Social Enterprises

Janet Tafel - Healing Human Rights Abuses with Social Enterprise

Hagar was the biblical woman who became the victim of neglect and violence when she was cast out of the fold of Abraham and Sarah. In Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, thousands of "Hagars" and their children suffer poverty, trafficking, and other human rights abuses. Janet Tafel, who was invited by the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford, discusses how her organization, Hagar USA, helps individuals restore their lives through holistic healing, community integration, and social entrepreneurship.

Premal Shah - Scaling a Social Enterprise through Crowdsourcing

Kiva has created an online marketplace that allows ordinary citizens to help specific entrepreneurs around the world to thrive with as little as $25. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation sponsored audio interview, Kiva President Premal Shah discusses how the social enterprise relies on bazaar management techniques to carry out the organization's everyday functions. He describes the benefits of cost reduction and execution time and talks about the possibilities bazaar management opens for social entrepreneurship and the for-profit sector in general.

Sam Goldman - Lighting the Way to Economic Development

Let there be light! That's Sam Goldman's motto, and he's taking it around the world. The founder of d.light design talks with Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman about how he is bringing affordable, ecologically sustainable electricity and lighting to billions who are now operating in the dark. In this audio interview, he details aspects of the design, function, marketing, and distribution of the organization's products, as well as the kind of impact the social enterprise is having in some of the most remote, poor areas.

Jane Leu, Chuck Slaughter, and Morgan Simon - Starting and Growing a Social Enterprise

With the Obama administration's focus on social enterprise as a means of solving some of our most pressing problems, the social entrepreneur has emerged as the chief change agent of our time. In this panel discussion, part of the Stanford 2009 Entrepreneurship Week, leaders of several vital organizations talk about the motivations, successes, and challenges associated with running a social enterprise. They consider what the economic downturn has meant to their missions, and they offer practical advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.