In hopes of winning the $25,000 grand prize, entrants from ten countries submitted more than 110 innovative business plans to the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), hosted this year by Columbia Business School. The winner will be decided during the final round of the competition, which will take place on April 7th at Low Library.
"We are extremely pleased with both the quality and quantity of business plans we received this year," said Bethany Hale '06, one of GSVC's Columbia co-chairs. "It is wonderful to see such a surge in the number of excellent and creative plans for businesses focused on both financial and societal returns."
Business plans came from countries such as the US, UK, India, France, China, and New Zealand, and from diverse fields that include community development, finance, education, technology, non-profit, healthcare and more. GSVC is an annual competition collaboratively organized by CBS, Berkeley's Haas School of Business, London Business School and The Goldman Sachs Foundation. The Indian School of Business also participates as an affiliate school.
The purpose of the GSVC is to "actively support and promote the creation and growth of successful social ventures around the world." What exactly is a social venture? One way to define it is as "an enterprise that has both financial and social goals integral to its purpose." What makes GSVC unique from other business plan competitions is that it requires entrants to define, quantify, and monetize the plan's intended social impact, commonly referred to as the Social Return on Investment (SROI). Figures such as number of new jobs created in a developing country, lower healthcare costs per child, or reduced energy consumption can be used in calculating a plan's SROI.
During the first week of February, a group of approximately 80 enthusiastic and diverse student judges participated in the first round of judging the social venture business plans. Many of the students came from Professor Cathy Clark's popular elective course, Social Entrepreneurship.
Below are a couple of profiles from our student judges and competition entrants:
Student Judge Profile #1: Jennifer Wilson, '06
What did you like most about judging the GSVC business plans?
I enjoyed discussing the plans with a diverse set of individuals. Even though we didn't have wildly different opinions about the plans, each member of the group uncovered nuances that the others didn't initially consider. That made for a more robust assessment of each plan and, consequently, better feedback for those who submitted the plans. It was a productive and fun way to spend a Friday afternoon.
What are some of the key things you were looking for while judging the plans?
I was primarily interested in whether the business seemed like it would be successful.
Is there a market for the product or service and can this business deliver that better than its competitors can?
For the social dimension, I wanted to understand how their social goals were aligned to the business. Some of the plans separated their goals, i.e. they planned to make money, then give some of it away to a cause. A good plan integrated the business and social missions. In addition, the way in which these points were communicated swayed the decision. Concise, well-articulated plans were not the norm.
Student Judge Profile #2: Todd Ofenloch, '07
What was your involvement with GSVC judging this year?
Currently, I am AVP Judging for GSVC, which means I helped recruit student and professional judges, coordinated the actual judging of business plans and provided the official feedback to the entrants.
What kind of feedback did you provide?
All submitted plans are judged by a group of students in the first round, and if moved on, groups of professionals for the two final rounds. Plans are evaluated on the basis of business sustainability and potential measurable social impact. Our primary feedback was aimed at helping entrants to improve their business plans in both of these areas. While we are judging for the competition, for us it is more important that these entrepreneurs move forward with their business ideas and work to create these enterprises regardless of whether they advance in this competition. Hopefully our suggestions help them improve their plans and contribute towards raising money from other potential financing sources. Most of our specific feedback focused on ways to clarify the proposal - such as better ways to lay out the financial metrics, comments on the underlying assumptions for the SROI calculation, or more detailed descriptions of the competitive environments the businesses might face. We also posed questions about aspects of the plans that were unclear and could benefit from more disclosure.
What did you like most about judging the GSVC business plans?
The best part was reading the plans and seeing how many different socially responsible businesses entrants had developed. It is a great thrill to have the opportunity to think about such innovative ideas. Another great thing about the judging process itself is the fact that the plans are evaluated in teams. That really led to interesting discussions. My team had students from three different schools at Columbia, so the perspectives that each team member brought to the group were quite diverse. As a result of this variety, we were able to provide much more complete suggestions for the entrants.
Student Entrant Profile #1: Josh Spodek, '06 Venture: FeBe - For Educators By Educators
Why did you enter GSVC?
I am starting a venture in education. GSVC's goal is to promote entrepreneurship in fields like education. It provides me with resources like a mentor, feedback on my plan, networking, and competition. All of these help me improve my venture and, I hope, serve my market better.
What's your role on the business team? What other backgrounds are on the team?
I conceived of the idea and I have experience founding a company. I am writing the business plan and helping develop the product. My business partner is a programmer. He is helping develop the product and writing the code. What advice do you have to others writing business plans? Start doing it, even if the idea isn't yet good. If you think your idea has any chance, however remote, of being marketable and profitable, bounce it off a couple people you know. Their feedback will help you improve the idea. After a few iterations it will either improve or you'll know it's not worth it. Very rarely do the ideas for great businesses start off great - they evolve into it. Why are you interested in starting a social venture? I want to start a venture because the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship are what drive me. It's in education because I have always been drawn to education, my family has several educators in it, and I have experience working in an education start-up.
Student Entrant Profile #2: Arnold Leitner, '06 Venture: SkyFuel, LLC
Why did you enter GSVC?
When you have an idea for a business, a business plan competition is a great way to test it. Also, it is good to go out there and let everyone know what you are up to because your peers, professor and judges are great references. It's also just fun.
What's your definition of a social venture, and what's yours about?
Social ventures are businesses that benefit society and, really, all businesses should be social ventures. They're about the people involved and about providing products and services that improve our daily lives. In the case of my company, SkyFuel LLC, we want to provide renewable energy and clean air. We propose to build large scale thermal-electric solar power plants that provide affordable and dependable electricity from the renewable energy of the sun.
What advice do you have to others writing business plans?
A business plan is important. Write one, but understand that it is not necessarily the key to the success of your venture. It's more important to find people who strongly believe in you and your idea. Also, keep the plan short but make sure you present decent financial information-people just want to know if this is a one thousand or one million dollar business.
What was the hardest part of writing the business plan?
Determining the size of the market and potential revenues. For example, who knows how many solar power plants we will be able to build? If you have a hard time with your market analysis, you'll have a hard time with your financial forecast. But at the same time that probably means that you have a new idea.
Why are you interested in starting a social venture?
I think it is perfectly fine to provide an environmental benefit in a for-profit way, because if the good and the useful can be combined the good only gets stronger.
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