A "social entrepreneur" is an individual who develops and acts on a solution to a social problem more effective or efficient than existing solutions and measures his/her success in social impact.
About SENO
SENO's mission is to systematically advance solutions to our city's most pressing social challenges by identifying and incubating the social entrepreneurs who tackle these high-priority challenges.
Our Programs:
• New Ventures Incubator: Finds the most promising early-stage social entrepreneurs who are working to solve New Orleans' biggest social challenges and helps to launch these social entrepreneurs through a 6-month executive mentoring program to overcome their start-up challenges, pro-bono legal and financial one-on-one consulting, media exposure to promote the social entrepreneurs' work, and teams of volunteer management consultants (Accelerator Corps). The Incubator is sponsored by the Lieutenant Governor's Office of Social Entrepreneurship.
• PitchNOLA: An "elevator pitch" competition where social entrepreneurs across the city submit their ideas and are provided with a platform to pitch in front of a large audience and panel of judges. PitchNOLA feeds the most promising social entrepreneurs into the Incubator. This event is launched in partnership with Tulane Social Entrepreneurship Initiatives and Tulane Entrepreneurs Association.
Our Impact & Recognition:
In 2008-2009, SENO:
• Matched 12 of the most promising early-stage social entrepreneurs to 12 executive mentors in our pilot Incubator program. Through the support of their executive mentors, mentees worked through their start-up challenges with their mentor, ranging from securing a permanent physical location, developing a board of directors, testing out an earned-income venture, developing a successful pitch for retail product placement, and developing and implementing a fundraising strategy.
• Launched a series of 5 leadership development and technical assistance workshops/retreats for 100 social change agents through our partnership with Echoing Green, an award-winning nonprofit that provides seed funding to social entrepreneurs. Trainers included Christopher Gergen, author of Leading the Entrepreneurial Life, and in the fall, Leslie Crutchfield, author of Forces for Good, will be conducting a retreat.
• Since our inception, we have convened large networking/celebration events for 300 social change agents and featured the profiles of successful social entrepreneurs on our website.
SENO is a nonprofit 501c3 that is well-poised to expand quickly with the support and partnership of organizations such as the Lieutenant Governor's Office of Social Entrepreneurship, Echoing Green, and Tulane University's Freeman School of Business. SENO has been publicly recognized by Tulane University's Freeman School of Business as the 2009 Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Year, highlighted in Entrepreneur magazine, New Orleans Gambit "40 Under 40," the Lieutenant Governor's Office of Social Entrepreneurship, New Orleans City Councilman Arnie Fielkow, and the Social Enterprise Alliance as the Conference Host Committee Chair.
The Need & Our Approach:
We deeply believe in individuals and the power of community members to bring forth significant and systemic social change. We also believe that social innovation comes from a deep understanding of problems and people. Social entrepreneurs have been and will continue to be instrumental in the rebuilding of New Orleans, as new challenges call for new solutions. Of particular concern to SENO is how long the catalyzing effect of Katrina and the entrepreneurial environment will last. We believe that it is critical that the city has a strategy to continue to catalyze, inspire, and empower committed individuals with innovative ideas for social change. PitchNOLA and the New Ventures Incubator is our solution to ensuring that the pipeline of innovative solutions from dedicated, entrepreneurial individuals grows rather than diminishes.