Social Entrepreneurship Boot Camp Planned for WRI on Petit Jean in July
The impact of Noble Impact on the state's entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to grow.
Noble founder Steve Clark will lead a social entrepreneurship boot camp next summer at the UA's Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain outside Morrilton.
The camp is being put together by the WRI, the UA's Clinton School of Public Service, the UA's Office of Entrepreneurship and the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub.
Noble, of course, drives students to the intersection of social entrepreneurship and public service. It wants to change the current educational model.
Recently, it held the Innovate 2 Educate event at the ARK Challenge space in Little Rock for Noble Impact and EAST Initiative students at eStem High at which the kids pitched startup ideas centered around ways to improve education.
Social entrepreneurship is big, trending nationwide and globally, and Noble is leading the charge in Arkansas. This boot camp, folks, is a big deal.
Submit an application and learn more here.
Here's the official presser from WRI, below. Stay tuned. Much more to come:
Social Entrepreneurship Boot Camp application period now open
PETIT JEAN MOUNTAIN, Ark. (Dec. 2, 2014) — The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, the Clinton School of Public Service, the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub and the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship are proud to announce a Social Entrepreneurship Boot Camp to be held July 17-19, 2015, at the Institute on Petit Jean Mountain.
Applications for the boot camp will be accepted now through Jan. 31 and can be found at www.rockefellerinstitute.org/SEbootcamp.
The boot camp will provide training for new and aspiring social entrepreneurs, focusing on such topics as business skills, legal issues, scalability, measuring impact, ethics and benefit corporations. Participants will also receive one-on-one mentoring from established business leaders and social enterprise experts.
Those interested are encouraged to submit an application through the website. Applicants are encouraged to apply in teams, though individual applications will also be accepted.
Applications will be judged by representatives from each partner organization, and the selectees for the boot camp will be notified by March 30. The selected attendees will then be required to complete a “lean canvas,” a particularly accessible model for describing and organizing business ventures. Each team/participant’s lean canvas will be developed throughout the boot camp, and the end result will be a solid business plan for each social enterprise.
Steve Clark, founder of Propak Logistics and co-founder of Rockfish and Noble Impact, will serve as the boot camp’s keynote speaker. Also confirmed to serve as a speaker and mentor is Trish Flanagan, founder of Picasolar and Show Me Solar Power, and co-founder of Noble Impact.
“In Arkansas and around the world, young people are gravitating toward social entrepreneurship as a pathway to pursue the aspirations of their generation,” Clark said.
The boot camp follows in the success of the 2013 panel discussion on social entrepreneurship developed by the Institute and the Clinton School.
“This concept of doing well by doing good, of businesses designed to have a positive social impact, has the potential to be an important part of our state’s future,” said Dr. Marta Loyd, executive director of the Institute. “Our partners bring immense practical experience and intellectual resources to the table. With their help, we look forward to the new enterprises that will surely be launched as a result of this program.”
About the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute
In 2005, the University of Arkansas System established the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute with a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust. By integrating the resources and expertise of the University of Arkansas System with the legacy and ideas of Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, this educational institute and conference center creates an atmosphere where collaboration and change can thrive.Program areas include Agriculture, Arts and Humanities, Civic Engagement, Economic Development, and Health. To learn more, call 501-727-5435, visit the website at www.rockefellerinstitute.org, or stay connected through Twitter and Facebook.
About the Clinton School of Public Service
The first school in the nation to offer a Master of Public Service (MPS) degree, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service gives students the knowledge and experience to further their careers in the areas of nonprofit, governmental, volunteer or private sector service.A two-year graduate program with a real-world curriculum, the Clinton School is located on the grounds of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Ark. The school embodies former President Clinton’s vision of building leadership in civic engagement and enhancing people’s capacity to work across disciplinary, racial, ethnic and geographical boundaries. For more information, visit www.clintonschool.uasys.edu.
About the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship
The mission of the University of Arkansas’ Office of Entrepreneurship is to catalyze entrepreneurial activities and innovation across the university and throughout the state in order to build Arkansas’ knowledge-based economy.Established in 2011, the Office of Entrepreneurship has led commercialization retreats for faculty from the research universities in the state, supported student and faculty commercialization activities, integrated University of Arkansas research with demand-driven innovation needs in the state through the IGNITE program, and hosted several social entrepreneurship events.
University of Arkansas students have led the world in national and international business plan competitions since 2009, winning almost twice as many competitions as the next closest competitor. Students have won over $2.3 million in prize money, established 13 high-growth businesses, and raised almost $30 million to build their companies. Visit http://entrepreneurship.uark.edu for more information.
About the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub
The Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub (www.arhub.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing innovative and entrepreneurial activity in Arkansas by creating a collaborative ecosystem and pipelines that mobilize the resources, programs and educational opportunities necessary to develop, attract and retain talent and to build the state’s economy.