• Equip students with the analytical and planning tools necessary to launch a high impact social enterprise
• Provide students with the opportunity to apply the tools to develop their own social entrepreneurial initiative
• Help students better assess their own potential and interest in becoming a social entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurship is acquiring the proportions of a world-wide movement. From micro-finance initiatives to youth houses, fair trade soaps and community-based art initiatives. There is however no agreement on the definition nor on the nature of the phenomenon that is being called “social entrepreneurship.” Yet, the increase of the discussion and the variety of initiatives do all have one thing in common: a will to achieve social change. The core of this course is social change through the parallel notion of social entrepreneurship. That is, we will look at entrepreneurship as a particular form of organizing for social transformation.

Some of the questions that we will explore throughout the course are: How should we think when designing initiatives aiming at social change? In what instances does a market rationality serve us better than a communitarian one? What conceptual and practical tools can be used in our strive to improve the lives of people and the health of our communities? How can the social be re-articulated in our efforts to catalyze social change?

In sum, we will be looking at rationalities, strategies and tools aiming at social change. For that purpose, we will be using the intellectual tools handed to us by the social sciences to both understand the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship and apply them to the creation of students’ own social entrepreneurial ventures.

This course is venture based: It will be based on a social venture that students co-create. First because the most effective way to understand social entrepreneurship is to practice it. Second, because the course aims to promote a creative and proactive stance toward the society you live in, not merely an adaptive or critical one.

Thus, this course takes an experiential approach and students are expected to interact with civil society and the social entrepreneurial community, participate in class discussion, and be active participants in the teaching/learning process. Topics will include understanding the problem you want to address, assessing the opportunity, acknowledging the implicit theory of change, considering the venture’s organizational form, funding your initiative, building your board, pitching your initiative, and start assessing social impact.

This course appeals to students with a strong desire to become social entrepreneurs, or work in a social startup, early stage or social entrepreneurial minded company that may be pursued now or later in their careers. It is also for those students who are considering obtaining jobs in consulting, social venture capital, or social foundations where they are dealing with new or relatively new social ventures.

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