By Xueying “Shelley” Chen

Hult Prize is the world’s biggest social venture competition that was established by Ahmad Ashkar. It crowd-sources ideas from MBA and college students after challenging them to solve a pressing social issue. This year the challenge was to come up with a solution to create 10,000 meaningful jobs for youth. Millions of young people are disconnected from meaningful jobs. I sat down with my teammates and we brainstormed ideas to solve youth employment problems for Indian girls who are at risk of child sex trafficking.

We competed as Boodana and we aim to combat child sex trafficking in India through job creation. In India, prostitution is legal, and 1 out of 40 girls under the age of 15 is forced into prostitution. Many girls in India become prostitutes as a means to support their families, because they lack the skills or opportunities necessary to work in other positions. Many girls in India are also sold into prostitution against their will by those closest to them, including friends, neighbors, or even their own husbands.

The worst thing that could happen to anybody is to start every day believing that every one of your tomorrows will be just like yesterday. Our plan is to ensure that, for girls in India who are suffering as a result of child prostitution, the days ahead will not be the same as those that are behind. Over 10 years, we will create a network of 100 healing centers in India that will each employ 100 girls who are at risk for becoming or are former prostitutes. At these healing centers, girls will be given paid apprenticeships to become certified yoga and meditation instructors. They will be taught by local yoga and meditation experts in India. Their compensation will vastly exceed what they could earn through prostitution, thereby providing incentive for a meaningful work alternative. We will also cooperate with local non-profits that are already working to rescue girls from brothels in India. Boodana’s healing centers will provide a safe space for these girls to heal – physically and mentally – while providing them with meaningful jobs.

India is the world’s top destination for yoga tourism, and Boodana will capitalize on the growing wellness travel market in India. Based on a preliminary financial analysis, we will be able to price our retreats competitively compared to India’s most popular yoga retreats and still generate significant profits in only 2-3 years. In addition, we will have a second stream of revenue by partnering with Universities in the US and other developed nations to provide classes and cultural exchange programs for students. Students studying international relations, Asian, or gender studies can travel to Boodana retreats to take classes from local Indian professors for course credit. By taking these classes in India, students will be able to immerse themselves in Indian culture and tradition, and also learn about gender equality challenges firsthand from the girls who have experienced them. Students will pay tuition for the classes, and discounted tuition can be offered to students who help teach/tutor the young women employees at Boodana (eg. tutoring in English speaking or writing, personal finance, or entrepreneurship).

During the weekend of March 8, we pitched our idea to a panel of judges at the Toronto Regionals. Even though we did not advance to the final, we felt very lucky to be a part of social movement that has the potential to create real impact for the world’s most vulnerable community. We will take the lessons from this competition to advance our future entrepreneurial endeavors.

Xueying “Shelley” Chen ’19 is a researcher, activist and writer of social entrepreneurship and a believer of impact-driven businesses. She thinks business is a vehicle to deliver profitable, sustainable and socially responsible returns. Shelley puts human-centered impact in the core of her daily business practice. Additionally, Shelley is an active member of the UR entrepreneurial community and she is a member of the Ain Team – a group of elite student ambassadors chosen to promote and increase the visibility of the department and the MS in TEAM program.

By Hector Castillo Carvajal

Born and raised until the age of eight in Las Barias, Provincia Bani, Dominican Republic I witnessed a large amount of poverty, not only in my community but all throughout the country. I can distinctly remember kids walking miles upon miles to class because there were either no funds to address the malfunctioning school buses, or they couldn’t afford the ride. Although I was fortunate enough to live next door to my school, I often wonder how it would have been if I didn’t.

With the odds in our favor, my family received the opportunity of a lifetime – my father’s petition to leave our poor but beautiful little town and migrate to the United States had been approved. My family and I arrived in New York City in October of 2004. That was the first time that I realized there was a stark difference between the abundance of wealth, resources, and opportunities available in the US compared to back home.

Seeing such disparity first hand, inspired me to explore social entrepreneurship. These experiences made me eager to enact change in the Dominican Republic, and eventually in other developing countries. One way I am working towards this goal is through a fundraiser/initiative called Carvajal Cares that I began to benefit underserved students in my hometown back in Las Barias, Provincia Bani (DR).

