The YouthBridge Community Foundation has renewed its partnership with the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies to fund the annual Social Entrepreneur and Innovation Competition (SEIC) with an initial $450,000 pledge over the next three years.
YouthBridge has been a major sponsor of the competition for nonprofit, community-based ventures since its inception in 2005. The newly named YouthBridge SEIC is unique in St. Louis and, in terms of monetary awards, is the largest competition of its kind in the United States.
“The YouthBridge commitment is helping to build the innovation environment around social issues in St. Louis,” said Ken Harrington, director of the Skandalaris Center. “The free workshops and the speakers we offer, thanks to YouthBridge, get people thinking about new business models to help them meet their mission. They offer unique opportunities for people to connect and help each other.”
Over the past five years, the SEIC has made 23 awards totaling $480,000, including $5,000 student awards each year presented to the best student-founded or supported venture. The competition defines social entrepreneurship as “using entrepreneurial skills to craft innovative processes, approaches and solutions to help resolve social issues.”
Last year’s 42 entrants in the SEIC included a diverse range of ventures with missions to provide educational, cultural and vocational training. Additional sponsors to the YouthBridge SEIC include the Incarnate Word Foundation, the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis and the Daughters of Charity Foundation of St. Louis.
To kick off the 2009-10 Youth-Bridge SEIC and the annual Olin Cup entrepreneurial competitions, the Skandalaris Center is sponsoring Assembly Series speaker Jessica Jackley at 5 p.m. Sept. 17 in Simon Hall’s May Auditorium.
Jackley is a co-founder of Kiva.org, the first online micro financing Web site that connects individual lenders to aspiring entrepreneurs in developing countries. It allows people to make loans of as little as $25 directly to small businesses in the developing world and then maintain one-to-one contact online with the entrepreneurs who receive the loans.
Jackley’s interest in helping third-world entrepreneurs was inspired during travels and study abroad while a junior at Bucknell University. Since launching Kiva.org in 2005, she has spoken widely on micro finance and social entrepreneurship. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with certificates in Global Management and Public Management. A reception will follow Jackley’s presentation.
The 2010 YouthBridge SEIC competition is open to all members of the WUSTL and St. Louis communities and is accepting applications. For information, visit sc.wustl.edu/SEIC/enter.html.
The Olin Cup competition sponsored by the Skandalaris Center and the Olin Business School is open to teams with at least one WUSTL student or alumnus. For entry information, visit sc.wustl.edu/OlinCup/enter.html.