optimist
• Commitment to going the extra mile to create lasting impact
• Open to new experiences and understanding of different cultures

To learn more about previous mentors, click the link below:

http://www.africanentrepreneurcollective.org/mentors.html

AEC will provide you with free lodging in our spacious, seven-bedroom guesthouse in a safe and well situated neighborhood. Our in-country staff will assist you in getting situated in the city and learning new customs.

To apply for AEC's Global Mentors Program, please email your resume and a brief letter of interest to AEC's Founder and Executive Director, Julienne Oyler, atJulienne@africanentrepreneur.org. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and preference is given to early applicants.