Month: October 2015

Be Fearless Spotlight: Fixing a Leaky Pipeline

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Spotlight is authored by guest writer Caitlin Kelly as part of a special blog series by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector.

Last year, a number of well-known tech-focused companies released information about their employees that relates specifically to race and gender. The results shone a light on the deeply rooted challenges this sector faces when it comes to diversity. Breaking through those obstacles remains a challenge for women and minorities in particular—one that the Kapor Center for Social Impact (Kapor Center), based in Oakland, California, is boldly tackling every day.

The Kapor Center wears its mission on its sleeve: “We believe that when the community of tech leaders reflects the diversity of the United States, tech will play an integral role in closing gaps and disparities that exist in this country,” the organization’s website states. “Via proven methods from the for-profit and nonprofit fields, we work in partnership with a diverse set of stakeholders to maximize social impact.” Over the years, the Kapor Center has focused its efforts on audacious, “gap-closing” endeavors. The “gap” in these cases refers to a number of challenges facing society today—gaps in academic achievement, access to health care and economic opportunity, as well as gaps in income, information and social mobility.

TheGap_Kapor Center

To achieve these lofty goals, the Kapor Center funds a variety of groundbreaking initiatives and entrepreneurs aimed at stopping what it calls the Leaky Tech Pipeline, which creates roadblocks for African Americans and other underrepresented communities of color in the tech-innovation fields. Currently, African Americans account for less than 3 percent of programmers, developers, engineers and other tech-focused talent. As a result, although African Americans are generally early adopters and users of technology, their intellectual capital is almost nonexistent in the development of new apps and tech systems, leaving in question how germane the products are to their daily lives. To address this gap, the Kapor Center has initiated several interventions, including efforts to provide greater access to educational opportunities for African American and Latino students.

One such intervention has emerged from a program called the College Bound Brotherhood, which supports college and 21st-century career readiness for Bay Area African American males. Created in 2008, the Brotherhood is the first network in the United States to focus on African American male students and connect them to college readiness programs and local resources. Using a Networked Improvement Community model—in which organizations, parents and school districts learn from, support and build with one another to become more solution-oriented toward issues specific to their community—the Brotherhood aims to place 3,000 African American males on a college-bound and college-completion track annually.

Justin Davis, a former professional basketball player who serves as a Program Officer for the Kapor Center, joined the organization in order to “pay it forward” after benefiting from the opportunities that similar funded programs offered him as a young male of color, including college prep services. Davis attended Stanford University on an athletic scholarship, studying communications, then played with the Golden State Warriors.

“In 2008, foundations weren’t investing heavily in black males’ achievement or black-male-centric initiatives,” Davis notes. “We would like to think we were seeing ahead of the curve of what was a pressing issue needing philanthropic support.” Davis says that as a result of the Kapor Center’s early investments in black males, it has been on the front lines of a larger movement, providing not only financial resources, but also “our tech inclusion lens” to such initiatives as President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper, the Executive Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color, and the California Executives’ Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color.

Davis embraces a bold approach when advancing the work of the Kapor Center. Fearlessness to him means “being unapologetic about serving underserved communities, especially black and Latino, especially with regard to technology.” Noting that the tech industry is “highly homogeneous and not truly reflective of America in general,” Davis says that “our priority and focus is on creating a more diverse tech sector, so we made several investments in community-based organizations and nonprofits serving these groups. Being fearless means we’re very vocal and outspoken about this being an issue. These doors are not welcoming for people of color! And even for the few people who get in, is there a culture that retains them?”

Davis is an athlete at heart, and his competitive nature drives his work. “How do you get better at philanthropy? How do you get better at serving communities of color?” These are key questions that he challenges himself and his team to consider. “I’m always thinking about ways to improve our work and our organization.”

Davis asks, “How can we make the best investments that snowball and create a tech sector that welcomes these men? Our challenge has been trying to understand where to make those investments, as there are no blueprints for how to do this through grant-making. We’ve been making investments outside our comfort zone.”

