In this month’s column we look at whether people’s personal experience of physical distress –– such as hunger, thirst, heat, or cold –– increases their willingness to help somebody experiencing a similar distress. For example, how does hunger (or recent relief from hunger) affect a potential donor’s willingness to help hungry people as opposed to people with other needs –– such as housing or medical aid?
In my first blog post, I focused on a personal conviction that engaging with the performing arts has the potential to have immensely rejuvenating and enriching qualities for an individual. In addition to these potential individual benefits, a second aspect of the performing arts that drew me to support the industry is my belief in the arts as a social good.
History shows that social movements can shape our society. Activism targeting companies like Walmart, Nike, and BP has catalyzed progress, but companies can be slow to evolve and it is often hard to know which strategies are most likely to get companies to change their ways. How can activists know that their efforts matter? And what is the evidence that their work makes a difference?
Thanks to SMIF, we were able to make magic happen this year. The Grammaticus is officially a Ministry-recognized Ontario Private School with the authority to grant OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma) credits. Students in our classes earned Grade 11 English and Grade 12 Philosophy credits this summer!
In my first week at Kuli Kuli, the majority of my time was spent on social media and emailing friends, friends of friends, and acquaintances. While that might seem a bit odd given my primary projects – developing financial reporting and analytics, launching a Brand Ambassador program, and developing alternative sales channels – the company was a finalist in the Ledbury Launch competition, which had a prize of $25,000. The set-up was simple: out of three finalists, the one with the most votes would win the prize money and additional benefits like mentoring, discounts on vendors, etc.
At the end of week six of my internship, I had challenged myself to take a step back from the never-ending execution of a startup and try to focus on formulating larger strategies.
On the first week of September Clinica SiM just performed the first affordable surgeries in Brasil! The surgery packages are ready, and a commercial/marketing road map is ready to be implemented!
The two companies I worked at before school were for-profit, public companies with 8,000+ employees and international name recognition. This summer was an opportunity to try something completely different by working at a 16-person company with very little name recognition.
The last time I wrote here we had just arrived in Nashville to work with Salemtown Boards Co, a skateboard manufacturer focused on employing inner city Nashville kids. I'm writing as part of my experience as a MBAx Fellow working with MBAs Across America, a nonprofit focused on getting MBA students working with small businesses across America -- helping them do anything from identifying their brand and market positioning to understanding inventory costs. My 6-week road trip experience took me across the South, starting in New Orleans, through Savannah, Nashville, Little Rock and now Austin, TX. Overall, the MBAs Across America program includes 32 students who are working on master's degrees in business administration hitting the road to work with 48 entrepreneurs in 26 cities.
I completed the technoeconomic analysis for a commercial-scale reactor. Essentially, it's a factory in Excel that lets us see how much it will cost to transform CO2 into different products.
GSB Faculty
Social Innovation Fellows
MBA Students Groups