‘Competitions’

The Wharton Venture Capital Club and Wharton Social Impact Club are seeking social entrepreneurs to participate in the 2011 Sustainable Venture Capital Competition (SVCIC), which will be held on Penn’s campus on February 26, 2011.  SVCIC brings together social entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who are active in impact investing to offer MBA students exposure to the investment process.  Student teams act as VCs for a day to evaluate social enterprises and develop an investment thesis that considers both financial and social returns, and then present their recommendations to a panel of VC judges, who will provide feedback to both the students and entrepreneurs.

As a participating entrepreneur, you will have the opportunity to practice your investment pitch, which will afford the following benefits:

• An audience of VC judges from prestigious US firms; judges expected from Acumen Fund, Calvert, Grassroots Business Fund, and Burrill & Company
• The chance to expose your business plan to a large, savvy audience of students, venture capitalists, professors, advisors and spectators on the day of the competition
• Coverage of your business plan in the Wharton Journal, which is distributed to 1500 of the nation’s top MBA students
• Solid due diligence questions from top business school students
• Written deliverables from teams, along with oral feedback from students and judges

We are seeking entrepreneurs pursuing a double or triple bottom line business across any industry.  Ideally, the organization would have some revenue or initial traction with customers, and be actively pursuing or considering pursuing early stage financing.

Please respond to Sean Dowling (sdowling@wharton.upenn.edu) if you wish to be considered for this competition, and provide the following byFebruary 11^th, 2011:

• Your business plan in its current form for review
• Confirmation of your availability (or that of a C-level executive) from 9am to 4pm on Saturday, February 26, 2011

Don’t hesitate to reach out to Sean if you have any questions in the meantime, and please pass this along to any friends or colleagues you think might be interested.

The 2011 We Media PitchIt Challenge is open to entries now, and the submission deadline is Feb. 4.

The challenge offers $50,000 in seed funding to help launch two innovative media-tech startups. Finalists will pitch their ideas live before a panel of expert judges and attendees of the We Media NYC conference on April 6. Finalists also participate in a startup bootcamp and benefit from feedback and advice from a network of expert mentors.

Two winners will each earn a $25,000 sponsorship to help launch their ideas.

To learn more and enter the challenge: http://www.wemedia.com/pitchit/

For more about the We Media NYC conference (where you can watch the
finals): http://www.wemedia.com/nyc/

PitchIt is about ideas, not necessarily fully formed startups. It’s for would-be entrepreneurs who have bold visions for using media and technology to improve the human experience in the digital world. Unlike most innovation and startup challenges, PitchIt is open to both commercial and nonprofit ideas. Winners agree to share what they learn along the way and “pay it forward” by helping other entrepreneurs who follow in their footsteps. But they don’t give up any equity for the sponsorship. Past winners include SeeClickFix (http;//http://www.seeclickfix.com) and The Extraordinairies (now known as: http://www.sparked.com/)

The Fisherman Foundation, the SEVEN Fund, and the University of Asia and the Pacific-Center for Social Responsibility are pleased to announce the “Breakthrough Innovation Grant” (BIG) competition – the search for the most innovative business idea that can create prosperity in Metro Manila, Philippines.  We are looking for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as social entrepreneurs whose ideas can serve as drivers for poverty alleviation.  Proposals must be innovative, resourceful, scalable, and fit the particular needs of the Philippines to drive wealth creation.

Grant Award
Up to $20,000 USD seed money for implementation of the winning business proposal(s).

For more information on grant eligibility and how to participate please see: http://www.breakthroughinnovationgrant.com/submit-your-idea/

Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have. We sincerely hope that you will consider listing the Breakthrough Innovation Grant on your site or spreading the word through Twitter or Facebook.

Sincerely,

Brendan Picha
The SEVEN Fund (on behalf of the Breakthrough Innovation Grant)

Contact email to use in listing: breakthroughinnovationgrant@gmail.com
http://www.breakthroughinnovationgrant.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/fishermanBIG
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BIG-Breakthrough-Innovation-Grant/169427726413533

---

Calling all Entrepreneurs!

