As part of Northwest Nazarene University’s capstone requirement for seniors in the School of Business, six teams of students have created projects to meet needs in the local community and abroad that they believe are financially sustainable.
Senior Darci Curtin writes, “The Social Venture Plan Competition is a challenging and meaningful experience for NNU students to create an entire business plan for a venture of their choosing. A Social Venture business plan is different from, and more challenging than, the average business plan because it cannot rely on donations. Students will find a social need that is able to lend itself to business principles and practices and they will use a business mindset to create a venture to meet this need. This course will teach the students to “do well by doing good.
Social Venture Competition Winners 2012
“Students have been placed in diverse groups to brainstorm a problem, either communal or global, that they would like to help fix. They will then research the cause of this problem and create a business cure. Mentors and other forms of guidance are available to the students throughout this process. After each group creates a business plan, then they will “showcase” it to a group of judges, answering any questions that may come up. Each judge will be given a virtual amount of $1,000 to “invest” in up to 3 teams and at the end of the showcase all the judges’ investments will be tallied up. The top two teams will receive prizes of $1,500 and $500, respectively. The winners will also go on to the national round at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, WA to compete against other universities for additional prizes. Last year’s winning team at NNU went on to place fourth out of sixty teams at SPU’s showcase event.”
This year’s students have formed the following businesses:
- Douémour: Providing solar-powered light to Rwandans through a one-to-one donation program, Douémour’s objective is to aid in the development of Rwandan communities and to increase families’ standard of living through a stable light source.
- 4M Tree Recycling: By creating recycled mulch and providing it to customers in Canyon County, 4M Tree Recycling plans to be a green fertilizer provider for local landscaping specialists, nurseries, and homeowners.
- Harvesting Hope: Through the founding of a culinary education center that provides culinary experience for underprivileged individuals looking to work in the culinary arts, Harvesting Hope creates an opportunity to learn to cook under a professional chef.
- BikeIt Boise: This proposed company focuses on providing bike rentals in Boise, Idaho, to encourage healthy living, reduce traffic congestion, and make Boise more environmentally friendly.
- PURE: By operating a large water purification plant in India, PURE plans to provide and distribute quality drinking water to designated kiosks run by local entrepreneurs.
- WasteSmart: In the pursuit of cleaning up disease harboring waste and turning it into useful, desirable, and profitable products, WasteSmart incinerates waste and creates briquettes out of the ash.
The public is invited to attend the competition that will take place Wednesday, March 20 from 2 to 6 p.m. in the university’s Brandt Center, 707 Fern Street.
Story contributed by Darci Curtin and Nazarene Communication Network