Photos: Students Consult with Social Enterprises in India
The students were taking part in Yale SOM’s Global Social Entrepreneurship course, which links teams of Yale students with mission-driven social entrepreneurs in the developing world to tackle specific management challenges.
Teams of Yale students traveled to India during the 2018-19 academic year to consult with social enterprises working in a variety of sectors, including economic development, sustainable energy, and education.
The students were taking part in Yale SOM’s Global Social Entrepreneurship (GSE) course led by Tony Sheldon ’84, executive director of the Program on Social Enterprise and lecturer in the practice of management. The course links teams of Yale students with mission-driven social entrepreneurs in the developing world to tackle specific management challenges.
Five teams worked on improving each organization’s business model. The teams gave presentations to the Yale SOM community in March.
Goonj, an award-winning social enterprise that utilizes surplus and discarded material to provide basic life necessities such as clothing and sanitary pads for those in rural areas in India.
The team included Santiago Zindel ’19, a joint-degree MBA and master of environmental management student; Tamara Grbusic, a student at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs; master of environmental management candidate Ravikant Sharma; and Yale Divinity School student Helena Martin.
Mann Deshi, an organization working to empower women with the knowledge, skills, courage, access, and capital to become successful entrepreneurs with more control over their lives.
Mann Deshi runs a bank that provides women with affordable and easy access to credit.
The team included MBA candidate Zana Davey ’19, Master of Advanced Management student Mabs Okusaga’19, and master of environmental management candidates Leah Yablonka and Hayley Lemoine.
Mantra4Change, an organization focused on equal opportunities in education, as well as quality education, for under-resourced schools that are struggling.
The team included MBA candidates Uma Krishnan ’19 and Roopika Palukurthi ’19, Master of Advanced Management student Zelda Shuang Zhang’19, and Jackson Institute for Global Affairs student Jasmine Park Jackson’19.
SELCO Foundation provides training and financing for “solar entrepreneurs” seeking to bring electricity for lighting and power to India’s underserved communities. SOM students helped with strategies and processes to scale sustainable energy-driven livelihood solutions.
The team included MBA students Ivan Antoniv ’19 and Ema Yamamoto ’19 and master of environmental management candidates Andrea Cruz Quiroz and Scott Wentzell.
TARA provides retail enterprise support services to new and existing entrepreneurs and women’s groups through ecosystem and cluster development of micro and small enterprises.
The team included MBA candidate Susannah Burrage ’19, master of environmental management student Camila Rodriguez Taylor’19, and Jackson Institute for Global Affairs student Douglas Gledhill ‘20.