International Student Teams Propose New Business Ideas With Social Bottom Line in Global Social Venture Competition.

(From AScribe)

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Nine teams of MBA students planning social enterprises that range from applying nanotechnology to solar power systems in developing countries to training low-income urban youth to conduct market research on their peer groups will compete for recognition and $45,000 in prizes in the final round of the 2005 Global Social Venture Competition at the University of California, Berkeley, April 14-15.

The competition, founded by five UC Berkeley MBA students in 1999, has grown into a global partnership between the campus's Haas School of Business, Columbia Business School in New York, and London Business School. Long-time sponsor The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Omidyar Networks also support the competition.

The competition is unique among business plan competitions in that it gives equal weight to financial profitability and social impact assessment. To compete successfully, social ventures must show a demonstrably greater impact of their social impact assessment than existing firms in the industry. Each plan must have at least one current MBA student from an accredited business school on the management team.

Participation in the competition has grown increasingly international over the years. This year, 50 percent of the 97 plans submitted in the first round came from accredited business schools outside the United States.

Judges from the venture capital, social entrepreneurship and philanthropic communities evaluate the plans for their business viability and their expected social return on investment. The following nine teams emerged on March 11 from the semi-final round:

Amhartan Accessible Travel Services (London Business School) is working to improve the experience of travelers with special needs, such as medical disabilities, by providing consumer services and training travel industry workers to accommodate special needs travelers.