Easily the most common criticism of Vanderbilt students claims that they are apathetic. Whether it’s a lack of appetite for politics, excessive concern for superficial and social considerations, or grade-grubbing with little concern for intellectual growth, accusations that Vanderbilt students lack connection to “the real world” abound. For many students, however, this could not be further from the truth. Part of a rapidly growing movement both in the United States and abroad, Vanderbilt students have helped make their Nashville campus a hotbed of social enterprise.
An article in last Sunday’s Education section of the New York Times described the growing attention being paid to social enterprise by the nation’s top business schools. “Business Schools with a Social Appeal” cited schools including Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, Yale’s School of Management, and London’s Hult International Business School with well-known social enterprise programs.
Social enterprises apply market-based solutions to social problems, implementing double and even triple bottom lines to merge social and environmental goals with the profit motive. John Danner, of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business described the phenomenon in the Times piece: “The fact remains that there are more future opportunities figuring out useful and profitable (and perhaps personally rewarding) solutions to the needs of the 4 billion people living on less than $10/day than there are tweaking the next gadget for consumers living at the top of the world’s economic pyramid.”
Though not mentioned in the article, Vanderbilt boasts an important role in the emergence of social enterprise. Muhammad Yunus, who earned his Ph.D in Economics at Vanderbilt in 1970, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
Enthusiasm for social enterprise is not solely the province of alumni, however. Vanderbilt students still in school, both undergraduates and graduate students, have demonstrated a keen interest in the field. Student organizations such as the Vanderbilt Microfinance Club and the Global Poverty Initiative have sponsored social enterprise-related events. One such event will be held in Langford Auditorium on February 9, where Jessica Jackley, co-founder of the microfinance website Kiva.org, will speak. Kiva is an online community that allows people to make loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world. According to its website, Kiva had facilitated over $100 million in poverty-alleviating loans as of November 2009.
Langford Auditorium also hosted another giant of social enterprise, TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, who spoke last year. His business, which supplies a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair it sells based on its motto “One for One,” has proven a tremendous popular success. Vanderbilt currently has an active TOMS club.
Several of Vanderbilt’s most ambitious students have moved from admiring and promoting other social enterprises to starting their own. Triple Thread Apparel, a screen-printing business founded by Kyle McCollom ’11 to employ former offenders from Nashville’s Dismas House, has been featured in the Torch previously.
Taylor Pearl, best known for its Pearls for Life campaign, was started by Tommy Obenchain ’11 to supply high-quality, affordable freshwater pearls while aiding a social cause. Through Pearls for Life, Taylor Pearl funds projects that combat water contamination in the developing world. According to its website, “Through a pre-existing relationship Pearls for Life is working in tandem with a Bangladeshi relief organization, Humanitarian Aid for Rural Development (HARD), to financially support the installation of water purification systems in impoverished, rural villages.”
Sur Real Foods, founded by Thomas Davis ’10, an Ingram Scholar, four-year NCAA cross country letter winner and first year medical student at Vanderbilt, empowers local Hispanic communities while providing gourmet foods to Nashville markets.
The Nashville Mobile Market, founded by Ravi Patel ’09, a second year medical student at Vanderbilt, delivers healthy foods to areas of Nashville without access to a reliable source of nutrition. By supplying these food deserts with healthy options, the Nashville Mobile Market hopes to reduce the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related diseases. In addition to promoting nutrition in vulnerable areas in Nashville, the Mobile Market will aid the Shade Tree Clinic, a free clinic run by Vanderbilt medical students, by donating a portion of its profits.
For both current and aspiring social entrepreneurs, the resources of Vanderbilt are a tremendous asset. Jim Schorr, Professor for the Practice of Business and Society at the Owen Graduate School of Management, is chief among these. In addition to teaching a course at Owen entitled Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, Schorr was instrumental in advising the founders of Triple Thread Apparel.
Schorr’s expertise in social enterprise is considerable. Before coming to Vanderbilt, Schorr “developed and taught a new course on social entrepreneurship” at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, according to his faculty profile online. He also served as the CEO of Juma Ventures, a successful youth development organization founded in the San Francisco Bay Area to ensure that underserved youth complete a four-year education. Schorr was also instrumental in launching Net Impact, “an international nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire, educate, and equip individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world.”
A local chapter of Net Impact is currently being founded by Vanderbilt students with the help of Professor Schorr. “The chapter will team up with one or two local projects as well as an international one,” according to Vig Siga ’13, one of the founding members.
For Vanderbilt students interested in social enterprise, countless opportunities for involvement exist, and those interested need look no further than our own campus. For those who are unfamiliar or perhaps unsold on the field, a visit to Innovideo.tv, a website created by Kyle McCollom, Chris Cole, and Jonathan Kohler – all members of the Class of 2011 and the team that founded Triple Thread Apparel – will help. Inspired by TED, the website offering free videos of speeches by influential people in diverse fields, Innovideo is described by its creators as “a curated gallery of videos about innovative ideas.” Offering a new and inspiring video each day, Innovideo should make short work of swelling the already numerous ranks of Vanderbilt students actively engaged in social enterprise.
—Patrick McBride is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at patrick.j.mcbride@vanderbilt.edu.