The Global Social Venture Competition is the world’s preeminent social business plan competition providing aspiring entrepreneurs with mentoring, exposure, and prize money to transform their business ideas into positive real-world impact.  Its mission is to catalyze new sustainable ventures that address significant social issues, build awareness of the social entrepreneurship field and educate future leaders.  Founded by MBA students at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, the GSVC has evolved into a global network supported by an international community of volunteer judges, mentors and student organizers and a partnership of premier business schools in the US, Europe and Asia.

Every year more than 500 entrant teams from around the world compete for $45,000 in prizes while gaining valuable professional feedback on their businesses. Since its inception in 1999, the GSVC has awarded over half a million dollars to promising social enterprises and introduced early-stage entrepreneurs to the venture capital community, creating a new generation of sustainable social ventures including Husk Power, Revolution Foods and d.light design.

Enter the Competition

Start planning your entry to this year’s competition. Find the entry deadlines below.  See the GSVC calendar for more information.

December 27, 2011	Asia Region
	Business Plan Deadline Indian School of Business
January 15, 2011	SE Asia
	Executive Summary Deadline Thammasat University
January 19, 2011	US, Europe (non-French speaking), Africa and South America
	Executive Summary Deadline Columbia, Haas and London Business School

News Updates

• The application for entering the Americas region is now open for entry!  Visit the GSVC YouNoodle site at http://www.younoodle.com/groups/gsvc_2011, and have at least one team member sign-up for a YouNoodle account.
• Watch the Acumen Fund’s video feature on Husk Power, a past GSVC Global Finalist!

Entrant Requirements

• Every team must include at least one member who is a current student in ANY graduate business program or who has graduated from any graduate business program within the past 24 months.
• Operating companies are welcome to enter, though they must be less than 3 years old (as measured by first revenue or first patent issued).
• Plan can be for a for-profit or non-profit as long as either can be financially self-sustaining at scale.
• Entrants chosen to go on to the semifinals round will need to submit a business plan, including financial and social impact assessments
• For more details, visit gsvc.org

GSVC Regional Partner Schools

• Columbia Business School
• London Business School
• Indian School of Business
• ESSEC Business School (France)
• Thammasat Business School (Thailand)
• Social Enterprise Network (South Korea)

GSVC also has several Outreach Partners – for a complete list, visit: GSVC Outreach Partners

Find a Team

If you are interested in the competition and need to assemble or join a team review the information in the West Coast Regional Team Matching List.

Additional Key Dates

January 19, 2011*	Executive Summaries Due
Feb/March 2011**	Full Business Plans Due
March 2011**	Regional Semi Finals
March 23, 2011	Global Final Business Plans Due
April 7-9, 2011	Global Finals & Conference

*The January 19th submission deadline is for entrants from the US, Europe (non-French speaking), Africa and South America.  Entrants from Asia should apply to the Asia Regional Round at the Indian School of Business or the SE Asia Round at Thammasat Business School in Thailand.  If you wish to submit a plan in French, enter via the ESSEC Business School Regional Round in France.

**Final Business Plan Submission and Regional Semi-Final dates vary by Partner School and Region.

See GSVC calendar for more information.

Action Items

Visit our website @ gsvc.org
Follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gsvc
Join the GSVC community @ facebook

