This Week in Social Entrepreneurship

• All you Melbourne social entrepreneurs out there might be interested in knowing that the city of Melbourne is offering grants of up to $25,000 to businesses that create or expand employment and self-employment opportunities for the disadvantaged, including indigenous, disabled, homeless, and long-term unemployed individuals. Applications for the grants opened this week and close on Tuesday, March 13th. For more information, check out this article from startupsmart.
• If you are based in the UK, The Guardian Social Enterprise Network is hosting Making the Leap: Social Enterprise & the NHS. This seminar will focus on the challenges National Health Service (NHS) employees face transitioning into the field of social entrepreneurship as a result of core service businesses spinning out into social enterprises. It’s also an important seminar for social entrepreneurs who have organizations that are interested in working with the NHS.   
• The HiVE Vancouver is hosting a series of workshops for changemakers who want to refine their business skills. Power Up #2 features Start-up and Growth Resources for Your Changemaking Enterprise on February 28 in Vancouver. Learn how to get connected with the resources you need to launch your idea.
• TED just announced it will be holding open auditions from April through June this year in 14 different cities all over the world. TED Open Auditions will take place in cities like New York, London, Sydney, Vancouver, and many more-check out the full schedule. To qualify for an audition, you just have to fill out an online form and provide a one minute video about your presentation. Applications open 70 days before a city’s event and will stay open for 20 days. Look out, New York, applications open on March 30. London, yours opened this week! Are you TED’s next great discovery?
• Drew Faust, President of Harvard University, announced this week her President’s Challenge for social entrepreneurship, hosted through the Harvard Innovation Lab. Later this month, a panel of faculty will choose 5 social issues they want addressed. Two student teams for each problem will work to develop ideas and prototypes to solve the social issue. One grand prize winner and up to three runners-up will share the $100,000 prize.

We’d like to leave you with some great StartSomeGood campaign related news about Hesperian Health Guides, a successful StartSomeGood campaign from earlier last year. You probably remember our interview with Lizzie from Hesperian back in December where she talked about the campaign and the challenges of bringing mHealth to the developing world.

Hesperian Health Guides is proud to announce that their mobile app, Safe Pregnancy and Birth, is now available in the Apple app store! Hesperian ran a successful StartSomeGood campaign, raising over $6,000 to fund the development of this app, which is a prototype to show how Hesperian’s proven public health content can be put into a navigable format on a small screen. Written in a heavily illustrated, narrative style, the app will help individuals and health providers around the world care for mothers and newborns.

The launch of this app comes as Hesperian also announces Digital Commons, an extensive suite of digital resources and tools: books for free download in 26 languages, thousands of images in a searchable online library, an interactive HealthWiki, and more. Executive Director Sarah Shannon explains, “We’ve heard from community health workers and trainers in different parts of the world that access to digital technology is exploding, and there’s a real need for health information in these new formats that is easy to understand, trustworthy, and easy to adapt to local needs. With these tools we hope to fill that gap. This does not mean the end of print books for Hesperian, but the new Digital Commons will ensure that lifesaving, empowering health information reaches more people around the world.

_______________________________________________________________

Social entrepreneurs, have you been inspired to start your own good?  Do you have a social enterprise, a non-profit, or an amazing idea that needs some momentum to take off?  Visit our site to find out how to start your own campaign today.  Still have questions?  We have answers—check out our FAQ section.