If a business wants to grow, it needs innovation, and is there a better way to generate innovation than by putting some of the best young minds in the world to work? Business plan competitions are becoming a big way for investors to get a look at some small time ideas from both national and international students. The University of Washington Foster School of Business kicked off their Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) this week with a showcase of the semi-finalists, who hail from seven different countries. Participants were given a chance to present their plan with a two minute speech and then the "investors" walked the trade-show floor and asked questions about each venture. Ideas included low cost lighting to replace kerosene lamps in Africa, a reorganization of the way rice farmers conduct business and a new delivery method for education in India. Contestants are competing for cash prizes in four categories, the Grand Prize, the Global Health Grand Prize, the Global Health Second Prize and Investor's Choice.
Contestants are judged on a number of different facets, but heavy emphasis is placed on the return on investment (ROI) and social return on investment (SROI). SROI is a method to attempt to quantify the social impact that a specific venture will have, mostly through an approximation of the value created within the target community. Businesses are turning to SROI more often in order to gauge their impact on a community as well as their environmental impact, both of which can be factored into SROI calculation.
The majority of the teams were composed of students from the United States and India (some teams had members from different countries on the same team), which painted a clear picture of where social entrepreneurship is being concentrated. The poverty alleviation methods of the contestants varied, with some focusing on physical issues like hunger and disease, and others giving more thought to the infrastructure that prevents people from rising out of poverty. The more successful presentations were those with simple solutions to a focused problem. TouchB proposed a new, non-invasive method for testing for anemia. They promised a reduction in testing costs of more than 50 percent without scaring away patients with needles. Their speech presented the facts quickly, citing the ineffectiveness of current testing, and then showing how their system was better. It wasn't complex, but it was easy for the investors and the public in attendance to get a grasp on their goal.
Not all of the ideas presented at the competition will come to fruition, but all of the competitors will walk away with valuable knowledge that will someday help fuel further innovation.