Reflecting the skill set he developed while working with the Kapor Center, Davis has gone on to rebrand the College Bound Brotherhood, helping it to focus solely on diversifying the world of tech. That meant cutting off funding to some grantees while gambling on new and untested investments. “As part of our pivot to focus exclusively on tech, we parted with some of our long-term grant partners,” Davis says. “In doing so, an opportunity presented itself to support a number of nonprofits who weren’t receiving much interest or funding for their work aimed at exposing communities of color to coding.”

Without such focused support, Davis adds, the effects of a growing tech sector on black and Latino communities were mainly “displacement, career unreadiness and gentrification.” The Brotherhood’s investment strategy paid off: “Two to three years later, we had people so thankful for [our] taking the risk to help them grow and develop.”

While the Kapor Center is strengthening the tech pipeline for people of color, Davis is quick to point out that “there are many entry points—from a novice coder to successful entrepreneur.” He notes that not all students in the College Bound Brotherhood have been introduced to coding, but like many Americans they’re “connected at the hip to technology via cell phones or gaming consoles. We simply want to expose these young men to exactly where that technology comes from and inform them that there is a lucrative career available to them if they’re interested. We aim to build meaningful relationships with tech companies so they remain cognizant of the importance of having multiple doors through which talent of color can comfortably walk.”

The Brotherhood collaborates with more than 40 agencies and organizations, each of which contributes to the network model. Much of the success of the program is due to the engagement of unlikely partners. “They’re the big tech firms just down the road. We’re knocking on the door and getting into those closed walls,” Davis explains.

The “tech inclusion” full court press is working, he says with satisfaction. “Oh yes! We’re sitting down now with C-suite staff and doing workshops on this issue in front of hundreds and hundreds of their staff,” Davis says. “These conversations have paid dividends in the sense that we are no longer knocking on the doors (as much), but are now often answering the knock on our door.”

Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading our free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.

How to Go Over The Edge in Three Steps

Posted on by Case Foundation

Over The Edge (OTE) takes you to great heights for a great cause. On Saturday, October 18, 2015, the height was 365ft and the cause was brain cancer research.

Brain cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among children and young adults. More than 600,000 people in the US are living with a brain tumor diagnosis and another 66,000 new diagnosis are expected this year. Meanwhile, there are only four brain tumor treatments approved by the FDA. [See Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2)’s new website for more information.]

The common goal of finding a cure for brain cancer motivated 80 plus participants to rappel off the top of San Diego’s Grand Hyatt. My sister and I were just two of the many “edgers” who went over in memory of a loved one that we lost to the disease. We went over for our grandmother, Elisabeth Clark, and for all of those who are fearlessly fighting the disease today.

Here’s how we got the courage to take that first step over the railing and go over the edge:

    1. Do it for an Organization Worth Going Over the Edge for

ABC2 teamed up with OTE for the third year in a row to raise money for brain cancer research and awareness. ABC2 is a grantee of the Case Foundation and a nonprofit organization that drives cutting-edge research and treatments for brain tumors.

In 2014, OTE for Brain Cancer raised over $215,000 to support San Diego-based brain cancer research. The total for 2015 is still growing, and you can keep up with this year’s fundraising progress here!

ABC2’s mission is to invest in research aimed at finding the fastest possible route to a cure. They let urgency conquer fear by taking bold strides in brain cancer research. They aren’t afraid to be unconventional in their tactics to raise awareness about brain cancer—including rappelling off the side of a building!

    1. Rappel Down a Building with a View

If you’re going to go over the edge, why not enjoy the view while you’re up there? For the third year, OTE for brain cancer rappelled 365ft from the 33rd floor of the beautiful Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, the tallest building on the San Diego waterfront.

When standing on the edge, don’t look down, but be sure to take in the view! From the top, edgers get a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean and downtown San Diego. You’ll be back on the ground before you know it, so take advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunity and take your time. It’s not everyday that you’re higher than the seagulls flying over the San Diego marina!

    1. Be Fearless.

You’d be surprised to discover what you’re capable of when you reach beyond your bubble and be fearless.

Walking backwards off the edge of a 365ft building is no easy task. However, the strength and inspiration necessary to make the descent can be found in the survivors’ courageous battles against the disease. If they can fight against brain cancer, you can go over the edge!

