Harvard Social Enterprise Conference 2007 (TreeHugger)

Of the many events that I attend the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference is one of my favorites. Open to the public, the conference draws roughly 1000 participants and provides a forum for exploring the synergies between for-profit, non-profit, and public sector approaches to addressing critical social issues. As usual, I left the conference inspired, with new ideas and contacts.

Social Enterprise is a broad umbrella term that encompasses everything from microfinance to public health to environmental sustainability to corporate social responsibility and so on. These organizations trade in goods or services, and link that trade to a social mission. The need to deliver on financial, social and environmental performance targets is often referred to as having a triple bottom line. The “Green Camp” was fairly well represented. Among others, we heard from: Richard Cizik, Paul Epstein, Marc Gunther, Dickson D. Despommier, Chris Landry and Kimberly Manno Reott. Keynote speaker Daniel Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor, City of New York spoke about the complexities of managing the City of New York so that it will continue to be a desirable place for years to come and touched on the 2030 initiative that is in the works.

This year’s conference, the 8th annual, was presented jointly by the Social Enterprise Club of Harvard Business School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. It is entirely run by students from these two schools. The jam-packed one-day event included great networking, two keynote sessions, and three sessions of 5-10 panels each, small group sessions, a Pitch for Change business pitch competition, and a career fair! We heard from panelists with a wealth of knowledge and experience in innovative, cross-sectoral approaches to addressing social issues. Keep an eye out this week for my posts about the panels and speakers! Hopefully I’ll see you at the 9th annual HSE conference next year! :: Harvard Social Enterprise Conference

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I went to the conference this past sunday and have some summaries on my blog.

Keynote (focus on Victoria Hale's talk): http://www.aidg.org/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,34/p,341/
Panel 1 (Making People Care): http://www.aidg.org/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,34/p,346/

I'll be writing up my notes on the rest of the conference in a day or so.

- cat

March 7, 2007 1:58 PM |

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Harvard Social Enterprise Conference 2007

by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 03. 5.07

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Harvard Social Enterprise Conference 2007

by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 03. 5.07

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