On April 7th, Harvard Business School celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Social Enterprise Initiative, bringing together invited alumni, practitioners, faculty, and students who have contributed to the success and growth of social enterprise. Following a retrospective on the innovation and impact of social enterprise, attendees looked forward to the next ten years through a panel and case discussion facilitated by HBS faculty members. Speakers included Harvard University President Lawrence Summers; HBS Dean Kim Clark; John Whitehead (HBS MBA ’47), founding supporter of the Social Enterprise Initiative; and Social Enterprise faculty James E. Austin, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and V. Kasturi Rangan.
Social Enterprise plays a critical role in helping Harvard Business School fulfill its mission to educate leaders who make a difference in the world by creating engagement opportunities for every member of the HBS community, as well as the community beyond the School, to make social enterprise a mainstream presence. MBA students with backgrounds in all sectors have opportunities for involvement ranging from student clubs and organizations, to elective courses on social enterprise topics, to internships and other career development programs. Almost 10 percent of the MBA program is made up of students from the nonprofit or public sector, many of whom mention the Social Enterprise Initiative as one of the primary reasons that they applied to HBS.
For more information on Social Enterprise at HBS, visit: //www.hbs.edu/socialenterprise
