2008 Global Social Venture Competition: 2006

Welcome to GSVC Matchmaker

This blog has been created by GSVC to facilitate matchmaking among entrepreneurs with business plans and potential entrants. Business students looking for ventures and ventures looking for business school students are encouraged to share opportunities and interests here!

For ventures seeking student talent:

Please send a short description of your venture, including stage, sector, geographic location, specific project you need student help with, and contact information to gsvc [at] haas.berkeley.edu. Please keep your business background and description to 1-2 paragraphs, and your summary of desired talent characteristics to 1 paragraph or several bullets. Please also include your location, contact information, and preferred method of contact.

All of this information will be posted by GSVC as an Entry on this site.

For students seeking a venture:

Please browse the ventures posted here and contact them either by posting a comment to the appropriate venture, or by contacting them directly.

If you have any questions about GSVC's entrant requirements, please consult the GSVC website: www.gsvc.org.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Omnibucket

Omnibucket: Business Initiative
Objective: To build a well-formed business plan for the Global Social Venture Competition that represents Omnibucket's mission to help broaden imaginations through the fine art of storytelling.

Mission: Omnibucket is re-imagining the storybook as a fine art, combining the worlds of both storybooks and fine art to create a new way to expand imaginations. We are focusing on the work of artists usually reserved for galleries as a storytelling tool because of its ability to invoke the child within each of us to imagine and discover in a deeper and more meaningful way. With these tools we believe that we can help to heighten the influence of humanitarianism in the world and bring societies closer to one another. These elements also add value to the physical collectible while bringing the intellectual and cultural sophistication of the fine art world to new audiences.

Current Position: In the last year since the business was founded we have released three distinct titles which have made consistent short-run sales to a growing customer base. We also have a considerable list of innovative and marketable projects on our upcoming schedule with which to grow our brand and audience. Our small team has an extensive history in fine art, writing, design and many other types of media, with connections to some of the best and brightest creative resources on the globe.

MBA Student Involvement: We are looking to create a team to build a successful business and marketing plan specifically for the Global Social Venture Competition. We want to engage MBA students that have a passion for the publishing, new media, and/or fine art industries and are enthusiastic about contributing Sales & Marketing, Business Management, and/or Financial Planning skill sets to broaden our scope and mission.

Contact: If you are interested in becoming part of our thought-provoking team for the Global Social Venture Competition please contact us by emailing Angie Needels at aneedels@omnibucket.com. For more information about Omnibucket please visit www.omnibucket.com.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Animalia Visionary Animal Magazine

Visionary Animal Magazine

WHO WE ARE:

Animalia is the first magazine to capture the positive spirit of the world of animal advocacy: profiling the people and places that are redefining our relationships with animals, and bringing stories of greater peace and congruence between our lives and theirs. Uniting pro-animal people everywhere, defining and strengthening a shift in our view of animals as sentient, autonomous beings deserving equal access to the earth's resources and a right to live free of pain and domination.

With profiles of the sanctuaries, groups and individuals advocating for animals today, the magazine will inspire greater awareness of and commitment to these issues. A forum for reflection and debate on all aspects of animal life today: The 'wind under the wings' of the animal rights and welfare movements, with illuminating and inspiring news and analysis that explores animals in arts and culture; science and history; conservation; sanctuaries; companion animals; and first person essay and commentary. Packaged with brilliant photography and illustrations and a clean, accessible design.

Animalia will help animals on two fronts:

1- firstly, the product itself will raise awareness of their issues and foster contribution to their causes.

2- secondly, Animalia will funnel 10% of its profits directly to those agencies impacting the lives of animals: from The Jane Goodall Institute to The Humane Society, the SPCA, Fund for Animals (legal advocacy), Farm Sanctuary, and many more.

The goal is to raise seed funds in the first three quarters of 2007, with the 1st issue launch in March 2008. We have a prototype, media kit, 2008 story list and rudimentary business plan. We are also developing strategic partnerships with large animal rights groups to help fund the magazine.