While living in NYC though, there was a point in which I felt myself taking the numerous opportunities for granted. So in 2016, I dropped out of high school and traveled back to the Dominican Republic to rectify myself and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I was immediately overcome with feelings of confusion and disappointment as I watched parents lead their children to harvest crops to make extra money necessary to make ends meet. I noticed that these children didn’t have the option to focus on pursuing their education or their dreams. This trip reignited my drive to do more to improve the lives of those living in DR by focusing on the education system. It also motivated me to increase awareness of the problems that communities like Las Barias, Bani face all throughout the world.

I recently had the opportunity to do just that. I hosted an event entitled “Education Disparities in Developing Countries: What Can You Do?” to highlight the ongoing education disparities in the DR and to encouraged my fellow classmates to become agents of change.

I began the event by playing a short documentary featuring the struggles that students in the Dominican Republic experience. I then had the audience participate in a Kahoot game I created, which included statistical data about the family incomes and education in the DR. Many of the students and staff members who attended sat in awe when they learned that according to the World Bank, 46% of Dominicans live in poverty and that the average income per month is only USD $130. One student couldn’t help but comment: “Wow, I figured the situation was bad, but not that bad! This is surprising.” Witnessing and hearing such reactions along with individuals inquiring about volunteering opportunities made me realize how successful the event turned out to be.

Harry Montas, a documentary photographer, and educator based in the Bronx Documentary Center in New York City visited us as a guest speaker to present and debut his contemporary documentary in partnership with Carvajal Cares. Throughout his presentation, the audience gained insight on his passion for documentary making; he considers his work to be his contribution to social change, as well as an artistic social responsibility. During the presentation of the documentary, many attendees wondered about our encounters in Las Barias while documenting the school, students, staff, and the principle, and we both emphasized how humbling, yet inspiring it was. The service trip was organized during Fall Break, and happily, I spent my birthday, October 12 working on this heart-warming project.

Post-event report:

• A total of $391 was raised (we announced our $10 for 10 day’s campaign at the event).
• The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity on-campus donated 100% of their proceeds from a Valentine’s Day event.
• Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity has granted us a table at their Latino Expressions event on April 13th, 2019 in the May Room at U of R. The event’s focus is to increase the visibility of successful and empowering latin-based organizations to minority students within the Greater Rochester Area.
• Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity donated school supplies from their successful Fall semester school supply drive.
• Carvajal Cares has gained 3 student volunteers on-campus.

I want to give special thanks to the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship for the sponsorship and opportunity to hold this event. It is through such events that I can continue to work towards creating real change.

On behalf of Carvajal Cares, I’d like to give a special thank you to the following folks and organizations for their contributions to the event: Ain Center for Entrepreneurship, Zeus Photography, Barbara J. Burger iZone, and Harry Montas.

Hector Castillo Carvajal ’20 is a Business Marketing major at the University of Rochester, where he serves as Vice President for the Rochester Business Association. His entrepreneurial spirit is inspired by his upbringing in both the Dominican Republic and New York City. He is currently working on expanding and promoting his personal business ventures: Don Carvajal Café, Carvajal Cares, and DC Premium.

By Maria Connolly

Picture this: It’s 6 pm, you’re sitting on the inflatable couch you just dropped $50 on and you’re contemplating which of the million assignments due that week you should begin. But all of a sudden you get an email that reads: “if interested in attending the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference fill out this google form.” What do you do?

1. Ignore it and take a nap, it’s already dark out
2. Think, maybe I shouldn’t have bought this couch…eh there’s no way I’m going to be accepted  *deletes email*
3. Do homework and maybe reopen the email later
4. Stop everything and fill that form out! Tell your friends that may be interested! Research more about the conference! Get hyped – it might be your first time in Boston. You’ll get to network with social innovators and learn about social enterprises!

I think it’s safe to say I chose option 4.

This past weekend (March 2nd-3rd) I had the privilege of attending the 20th Annual Social Enterprise Conference (SECON) at Harvard with five other University of Rochester students. For those who aren’t familiar, social enterprises are organizations focused on benefitting society and or the environment while working to maximize profits.

Before jumping into the insightful keynotes around social enterprise, passionate discussions, panels and networking we had the opportunity to do some sightseeing. We enjoyed exploring Harvard square, touring Tufts University, and networking with professors at MIT.

