DATE: March 6, 2008

Sixteen of the 80 teams who applied competed in the fourth annual University of Washington Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) held at the Michael G. Foster School of Business February 25 - 29. First place with an award of $5,000 went to KAITE, a German and Zimbabwe organization that currently farms, harvests and sells organic oils and herbs. The UW Foster School team came in second with an award of $2,500 for their Rabuor Sunflower Farm business plan to help Kenyans move out of poverty via production and sales of sunflower oil.

GSEC 2008 also marked the start of a new partnership between the UW Department of Global Health and the Foster School. Global Health offered two prizes for best global health plans and provided plan reviewers, mentors and judges for the competition. Global Health first prize of $5,000 went to Help for Malaria, an interdisciplinary team from the UW School of Medicine, UW School of Law and Harvard. Second prize went to WaterPLUS from University of North Carolina, Duke and Stanford.

"The social entrepreneurship movement is gaining momentum these days and the concept is becoming more mainstream than ever," said Bill Clapp, founder of Global Partnerships and keynote speaker at the GSEC awards banquet. "We no longer look to governments. We look toward local and regional solutions."

An increasing number of those solutions are coming from business school students, as evidence by the more than double number of submissions to attend this year’s GSEC as in the previous year.

Corporate social responsibility is moving to the bottom line, especially among venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Clapp said, “Before microfinance, we ignored the poor. Then something amazing happened. Somebody began loaning them money. They are ready to be part of the economy, if we could just let them in.”

GSEC brought together students from around the world to compete while sharpening their presentation skills. Teams were grateful for the opportunity to showcase their business plans and present ideas during the week-long event. Each team was honored at the banquet and said a few words about their experience.

Linda Ramcke of KAITE, winner of GSEC 2008, commented about her experience working in Zimbabwe for the company and then presenting their business plan at the competition. “None of us come from a business perspective, so it was extremely helpful to see how business people think about our plan.”

The UW team comprised Foster School MBA students and UW Evans School of Public Affairs graduate student Loyce Mbewa Ong’udi, who is from Kenya and founder and president of the Rabuor Village Project. The organization has many projects including sunflower farming, the inspiration for the UW team’s business plan.

Professor Jane George-Falvy, Foster School faculty director for the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition spoke at the banquet about the value of this competition and social entrepreneurship ventures, saying, "It's about harnessing the capital engine to create sustainable businesses that address persistent, social problems previously resistant to solvency via the traditional band-aid of relief programs. The difference between social entrepreneurs and slum lords is that products and services offered by the social entrepreneur does something to alleviate the ill effects of poverty rather than exacerbate it."

Seeds of social justice hope can begin at business schools. Foster School Dean James Jiambalvo praised the students and competition, saying, "GSEC gets to the noble purpose of business.