WHAT WE NEED:

We would like to enter the business plan in the Social Venture competition, as well as begin showing the plan to outside investors (affluent people in the world of animal advocacy, of which there are many, are likely to support this business - not banks or traditional VC's.) So we are seeking an MBA to help refine and fill in some of the market research, as well as contribute their own ideas. This could also be a ground floor opportunity for someone passionate about the idea to be on a partnership level as we move forward.

CONTACT
We are in the East Bay Area. Please email for more information: sfariel@sbcglobal.net

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

MILLEE: Mobile and Immersive Learning for LIteracy in Emerging Economies

Literacy in a global or national language (e.g. English, Mandarin Chinese, etc.) is a key to socioeconomic success in the developing world. Such literacy opens the doors to regional and international markets, careers in the formal economy, continuing education where the language of instruction is a majority language, as well as social services.

After more than two years of educational experiments in developing regions, a clear opportunity emerged: while the desktop computer is currently the platform of choice in practically any grassroots literacy program, mobile devices offer significantly more convenience due to inadequate building infrastructure and irregular electricity in rural areas. There is a more fundamental social argument: since a substantial fraction of children in developing regions have limited time to attend school regularly when they need to perform agricultural work, housework, etc., learning in out-of-school settings made possible by mobile technologies can potentially increase access to literacy by at least an order of magnitude.

We believe that educational games on cellphones can address the above challenges. In particular, we believe that game-like design can improve enjoyment of the learning experience and encourage spontaneous adoption. Informed by educational theories on language acquisition, we are designing a suite of mobile learning applications that target literacy and language learning. These applications will run on cellphones, the fastest growing technology platform in emerging economies.

The role of the MBA student(s):

Since our existing team is made up of people with backgrounds in computer science, education and economic development, we are seeking an MBA student to complement us. He/she will help us examine various community business models that leverage the above cellphone applications. He/she will also be responsible for taking the lead on the business plan for the GSVC.

Contact Matthew Kam, mattkam@cs.berkeley.edu

Monday, November 06, 2006

Mapping Knowledge for Community Call Center (Pucho Kyun)

Community Call Center:
Setup a community call center in India building an educational resource
database that can be queried and content that is interactive.

Role of graduate student:
Need graduates who have a working knowledge of GIS technology, developers to
build the database and any student in the education field who would like to
be involved in content development and interactive media.

Netika Raval
Fellow, Digital Vision Program
Stanford University
650-725-1499

Boulevard R

Boulevard R brings independent, personalized retirement advice to consumers in the mass affluent segment through a web-based service that leverages professional advice and user-generated content to address issues of increasing complexity and responsibility in retirement planning.

We are looking for students with marketing and business development backgrounds.Our educational personal finance tools empower consumers by providing independent and personalized retirement advice to the masses at no cost to users. Our social mission is to increase the success rate of consumers planning for retirement.

The founder's background is in human rights, as well as consumer rights. While at Cal he was the first undergrad to receive a summer fellowship from the Center for Human Rights (2000) .

The startup evolved out of a problem the founder's dad had with retirement planning and the realization that there are a growing number of people in his situation. We have brought together a team of programmers, designers and independent financial advisors who also feel passionately about delivering valuable tools to the marketplace.

Matt Iverson
matt.iverson@gmail.com
415.250.6727

Monday, October 30, 2006

Living Cultural Storybases

Wanted!
Skilled Volunteers for an
Exciting and Challenging Initiative on Cultural Diversity

The cultural and linguistic diversity of our planet is fast disappearing into an urban monoculture.
‘Living Cultural Storybases’ (LCS) is an ambitious new global initiative to nurture the oral heritage of minority cultures in the digital world. Two approaches are balanced: respectful engagement of endangered or indigenous communities and novel mobile digital technologies. Our aim is an appropriate solution to celebrate and share traditional stories and songs, reconnecting the generations in a dialogue around self-empowering narratives. See http://www.storybases.org

LCS is incorporated in California with a Board of four uniquely-experienced leaders, founders of previous successful community informatics initiatives and has joined the Community Development Institute’s non-profit incubator in East Palo Alto so has 501c(3) status. First approaches are being made to major world foundations for funding plans for our first engagements with desert nomads in Mali and highland peoples in Peru. LCS is fortunate to be guided by an eminent panel of Advisors, including Unesco’s Intangible Heritage section in Paris, who are enthusiastic about our mission and potential impact.

