Essential MOOCs In Business For April

Social Entrepreneurship

 

School: Copenhagen Business School

Platform: Coursera

Registration Link: Social Entrepreneurship

Start Date: April 7, 2015 (12 Weeks Long)

Workload: 4-6 Hours Per Week

Instructors: Kai Hockerts, Kristjan Jespersen, Robert Austin and Anirudh Agrawal

Credentials: Hockerts, Jespersen, Austin and Agrawal all teach or conduct research at the Copenhagen Business School. Hockerts, who joined the faculty in 2005, focuses his research on sustainability and environmental entrepreneurship. His work has been published in the Journal of Business Ethics and the International Review of Entrepreneurship among other outlets. Jespersen, a PhD fellow, researches the development and management of ecosystem services in developing countries. Austin, who spent over a decade on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, has authored nine books and over 60 HBS cases. His work has also been published in the Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and the Wall Street Journal. Agrawal is a research fellow who specializes in investment impact in regions like India, Georgia, Nepal and Denmark.

Graded: Students will earn a verified certificate for completing this course.

Description: Until recently, the ideas of “doing good” and “making money” were distinct. Sure, companies helped the greater good by giving back to their communities. Often, innovation spurring social change came about as an unexpected by-product. Now, business solutions are often at the forefront of fighting poverty and disease. And that’s because many entrepreneurs are dissecting endemic social problems and applying business tools to fight them.

That is the heart of social entrepreneurship, where services and products are designed specifically to foster social change. For example, Muhammad Yunus pioneered microcredits through his Grameen Bank to help the poorest (especially women) start small businesses. In doing so, he was able to both stir enterprise and turn a profit.

In this course, which relies heavily on online forum discussions and team projects, students will learn how to identify opportunities, establish a business plan, draft a business plan, organize a team, attract investors and resources, communicate their message, measure their impact, and apply their model to other potential causes. In addition, participants will choose an opportunity to foster social innovation and create a business model and plan that will be submitted for start-up funding.

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