Love conquered fear as the cheers from the crowd below gave strength to the edgers above. Some superhero edgers were brain cancer survivors themselves, and many others were being fearless in honor or in loving memory of friends and family. Together as one, it was a day bursting with love, support and hope for a cure.

Want to see what going over the edge is like? Check out photos from OTE2014 or watch the video below of my OTE experience this year:

 

Be Fearless Spotlight: The Henry David Thoreau Foundation

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Spotlight is crafted in partnership with GOOD and authored by guest writer Caitlin Kelly as part of a special blog series by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector.

The Henry David Thoreau (HDT) Foundation, first established in 1998, has spent the last 17 years handing out funds to some of the most delightful—and unpredictable—people imaginable. HDT’s grant recipients are bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. They’re also passionate about the environment, offering dozens of innovative strategies each year to prevent further damage to the oceans and the air, the rivers and the soil. And they want to get started on all of it, right now.

Who is this elusive group of Thoreau Scholars? High school seniors—who are often thought of as capricious teenagers rather than the changemakers, social entrepreneurs, scientists and world leaders that they will soon be.

Dr. Jennifer Galvin, the HDT’s director, likens the foundation’s investments to a very smart wager. “We are making big bets on individuals and institutions – more of a social venture,” she says. The foundation provides funding to faculty members and to individual students. Their Thoreau Scholars arm has provided up to $30,000 to eight to ten Massachusetts high school seniors every year for college tuition. For this limited number of slots, the foundation receives about 1,000 student applications. Students apply online and supply letters of recommendation to support their proposals. The applicant pool is always so impressive that, Galvin jokes, “They’re either making it up or they’re the next Bill Gates! We definitely have to cross-check their credentials.”

“Each of the Case Foundation’s five principles are markers for us,” she adds. “Our Faculty Grant Program allows us to take risks on programs that might never get off the ground otherwise. We want longevity, not one hit wonders. We want to incentivize people to stick with environmental work… so that our scholars and faculty members can take the risks they want in the environmental arena—and whatever problems they want to solve, I want to support them.”

While all the Thoreau Scholars selected are bright and creative, 65 percent of them are also drawn from public high schools. That includes Christopher Golden, who today is a Harvard graduate, as well as the director of a nonprofit in Madagascar. His team, according to HDT’s website, has “developed a ‘recipe book’ of remedies based on local plants, which has been distributed to numerous villages to preserve and promote indigenous remedies in an area where hospitals are distant and expensive.” Golden believes that kind of optimism is precisely why Thoreau Scholars stand out.

“The program is designed to reward people based on their passions, to foster their belief that they might just be the person with the solution,” he says. “My fellow scholars are all hyper-intelligent, but the point of the scholars program isn’t test scores or academic accolades. It’s about passion and leadership.”

Galvin says the question at the heart of the HDT program is, “’How do you build resilient, energetic, environmental leaders?’… I want them to think of themselves as fearless leaders now, whether interested in policy or education or bench science, whatever drives them the most. They all have incredible stories about why they care so much.”

Galvin also does much more than write a check and await a report, treasuring the close personal relationships she fosters with—and among—her scholars and faculty members. “I email. I’m on the phone. Some are now my closest friends and colleagues, and they are in the four corners of the world. It’s like herding cats, but I love that!”

The first class of Thoreau Scholars graduated in 2003, and some of them have already gone on to start energy companies or become college faculty members in their respective fields. Galvin measures the impact of their work in different ways, she explains, whether it’s about honing scholars’ critical thinking abilities, their individual connections or their leadership skills. “Some are easy to measure in the short-term and some take longer to play out.”

“I saw the connections at a very young age between environmental health and our physical health,” she says. “I was always really good at zooming in and out, and seeing how the dots are connected.” That might be why the foundation casts such a wide net and looks for those who are taking risks, experimenting and forming unique collaborations—offering support to biologists and botanists alongside those pursuing public health, law and chemistry. “I want to cross-fertilize different sectors to reframe the narrative and shift thinking,” says Galvin. “Environmental problems don’t fit neatly into boxes and their solutions don’t either.”

Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading our free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.

“Making Ideas Move” at ComNet 2015

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More than 500 social sector communications professionals from foundations and organizations across the globe gathered this month for engaging dialogues on using the power of digital storytelling to drive social impact, demystifying design and the making of movements. They joined together for the Communications Network conference in San Diego themed “Making Ideas Move.” Fellow communicators from organizations like the Ford Foundation, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Center for American Progress, Rockefeller Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, ONE Campaign and many others trekked to sunny California for the two-day learning event.

Here are highlights from two of the sessions that I participated in over the course of the convening and takeaways on how to move ideas forward, by making big bets and failing forward.

  • Fireside Chat with Soledad O’BrienI had the pleasure of joining Soledad O’Brien, one of the most well respected working journalists of our time, on stage for a fireside discussion on opening day. Our talk included a discussion on: the changing dynamics of news agencies; the rise of Millennials and how they are consuming news; and her launch of Starfish Media Group. A multi-platform media production and distribution company, Starfish Media Group is dedicated to uncovering and producing empowering stories that take a challenging look at the often divisive issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity. O’Brien produces two hit series “Black in America” and “Latino in America,” which are among CNN’s most successful domestic and international franchises.

    O’Brien also created the Starfish Foundation, an organization that sends young women to and through college. The organization has supported dozens of young women in their educational pursuits, believing that they too can succeed when faced with difficult circumstances. In her book, The Next Big Story: My Journey through the land of possibilities, O’Brien shares valuable lessons and insights into her journalistic career, many of which we discussed during our time on stage.

    “My storytelling is an exploration of the world’s problems—that people have the potential to do good and make good and seize from the bad if they will only make a choice to do it,” she noted. O’Brien also shared her lessons on failure with the audience, saying, “Making mistakes should be about learning lessons, not wallowing in failure.” You can watch the complete interview, below (beginning at 14:55):

https://vimeo.com/142297055

  • “You’ve Got the “Big Idea”, How the Heck Do You Execute It?”I also joined the panel discussion “You’ve Got the “Big Idea,” How the Heck Do You Execute It?” with Kate Emanuel of the Ad Council, Alex Kennaugh of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Amy Levner of KaBOOM! We shared with attendees how communications can turn big, audacious goals into a tangible, executable and measurable strategy—that doesn’t take years to achieve—and how to use smart research to achieve those goals.

    Case in point, NRDC aims to combat food waste in the U.S., where 40 percent of food goes uneaten equating to more than $165 billion in wasted food each year. Kennaugh explained how the NRDC published an essential guide called the Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook, packed with “engaging shopping checklists, creative recipes, practical strategies and educational infographics” offering an easy ways to save food and money. Meanwhile, Levner explained how research confirms that play—physically active, imaginative and interactive play—is a powerful, healthy living solution that benefits the whole child. KaBOOM! has teamed up with the 50 Fund and the NFL Foundation to support nine counties of the Bay Area alone, helping to transform sidewalks and spaces that encourage activity.

I look forward to joining Communications Network in 2016 as they head to Detroit and gather social sector leaders from foundations and nonprofits who share the belief that big ideas, coupled with smart and strategic communications, have the power to transform society, improve lives and change the world.

Be Fearless Spotlight: Krochet Kids intl.

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Spotlight is authored by guest writer Caitlin Kelly as part of a special blog series by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector.

The affluent shoppers in upscale stores like Nordstorm, Whole Foods, Anthropologie or Canada’s Holt Renfrew may not realize that the backpacks, baby booties, wool scarves and T-shirts they’re buying are employing 175 women in Uganda and Peru.

For Kohl Crecelius, CEO and co-founder of Krochet Kids intl., a seven-year-old nonprofit based in Costa Mesa, CA, the focus is training workers in new skills they can eventually use on their own—not simply hitting his firm’s production numbers, or making sure there’s enough inventory.

That’s what makes Krochet Kids intl. so fearless—their willingness to make a wager. “We’re in the process of making a big bet that people will truly care about how our products are made,” says Crecelius.