We are recruiting volunteers in the Bay Area for cultural research, software prototypes, promotional and development activities, linking incubation with teams in the field. The ideal candidates would be passionate about our mission, self-organising, methodical and eager for this unique opportunity to learn from diverse cultures around the world. Specifically we seek:

Computer Science skills for early architectural designs of private ‘virtual cultural networks’ and the software prototyping of interactive audio-based systems and databases
Project Communication and Fund Raising skills to help in sponsor diligence and the writing of eloquent, persuasive and accurate grant proposals
Website Design skills to extend a multilingual website, both for external communications and as a project tool.
Cultural Research and Impact Evaluation skills both to guide our understanding of minority cultures and to define proxies for evaluating LCS impact on the strength of oral heritage, cultural cohesion and identity
Business skills to lay the foundations of an economic sustainability plan based on the value of cultural diversity, the human creativity it sparks and respectful trade in intangible or tangible cultural goods, ie cultural return on investment (CROI) as well as SROI.

For further information, please contact coordinator@storybases.org with a CV.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Paul Rankin, President LCS Inc., UK

Friday, October 27, 2006

Mannar Inc. Designs for Education

Mannar Inc's Vision

Mannar Inc. has been formed by a graduate of Stanford University's Learning, Design, and Technology program, to develop customizable digital content for K-12 classrooms (interactive Learning Pages, or iLPs). Mannar Inc. was started with the vision that the days of heavy book-laden backpacks will soon be a thing of the past and electronic medium with powerful multimedia-enriched learning content will soon replace textbooks. The move towards digital content is well under way with both big publishers augmenting their textbooks with some kind of digital content and smaller companies cropping up to fill in the gaps.

So, what is Mannar Inc. trying to do that would make its product different?

Mannar Inc aims to develop content that is shaped by current research in Education and Educational technology and not just to digitize existing content with a sprinkling of multimedia.

Mannar Inc's product is modular - each iLP addresses a particular content standard in its entirety (including activity, content, assessment, etc). Teachers wanting a single lesson can get a single lesson without having to subscribe to the entire program or committing to a full textbook (for example buying a song from iTunes instead of an album!)

Mannar Inc. has a component-based approach to the content. This would enable teachers to go to our website and design their own lessons from many different available components to suit their style (activity-based approach, inquiry-based approach, etc).

Mannar Inc's Business Model

Mannar Inc. aims to create a business model that makes use of both an underutilized and under-served work force – stay-at-home parents. The founder of Mannar Inc. who herself was once a stay-at-home parent has been told by many highly educated and motivated parents that they would welcome an opportunity to use their education and talents without having to commit or commute to a full-time job. Because of its component-based approach to developing content, Mannar Inc. is well placed to offer such an opportunity to qualified individuals. Mannar will build a network of such individuals giving them an opportunity to work in their fields of expertise while providing opportunities for training in new fields.

As the founder of Mannar Inc., I would like to invite individuals with a passion to improve education to come and join my team. I would like to partner with passionate individuals in writing a comprehensive business plan, and creating a successful business model. As an early stage start-up, opportunities abound for continued collaboration and compensation.