After a day of walking around, we went back to the hotel and prepared for the conference the next morning, researching the different speakers and events we wanted to attend. Below are my key takeaways from a couple of events I attended, broken down by day.

Day 1:

“Achieving Scale: Lessons from BRAC”

• Create employment for members of the community you’re trying to help
• Put profit back into the community
• Key factors for BRAC’s Success included: the founder’s leadership & business acumen, securing broad-based funding, continued testing & learning, knowledge of culture & cultural sensitivity, and the ability to navigate a changing political environment

[A note on networking: The time right before events began and the portion of the conference dedicated to networking were perfect times to put this year’s theme of “Unlikely Allies: Forging Partnerships for Progress” into practice.

For those of you who aren’t the biggest fans of networking, if the conference has an app such as “Attendify” (see my page to the right) take advantage of it! Post a bio about yourself and private message people you would love to talk to and schedule time to meet during lunch. It’s a less nerve-wracking but effective approach. Be sure to add them on LinkedIn!]

Day 2:

“Pitch Competition”

• Presenters were extremely prepared and confident, presenting their business ideas in five minutes without notes
• Many questions that were asked were about the future of their companies/ideas in which the presenters immediately had answers for

“How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good”

• Think Big. Start Small. Seek Impact.
• There’s a rush for companies to deliver impact but in order to successfully innovate for greater social good, Ann Mei Chang (author and advocate for social innovation) suggested the following:
  • Starting small will lead to a bigger difference over time
  • Experiment & improve faster
  • Avoid spending time and money on failing big
  • Learn by doing because learning is “failing small”
• Social Innovation is the intersection between value, impact, and growth
  • Value – Is there a demand for what you have to offer?
    • Listen to users from the beginning, ask more pointed questions if there isn’t a correlation between behaviors and users answers on surveys
  • Impact – Does it work/deliver impact?
    • Seeing if your product is being used is a precursor of impact to determine if you’re on track
  • Growth – Will it scale?
    • Alcoholics Anonymous is a great example of an organization that’s scaled through the distribution of guidelines and steps in a book

I’d like to thank Meliora LaunchPad for the opportunity to attend this conference and the University of Rochester for funding our travel and stay.

If you’re interested in attending next year, simply attend events hosted by Meliora LaunchPad, introduce yourself to the e-board and express interest. Pro-tip: the earlier you sign up the cheaper the tickets. Best of luck!

Maria Connolly ’19 is a Brain and Cognitive Sciences major at the University of Rochester, where she also pursues interests in marketing and photography. She was selected as a BASTA Fellow in January 2019, where she participates in a rigorous career prep program designed for first-generation college students. Maria also supports her fellow student entrepreneurs by working in the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship.

By Ain CFE Staff

“Entrepreneurs are risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputation on the line in support of an idea or enterprise,” claims Victor Kiam. Innovators have to be ready to take a leap of faith to make their ideas into reality. While hard work and a great team can help get them on the right track, financial backing can make the process easier and more secure. On February 26, Jack Greco ’06, ’08S spoke to students about his background in VC and how to assess different avenues of funding, as well as the factors/stages in the financing process.

This session was the second installment in the 2019 Mark Ain Business Model Workshops. These are held to help prepare students for our upcoming business plan competitions (though these informational events are open to anyone and everyone!). The Mark Ain Workshops build on the more soft-skill-focused Foundry Forums held during the fall semester. Below are 5 key points drawn from the event.

If you have any questions about locating funding or learning more about any of the topics discussed during the workshop, please contact the Ain Center at AinCFE@rochester.edu or meet with one of our Experts-in-Residence. Interested in attending future Mark Ain Business Model workshops? Head over to our Events Calendar and register online!

By Ain CFE Staff

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it,” writes Antoine de Saint-Exupery. As an entrepreneur, having a business plan can help guide your thoughts and actions throughout the life of your venture. We held a workshop on January 31, devoted to writing a business plan. This daunting task can get the best of any entrepreneur, but facilitator David Mammano broke it down into manageable pieces.

This session was the first installment in the 2019 Mark Ain Business Model Workshops. These are held to help prepare students for our upcoming business plan competitions (though these informational events are open to anyone and everyone!). These workshops build on the more soft-skill-focused Foundry Forums held during the fall semester. Below are 5 key points highlighted from the event.

