Sam Lakha, Manager, Volans Outreach.
Making Decent Profits Decently: The Changing Culture of MBAs
In her final post for Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership, Pamela reflects about her underlying motivations for taking on the role of Director for the Skoll Centre at Oxford. It all began when she started to realize the potential of business school platforms towards new market creation…
To read more click here
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/01/making-decent-profits-decently-the-changing-culture-of-mbas/.
- Smita SircarComments Off
The Upside of a Downturn
In the two weeks since the launch of the Volans survey on ‘Social Entrepreneurship in a Downturn’, we had already received about 70 responses by year’s end, plus many notes of thanks from leading social entrepreneurs for this initiative - which they see as very timely. The survey is still ongoing - and social or environmental entrepreneurs not already contacted are invited to complete it by clicking here. The final report will be produced for the Skoll World Forum but we want to present here some of the initial findings.
The survey results indicate most of the social entrepreneurs have been affected by the economic downturn in some way or other, but only 10% of the respondents say that they have been severely affected. About 50% of the respondents thought that the downturn would last between 1.5 to 3 years and so the efforts towards gearing their organisations for the change have already been set in motion. Headline results will be released in early February, with the full results available in time for the Skoll World Forum in late March.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2009/01/the-upside-of-a-downturn/.
- Smita SircarVolans Launches ‘The New Opportunity’ Game!
Volans launches an innovative game on understanding the collective mindset of where Public and Private Finances should be allocated. The areas for allocation are Education, Energy, Finance, Food, Health, Transport, and Water & Sanitation.
The game gives a player $100 million dollars (play money, of course!) and asks the player to allocate based on his or her priorities.
Click here to Play >
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2008/11/volan-launches-%e2%80%98the-new-opportunity-space%e2%80%99-game/.
- Smita SircarPamela Hartigan blogs on the Harvard Kennedy School’s site.
Pamela Hartigan has just launched the first of a five-part blog on the Harvard Kennedy School’s Centre for Public Leadership site. The first post is about her recent visit to Joe Madiath of Gram Vikas and the impact of their work on rural poverty in India.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2008/11/pamela-hartigan-blogs-on-the-harvard-kennedy-schools-site/.
- Smita SircarRed-Redemption- Games People Play
Many interesting social entrepreneurs drop by the Volans office in London and in these disruptive times of financial crisis it is especially heartening to hear their stories and appreciate the change that is already taking place.
So this week Charmian and I were delighted to welcome Gobion and Hannah from Red Redemption .
Red Redemption is a gaming company with a twist. They build socially conscious and ethical games. They were founded in 2000 and recently one of their games that they developed for the BBC, called the Climate Challenge, won the European Green IT awards 2008. Many of us at Volans have played the games hosted on their website and we are intrigued by the concept of using online games to raise awareness on social issues.
After we settled comfortably on our huge red sofas, Gobion explained more about Red Redemption - the culture, their business model, current alliances with Publishers and a few funny success stories of converting climate sceptics. Hannah delved into giving us an understanding on designing of the games and the science behind it.
As we heard more we began to grasp how the interactive environment of a socially conscious game can not only expand player’s understanding of complex developmental issues but also expose hidden biases. With the rising awareness about socially conscious games Red Redemption has big plans for the future and they are definitely a social enterprise to watch!
We couldn’t resist but ask if the crunch had affected them? Surprisingly the answer was ‘no’, and things were actually better. Gobion explained that before the crunch investors could invest in, say, the housing market, do nothing and still make a return. In the current climate investors need to be smarter and look at alternate investments. Thus opportunities are emerging for profitable social enterprises such as Red Redemption that have a working business model.
The address for this blog entry is: http://www.volans.com/2008/10/red-redemption-games-people-play/.
- Smita Sircar