The 8th annual UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition
and the 7th annual Global Social Venture Competition
have officially been launched.
To kick-off the 7th annual Global Social Venture Competition
(GSVC), social entrepreneurs from the Haas School, Columbia
Business School, and London Business School gathered
at simultaneous gatherings in London, New York, and
San Francisco on November 8th. The UC Berkeley launch
event gave the competitors a chance to hear from successful
social entrepreneurs such as Steve Hardgrave, MBA 05,
manager with the Omidyar Network; Darren Miao, MBA 06,
founder of Microcredit Enterprises; and Siddharth Sanghvi,
MBA 03, co-founder of World of Good, the Haas School
team that won the 2005 Global Social Venture Competition.
The launch event preceded the November 16 deadline to
turn in executive summaries. Semi-finalists are now
being paired with mentors to help them develop their
business plans. GSVC has led to the founding of more
than 100 social ventures, of which approximately 25%
of them continue as viable, successful companies.
The UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition had its launch
event in September with a Best Practices Workshop on
Opportunity Recognition. The series of Best Practices
Workshops will continue up to the January 31 executive
summary deadline. The workshops are aimed at helping
the development of business plans. Sessions during December
and Jaunuary include a December 8 workshop on team and
product development, and a January 18 workshop on how
to write a business plan. Each session begins with pizza
and networking at 6:30 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Room
at the Haas School of Business. These presentations
are open at no cost to anyone planning to submit a plan
in the competition. Semi-finalist teams (announced in
February) in this competition will also be paired with
mentors who will guide them through the drafting of
their plans.
Finalists for both competitions will be announced
in April.