If you have any questions about writing a business plan or gathering feedback for one you have already written, please contact the Ain Center at AinCFE@rochester.edu or meet with one of our Experts-in-Residence. Interested in attending future Mark Ain Business Model workshops? Head over to our Events Calendar and register online!

By Ain CFE Staff

On Friday, January 25, Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership partnered with the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and the Barbara J. Burger iZone to host Eric Booth for a workshop: Framing Problems Accurately and Solving Them Creatively. Booth – an actor, author, artist, entrepreneur, and educator – completed a residency at the IML on January 26, after leading a number of events on teaching artistry. Drawing upon his own experiences, he helped University of Rochester students learn how such artistry can be incorporated into a multitude of disciplines.

Booth’s background spans years and fields. After working as an actor, he taught at Juilliard, Stanford University, NYU, Tanglewood, Lincoln Center Education, and the Kennedy Center. He is currently a senior advisor to El Sistema-inspired sites around the U.S. and around the world. To address pressing social problems, Booth employs an entrepreneurial approach, specifically that of the Cynefin Framework.

Created in 1999 by Dave Snowden, a Welsh management consultant who is now the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge, the Cynefin Framework allows individuals to identify and categorize problems accurately to provide for the most imaginative and efficient means to solve them. Cynefin is named for a Welsh word that loosely translates to unseen forces that influence our lives that we can work with, though understanding them is impossible. In this framework, complexity is critical and encourages creativity.

Like the Customer Discovery training we use in the Ain Center, Cynefin also makes use of continual reassessment of the problem. Entrepreneurs need to utilize constant customer feedback to adjust current offerings, pivot their vision, or create something new. During the workshop, Booth made a point to show how ongoing review can ensure that any problems are addressed as they come up – as fundamental to a large arts organization as it is to fledgling venture.

To conclude the workshop, Booth led the group in a “thought experiment.” Each attendee had to select a social problem that they would like to address, then identify what type of problem it was. Though the classification was an essential part of this experience, he also asked everyone to consider how they came to that conclusion. In other words, you need to think of how you think.

In general, the Cynefin Framework allows people to work toward the root of the problem they are trying to solve. The take away from this workshop? Entrepreneurs and artists share the ability to think outside the box, and utilizing a framework (whether it’s Cynefin, Lean Launchpad, etc.) can be helpful to keep on task and guide the thought process.

In fall 2018, the Ain Center hosted a full workshop on Customer Discovery, which you can read about here. Please contact the Ain Center if you would like more information on frameworks to consider and assistance in selecting the best one for your venture – we are here to help!

By Ain CFE Staff

For more information on Meliora LaunchPad, visit their club page on the Campus Community Connection website. You can also reach out to members of their Executive Board, led by Marc Haddad ’21.

By Wallace Gundy

On December 1, I boarded a flight out of Rochester for the Simon School’s annual West Coast Trek. With 30 of my classmates, we planned to see twelve companies, hear keynotes from three alumni, attend two receptions, and meet with one expert recruiter, all orchestrated by the Jay S. and Jeanne Benet Career Management Center. From healthcare to search engines, travel to hardware, software to “uncarriers,” venture capitalists to restaurant owners, we heard and learned from an incredible range of alumni who are working in an even wider range of industries in the heart of Silicon Valley and Seattle.

These ten days on the West Coast opened up this East Coaster’s eyes to the culture, pace, cuisine, energy, and dynamic of what felt like another world. But, it also made clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that an entrepreneurial mindset is critical in order to thrive in every single industry, no matter what or where it is, and what your role may be.

It was only a day into the trip when several of us learned that the buzzword of these world-famous companies was “nimble.” Their most successful employees are able to adapt to different situations and circumstances, and the ever-evolving climates of their industries. Being nimble is at the heart of entrepreneurship. I have been fortunate to speak with many entrepreneurs during my time at Simon and prior; one of their first pieces of advice is always that it is critical to be able to adapt. A willingness to roll with the punches, make unexpected changes, thrive in ambiguity, and adjust plans is a key component in starting a successful business.