Please email vidyar1@gmail.com for more information

This venture is based in Fremont, CA

School Leaders Network

The Venture:

The mission of the School Leaders Network is to advance student learning by enabling first-rate knowledge sharing and collaboration among school leaders. Today, school leaders – “the CEOs of their schools” – remain largely isolated. There are no systems to help them network with each other or collaborate on-the-job effectively, and hence they spend a lot of time reinventing the wheel. As a result, there is low crosspollination of knowledge and resources as well as reduced innovation, which impair student learning. At School Leaders Network we believe that school leaders are the most influential individuals in their schools and have the ability to realize high quality teaching and learning. By enabling knowledge sharing and collaboration for principals and assistant principals, we seek to significantly increase the intellectual and capital resources available to school leaders, and thereby improve schools. We seek to build a specialized online forum with innovative technology and facilitation which assumes that the membership base is not like-minded, but diverse, and that advanced relevance engine and routing technologies is needed to make this work for school leaders.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Build the Growth Plan for a $200B Senior Housing Market

The Challenge: Build (GSVC) business plan for the $200 Billion Senior Housing Market

The HealthVentures Project: 35 million senior citizens today will double within two decades. HealthVentures is seeking a collaborative team to help develop a unique product for this market with a compelling customer acquisition and marketing approach, and the accompanying financial projections. This is a probable GSVC business-plan entry.

Project Leader: R. Paul Herman, Founder/CEO of HIPinvestor.com; former McKinsey and Company management consultant; former director of strategy for eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's investment company; former Chief Development Officer for Ashoka.org; entrepreneur of financial services company delivering both profit and human impact.

Project Scope:
* Review the market sizing and segmentation, and customer surveys to date
* Refine the product features and service offerings for this $200 Bil market
* Build a unique customer acquisition and marketing plan
* Document the operational requirements
* Translate the projections into financial statements
* Participate in the GSVC business-plan competition

Your Role: Build and collaborate with the founder on the business and product design and planning. Collaborate with peers, potential customers, business partners and industry experts to develop a compelling product and service offering. Help launch the company into this huge market.

Time Commitment: About 5-7 hours per week for meetings with founder, independent research, team collaboration and plan construction.

Benefit to You: Launch exciting startup entering large market. Collaborate with serial entrepreneur. Blend business and social worlds. Potential for consulting or employment post-launch. Probable GSVC business-plan entry. Possible class credit.

Join or learn more at:
rpaulh@gmail.com
415 902 7741

Bashan Hills Kosher Organic Meat Company, Berkeley, CA

Bashan Hills Kosher Organic Meat Company seeks to bring kosher, organic and/or natural beef (and potentially lamb) to the national market. Bashan Hills will partner with smaller-scale ranchers who are guided by sustainable farming practices and who treat their animals humanely and responsibly. Animals will be slaughtered according to Jewish Law (under Orthodox supervision) in facilities that ensure the highest degree of animal welfare. At present, no such product exists for kosher consumers. The kosher market is a fast-growing niche comprised of Jews, Muslims, and many other consumer populations.

I intend to partner with a larger producer whose infrastructure, marketing, and distribution channels are already established. Bashan Hills would then be a specialty brand, with its own kosher production line, within this already existing operation. Ultimately, I want this product to be sold in national chain stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s as well as local kosher food markets. Dr. Temple Grandin, who is the nation's premier authority on humane slaughterhouse design and practice, is a strong supporter of this endeavor. She has high-level contacts throughout the ranching and retail industries and has already put me in touch with Mel Coleman, Jr., CEO of Coleman Natural Meats, whose father pioneered the natural meat industry in the 1970s. He is also enthusiastic and supportive about the idea and could be a potential partner.

At this point, I am looking for a business student(s) to (1) develop a comprehensive business plan and (2) conduct the necessary market research that we could then present to potential partners. Ideally, I would like this project to be entered in the 2007 Global Social Venture Competition. I am open to discussing different compensation possibilities (monetary, equity, partnership) with the right student.

Those interested please contact:

Rabbi Daniel S. Isaacson
1481A Blake Street
Berkeley, CA 94702
510-848-1897
daniel.isaacson@yahoo.com

2008 Global Social Venture Competition