Name	Next or most recent deadline	Entry Criteria, Prizes, Notes
Affinity Lab DC Prize	3-Dec-10	Business must be for-profit start-up with a defined social and/or environmental goal based in the greater Washington, DC area.
Foundation for a Sustainable Future Richard Heinberg Sustainability Prize	3-Dec-10	Business must be for-profit start-up with a focus on reducing carbon footprint of your industry or customers.
Salesforce.com Africa Prize	3-Dec-10	Business must be for-profit start-up with a defined social and/or environmental goal based in Africa.
William James Foundation Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition	3-Dec-10	Business must be a for-profit start-up with a defined social and/or environmental goal. Cash and in-kind prizes together worth over $100,000.
Mai Bangkok Business Challenge @ Sasin	27-Dec-10	At least three members of a team must be from the same graduate business administration program. Approx. $20,000 in cash prizes.
Global Social Venture Competition	20-Jan-11	One team member must be a current or recent (2 years) graduate business student.
Tulane Conscious Capitalism Business Plan Competition	23-Jan-11	open to students. All business ventures must be seeking outside equity capital. Cash prizes totaling $50,000.
Brigham Young University Social Venture Competition	24-Jan-11	Applicants must be currently enrolled at Brigham Young (Provo, Hawaii, or Idaho). $50,000 in cash & prizes.
Wake Forest Competition for Social Entrepreneurship	4-Feb-11	Accepts for-profit, non-profit, or hybrid enterprises.
Rice University Business Plan Competition	4-Feb-11	All full and part-time graduate students enrolled in a university. The management team must consist of at least one graduate student. At least $480,000 in cash prizes.
Duke Executive Summary Competition	9-Feb-11	Register via YouNoodle. Top teams will be invited to submit full plans.
McGinnis Venture Competition	11-Feb-11	Graduate students only and at least one must be a member of the management team. $20,000 in cash investment plus in-kind prizes.
Dell Social Innovation Competition	14-Feb-11	Students from any university or college in the world are eligible. $50,000 in prizes, plus $10,000 for entries addressing the environment.
Licensing Executives Society (LES) Foundation Graduate Student Business Plan Competition	4-Mar-11	Graduate students interested in intellectual property (IP) and licensing issues.
MIT IDEAS Competition	5-Mar-11	Invention as Public Service. At least one third of each team must be full-time MIT students. Up to $8,000 in cash and additional development grants.
BID Network	15-Mar-11	Farmers in Business : For agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ associations in Africa. Women in business : for women entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest – Social Venture Track	28-Mar-11	Students enrolled in a fulltime graduate degree program at Harvard University. Prizes totalling $35,000 in cash.
Clean Tech Open	26-May-11	Prize packages totalling over $800k
Ashoka Citizen Base Initiative Awards	Ongoing	Winners receive funding and are linked to Ashoka’s network of social entrepreneurs.
Ennovent	Ongoing	Entrants should own or manage a for-profit enterprise and provide an energy solution to people earning around US $3 a day.
Investor’s Circle Call for Applicants	Ongoing	Companies at early or expansion stage whose businesses address significant social or environmental issues.

A letter from Ian Fisk, Director of the William James Foundation:

As the William James Foundation’s Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition enters into our eighth year, I am enjoying watching our community of sustainable entrepreneurs change from a group that we support to a group that supports each other. Together, we’ve accomplished some amazing things recently, which I wanted to share with you.

Through our competitions, more than 430 reading judges have assisted over 365 entrepreneurial teams. Those teams have launched hundreds of businesses – more than 115 of which are active today. We have awarded more than $350,000 worth of in-kind prizes & cash, and by this December we will reach 10,000 pages of constructive feedback. Several people who joined our community as reading judges are returning to us as entrants, & vice-versa.

For the past several years, we’ve seen a 50% increase in entrants per cycle.  To handle this, we added three excellent people to our team. Deb Parsons, recently the co-director of the Investors’ Circle, is overseeing our work with the angel investor and venture capital community. Florence Navarro comes from the world of international economic development, including the UN and the World Bank Group, and is coordinating our international outreach. Paulina Migalska brings her experience from the Social Enterprise Alliance, the Points of Light Foundation, and Ashoka to manage our corporate partnerships.

I am most excited to see the success of our entrants.
*  Nuru Light was honored by the United Nations
*  President Bill Clinton told the world what we already know – that “[Sproxil] is a genuinely remarkable achievement…[it's] empowering… putting people in charge of their own healthcare.”
*  PowerMundo is partnering with NESsT to bring Peruvian made sustainable products and services to the marketplace
*  Atayne was featured on the home page of AOL Small Business

Help us lengthen that list. If you or someone you know someone who is launching or managing a for-profit company with a defined social and/or environmental goal, that is either pre-revenue or less than two years from first revenue, let them know about our competition. send them to http://www.williamjamesfoundation.org. Our best source of quality entrants has always been our readers and past entrants who know the value of the assistance we provide. This year’s deadline is Friday, December 3rd.

