Sustainable Entrepreneurship Practicum

Social Entrepreneurship involves the application of business solutions to social/environmental problems. To identify commercially viable yet appropriate solutions, social entrepreneurs need to have a deep understanding of the needs of both beneficiaries and customers.

At the core of the course is the process of developing low-cost, quick consumer experiments to learn about the market potential for different variants of new products or services, as well as how social impact is created. There will be multiple iterations of the business idea until an attractive variant is identified or an avenue to an adjacent space is explored. The course also familiarizes students with how best to present their market validation information and the initial outlines of their business and revenue models to early-stage investors and other stake holders in the social impact space.

The course will guide students in the process of developing and market-testing new venture ideas. Students will work in teams, and each team will receive a grant of $1,000 towards prototyping and market testing their new venture idea.

Also, mentors will give the team feedback on their market testing process. A panel consisting of faculty instructor, industry experts, and entrepreneurs will select the teams for the course based on their one-page new business idea outline.