This nimbleness seems to be part of what makes entrepreneurship and the idea of building and owning something that is yours exhilarating. Each day is a new day, not always knowing what it will bring. This sentiment was exactly echoed on the West Coast. Fierce competition, economic unknowns, and our ever-changing world mean that no company knows exactly what the next day will bring. But, having an entrepreneurial mindset will set you apart from the rest.

I send a sincere thank you to Vicky Kamahele, Varian Medical Systems Inc., HPE (Nimble Storage), Western Digital/SanDisk, Mark Zawacki of 650 Labs, Google, Eric Ball of Impact Venture Capital, Juniper Networks, Intel, Applied Materials, T-Mobile, and Expedia for hosting us and sharing the incredible work you do. Hopefully it won’t be long before you’ll be working alongside more Simon grads!

Wallace Gundy ’20S (MBA) is a first year MBA candidate at the Simon Business School. She is a Forte Fellow and Ain Entrepreneur Scholarship Recipient. Pivoting from 10 years in the non-profit sector, she is pursuing Brand Management and Entrepreneurship. Wallace is involved in the Graduate Business Council and is an avid squash player. She hopes to own her own business one day.

By Gregory Scott

One in three bites of all food is pollinated by bees. Yet, winter honey bee colony loss continues to reach unprecedented levels in various regions around the world. How should we protect our bees to ensure humans have adequate food supplies in the future?

The Creative Collision Challenge tackled this very problem. Ain Center staff combined students from unique academic backgrounds to analyze this dramatic decline in the bee population, brainstorm a solution, craft and deliver a ten-minute presentation within a four-hour window to a panel of expert judges.  After pitching our slide decks, judges deliberated and awarded three cash prizes to the top-performing teams. And more importantly, teams got the chance to work on a pressing social issue and were challenged to generate and transform actionable ideas into enterprises that would actually create economic or social impact.

Shortly after the formal introductions, we all scampered off to various corners of Rettner Hall and began to ideate. My team consisted of four people from three different countries. Two of my teammates were engineers, one was an MBA student, and three of us had previous start-up/entrepreneurial competition experiences. While we worked, special experts and beekeepers from the Rochester community met with each group to discuss the process of beekeeping and even gave us a taste of real Rochester honey! After discussions with the experts and beekeepers, we began what in retrospect may have not been the most important discussion–our team name. After some rumination, we decided on the name “Bee Aware” and started to work on our slide deck. As we designed our deck, we realized that although the bee population reductions statistics are quite clear, the potential causes and solutions are not.

As we scarfed down our Chipotle burrito bowls, we discovered that monoculture farming, climate change, and wifi are just three of the other purported factors that kill bee colonies. We needed to first agree on the most salient cause so that we could develop a fine-tuned solution. We decided that systemic pesticides were undoubtedly the largest harm to bees. After agreeing on the cause, we raced against the clock to organize our slides and do a dry run, as we would be first team to present.

At 1:44, one minute before the slide deck delivery deadline, Bee Aware submitted its slide deck. We had just enough time to do one rehearsal. Shortly after, all the participants reconvened in Creative Collision room for the presentations. We delivered our presentation and took questions from the panel of expert judges. The judges’ questions were helpful and gave my team a framework for how to deconstruct ambiguous issues in a short time-span and how to better substantiate our proposal.

After about fifteen minutes of deliberation, the judges decided that team BeeHouse’s technology enabled bee hive that incorporates live data transmission about bee health took home 1st prize. Our team’s three-tiered solution to ban systemic pesticides, subsidize beekeepers, and fund national bee research/education took home the 3rd place prize. 2nd place was taken by To Bee or Not to Bee who proposed a pesticide tax and subsidies to beekeepers.

Despite not winning the competition, I had an awesome time at the Creative Collision Challenge. Not only did I learn about a complex social issue, but I was able to make new friends with a diverse set of classmates. As a result of the Creative Collision, I have also learned to try to avoid myopic views on a subject by listening to the ideas of my classmates. To build a truly innovative solution to a global issue, it is important that we leverage different academic and geographical perspectives. Lastly, the chance to eat local honey and see how actual beehives work really excited me about one day becoming a beekeeper myself.

Gregory Scott ’20S (MBA) is a first-year MBA student at UR’s Simon Business School. Greg also graduated from the University with a BA in International Relations in 2015.