Around the world, there are many entrepreneurs with viable business ideas that have socially and environmentally positive benefits. We’re helping to test, share, scale, and champion those ideas. Our goal for the year ahead is to double the number of entrepreneurs we have been working with, and continue to help our existing community of readers and judges support each other. Thank you for everything you’ve done to support the William James Foundation, sustainable business, and your communities.

Sincerely,
Ian T. Fisk

Executive Director
The William James Foundation
http://www.williamjamesfoundation.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MIT $100K Elevator Pitch Contest registration is now open! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ – Why participate? – Contest dates – Next steps – What is the Elevator Pitch Contest? Have a winning business idea that will impress investors? Think you can deliver it in 60 seconds and fetch $5,000? The Elevator Pitch Contest is a great way to practice your pitch in front of a qualified panel of judges and get immediate feedback on your idea and presentation. Register by Monday, Oct 18, 6pm @ http://www.mit100k.org

Why participate? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -It only takes 60 seconds -Win up to $10,000 in cash prizes -Get feedback from experienced entrepreneurs, industry experts, and VC’s

Contest dates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Preliminary round: Oct 25, 6-8pm: Energy, Life Sciences, and Web/IT tracks Oct 26, 6-8pm: Development, Mobile, and Products & Services tracks Finale round: Oct 27, 7-9pm: All tracks

Next steps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Step 1: Register at http://www.mit100k.org Step 2: Get started brainstorming at IdeaStorm, a MIT100K collaboration with the MIT Sloan E-Club. Fast paced, fun, non-intimidating environment to meet people and discuss ideas. The goal of this event is to turn the ideas generated at this event into $100K EPC entries Workshop details: Oct 12 (6-8pm) at Cambridge Innovation Center – 1 Broadway, 4th Floor (Kendall Sq) Step 3: Refine your pitch with tips from local pitching experts at the Pre- EPC Workshop Workshop details: Oct 19 (6-8pm) at Stata Center (Building 32)

What is the Elevator Pitch Contest? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Elevator Pitch Contest is an event where participants deliver a 60-second elevator pitch on a business idea without any materials (handouts, slides, etc.). Entrants will compete for up to $10,000 in prizes, and priceless feedback on the ideas will come from a distinguished panel of experts including other entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Contestants can enter to compete in one or more of the eligebile six tracks: Emerging Markets, Energy, Life Sciences, Mobile, Products and Services, and Web/IT. To learn more or to register, visit http://www.mit100k.org

We want to call your attention to the upcoming third annual round of CIMIT’s exciting award mechanism for engineering students, nation-wide.  The CIMIT Prize for Primary Healthcare ($150,000, $100,000 and $50,000 for the top three of ten Finalists) is designed to advance new clinically-relevant, primary-care solutions.

The entry criteria for this major prize will require the students to obtain an “Institutional Letter of Support” from a Department Head, business official or Dean at their school.  We wanted to alert you to that, and assure you that all that is required is verification on letterhead that the student entrant is indeed a student in good standing and that if he/she wins, that the school will accept the money on behalf of support of the student’s work on the project going forward.  We simply want some stewardship of the money, as a gift from CIMIT to the school for the expenses of supporting the project, rather than giving the money directly to a winning student.

Details of the award can be at http://www.cimit.org/grants-cimitprize.html and on the Prize flyer http://www.cimit.org/images/grants/cimit-prize-2011.pdf As background, the announcement of the winners of last year’s awards can be found at http://www.cimit.org/grants-cimitprize.html .  The first step for an entrant is the generation of a two-page preliminary description by January 17^th, 2011.  From those, ten Finalists will be chosen, and each of those will receive $10,000 to use in their work toward the full final entry due in June.  The three major winners will then be chosen.