Social Entrepreneurship

INDEV 308: Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship

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University of Waterloo, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED)

Spring 2011

 

Course Overview

Social entrepreneurship is attracting growing amounts of talent, money, and attention. But along with its increasing popularity has come wide diversity in understandings of what social entrepreneurship is. In this course, you will:

  1. Be exposed to the theory of social entrepreneurship: You will be introduced to best practices, successes and failures, opportunities and constraints in the field of social entrepreneurship
  2. Build a business model for your own social enterprise: Using tools and conceptual frameworks, you will have an opportunity to build a business model and an “investment quality” pitch deck for a new social venture
  3. Learn how to apply your knowledge to advance social good: You will be given new perspectives on the opportunities for leveraging your education to impact structural social issues

 

Key Features:

  • Diversity in Approaches – This course is designed to be an introduction to the varied models of social entrepreneurship that exist, and will give you an opportunity to apply these model(s) to the development of a social venture.
  • Established Process, New Applications – While the course will acknowledge the challenges that all businesses must face, we will examine in detail the unique challenges and opportunities of applying a market-based, entrepreneurial approach to creating social value.
  • Social & Financial Returns – We will explore the social capital markets and optimizing social and financial returns, and discuss issues related to measuring social impact.
  • Many Perspectives – Integrated throughout the course will be examples from complementary perspectives, including the developed and developing world, for-profit and nonprofit sectors, and local and international.
  • Guest Entrepreneurs – Where possible, we will bring in guest entrepreneurs who can speak to the course topics from their perspective.
  • Focus on Start-up and Growth – Finally, while the course will touch on the entire life cycle of a social enterprise, there will be a particular focus on startup and early growth.

Pedagogy

We will use a variety of teaching methods to encourage intellectual understanding and a personal connection to the subject matter. Lecture sessions will be coupled with experiential techniques such as case studies, simulations, exercises, and group discussions. Guest speakers will also be a key component to student learning.

The “live case” method is one way that we make the lecture real. Instead of using a written case study, a real social entrepreneur will attend class, and will present a high level description of their business (mission, motivation, goals, etc). We then pose a series of questions to the students related to the entrepreneur’s venture. The guest speaker will interact directly with students (organized in groups), to help them refine their business models and/or bring in specific expertise and insights to the issues that they are seeking to address or develop further.

Your active contribution in class is an important aspect of the course and will enhance our learning experience.

Course Instructors

Norm Tasevski – Course Director
Email: norm@socialentrepreneurship.ca
Office Hours: By appointment (preferably via Skype or phone)

Karim Harji – Instructor
Email: karim@socialentrepreneurship.ca
Office Hours: By appointment (preferably via Skype or phone)

Jespal Panesar – TA
Email: j3panesa@uwaterloo.ca
Office Hours: By appointment (preferably via Skype or phone)

Course Texts

Required Course Texts

  • “Business Model Generation”, by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. 2009. Self Published.
  • “Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know”, by David Bornstein and Susan Davis. 2010. Oxford University Press.
  • “The Canadian Social Enterprise Guide, Revised (Full PDF)” by Enterprising NonProfits. 2010: 2nd Edition. Full text available online as PDF: http://www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/guide_download?sid=2156

Recommended Course Text

  • “The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets that Change the World”, by John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan and Klaus Schwab. 2008. Harvard Business School Publishing.

Course Grading

  • A detailed description of the project, due dates and grading scheme will be provided in Class 2.
  • We will not use a fixed grading scale in this course. The course will be graded according to Waterloo Grading Guidelines.

Individual class participation (20%)

  • Grade will be based on the quality of participation during in-class discussions, in-class group exercises, and questions for guest speakers. Obviously, attendance in class is a prerequisite!
  • Evidence of participation outside of the classroom (e.g. in social entrepreneurship blogs, emailing the professors) may also be factored in as appropriate.

Online Debate (20%)

During the semester, students will have the opportunity to engage in an online debate in response to specific questions that relate to the themes of the course. We will be using an innovative and interactive platform to engage the entire class in this initiative, and each student is expected to participate.

Additional details and instructions will be provided in class 2. The general guidelines are as follows:

  • Students will carry out this exercise in pairs (i.e. 2 students per group).
  • Each student pair will debate one other student pair online. The matching of student pairs will be determined in class 2.
  • Instructors will pose at least 3 questions that relate to the themes of the readings and discussions in the course. Each group will be required to choose 2 questions to respond to.
  • The debates will flow as follows:
    • Each group will pick a question, and read the readings linked to that question. Students will be expected to draw on the course readings and class discussions as appropriate to formulate their videos.
    • One student pair will formulate a response to the question in a short (i.e. 2 minute) video that frames one side of the issue.
    • The second student pair will respond to the first group’s video with their own video (again, 2 minutes long).
    • Each student pair will then have a chance to post a video rebuttal. The student that responds in the rebuttal must not be the same student as the one in the first video (i.e. every student will participate in at least one video).
    • Once all videos and rebuttals have been uploaded, other students in the class will be able to vote on who “won” the debate. Student voting will be factored into the final grade for this exercise.
  • The videos must follow specific guidelines that will be provided by the instructors. This will relate directly to the grading criteria, which will also be provided in class 2. Grading will be based on both both the content as well as the delivery of the videos.
  • Each student pair will debate on two topics. Each submission will be worth 10% of the final grade (20% total).

Business Model and Investment Pitch (60%)

Students will develop an “investment quality” business model and investment pitch deck for a social venture, which will be presented to two panels – one with “social investors”, and the other with Angel investors.

The grading scheme for the assignment:

  • Motivations, drivers, and business model canvas (10%)
  • Assessment of the business potential of the idea (10%)
  • Marketing, organizational, financial and legal considerations (10%)
  • Completed business plan and investment pitches (30%) (10% for social investor pitch, 10% for Angel investor pitch, and 10% for final revised business model canvas)

The details for the assignment (key deliverables, expectations and timelines for submission) will be provided separately.

Submitting Assignments

  • All assignments are due, in soft copy, at the start of the class (8:30am) in which they are due. After 8:31am, a late penalty will be assigned (10%/day). No hard copies will be accepted.
  • All assignments are to be submitted via email to indev308@ocialentrepreneurship.ca.
  • Group members and numbers will be assigned by the end of class 2.
  • Please cc all group members when submitting an assignment.

For simplicity, please use the following format for the Subject line of the email:

  • For the business model canvas: “INDEV308 – Business Model – Group (#)”
  • For assessing business potential: “INDEV308 – Business Potential – Group (#)”
  • For the marketing, organizational, financial and legal considerations : “INDEV308 – Considerations – Group (#)”
  • For the pitches: “INDEV308 – Pitch 1 – Group (#)” and “INDEV308 – Pitch 2 – Group (#)”

Class Schedule

  • Class 1 (May 2): Definitions and Examples of Social Entrepreneurship
  • Class 2 (May 9): Motivations and Drivers for Social Entrepreneurship
  • Class 3 (May 16): Business Modeling for Social Enterprise
  • May 23 – No Class
  • Class 4 (May 30): Identifying Business Potential
  • Class 5 (June 6): Financial Modeling
  • Class 6 (June 13): Operational and Human Resource Considerations
  • Class 7 (June 20): Marketing and Legal Considerations
  • Class 8 (June 27): Managing for Social Impact
  • Class 9 (July 4): Social Entrepreneurship in the International Development Context
  • Class 10 (July 11): The Enabling Environment for Social Entrepreneurship
  • Class 11 (July 18): Student Pitches to Social Investors
  • Class 12 (July 25): Student Pitches to Angel Investors