While many organizations focus on teaching skills, Krochet Kids intl.’s approach is riskier and embodies the notion of fearlessness by making sure their clients will eventually leave Krochet Kids, often to open a wholly different sort of business on their own.

That’s fine with Crecelius. His longer-term goal is to teach entrepreneurial values and skills, no matter how they’re eventually put to use. “What we saw far too much of when we were creating Krochet Kids intl. was a cycle of dependency. Hundreds of aid organizations focus on short-term need, but not on equipping their clients to be self-reliant individuals.” So far, the program has graduated 50 women into their own businesses.

Like many working in the nonprofit field, he was first inspired by his own travels, the aid work he witnessed in Uganda spurring him to experiment and create a different model. “I saw how short-sighted that was and how it needed to be done differently. The women I met wanted to work and to be capable of changing their own circumstances,” he says.

Crecelius’ brother had learned to crochet while attending college in San Diego, CA, a skill he passed on and which they decided might be a skill useful to women in northern Uganda, where they started with 10 workers. This realization sparked the creation of Krochet Kids intl., and over the course of the last eight years Crecelius’ big idea has been refined through experimentation and a series of unlikely partnerships.

His ethos informs how Krochet Kids intl. combines running an apparel company with a larger, long-term goal of teaching its workers the skills they need to eventually leave and run their own businesses. Their program gives the women a three-to-five-year commitment of consistent employment at a set wage based on piecework, a three-year educational curriculum that includes literacy, numeracy and financial planning and one-on-one mentorship.

That long-term commitment is essential because, like many such organizations, they work within a larger cultural context, one in which women are often more highly valued for keeping their labor within the family for its benefit. That requires its own sort of fearlessness on the part of their women workers; the women who choose to work with Krochet Kids intl. need to know that other income they may be giving up will be consistently replaced for several years—their families rely on it.

Working with local in-country partners, Krochet Kids intl. aims to break the cycle of poverty through rigorous and ongoing measurement of its impact. Every month, they track 45 indicators of progress across six areas: economic health, educational progress, physical health, social well-being, psychological well-being and spiritual well-being. Local social workers act as mentors to the women, insuring they can count on ongoing personal support.

“One of the questions we ask the women is ‘What are your perceptions of poverty?’ ranking their answers from 1, (the depths of poverty) to 10, (feeling completely free of it),” says Crecelius. “All the way through, we see a trend towards them having more confidence.”

Their metrics also indicate that the women they employ enjoy incomes 10 times higher than before, savings 25 times higher and—crucially for women earning good local wages—are 40 percent less likely to suffer from domestic violence. They are 25 percent more likely to participate in major family decisions, and their children are eight times more likely to attend high school.

“Impact is results, not action,” he says. “We have chosen to put impact first, through offering jobs, education and mentorship. That’s one of our main differentiators, that we’re a nonprofit and we have led with impact.”

The two regions they work with are culturally and economically very different—rural northern Uganda and the outskirts of a major city, Lima, Peru. Local churches, government agencies and local staff make home visits to find and select women who most need to learn new skills and boost their incomes. In Uganda, the attrition rate is less than two percent because they work in rural areas with few other competitors for labor. That rate is higher in Peru, which has a higher rate of transience and many more employment options available there to urban women. When the women leave, however, they may choose to use their new business skills and confidence beyond apparel production, like buying a motorcycle and renting it out as a taxi, or purchasing a piece of land and farming it.

The women now also make a much wider array of products, from T-shirts to backpacks, which “helps to smooth out seasonality from a business perspective,” Crecelius explains. “Our whole premise is based on a lot of risks—like, who makes headwear out of sub-Saharan Africa?” Yet product sales today bring in 80 percent of the group’s revenue.

An unlikely bet in 2012, fueled by urgency and a potentially huge win, meant heading briefly in an unusual and unlikely direction. The “most nerve-wracking night of my life” came for Crecelius then as he waited to learn the winners of a competition created by Chase Bank’s American Giving Awards whose top prize was $1 million. Krochet Kids intl. won second prize—taking home $500,000, which they used to create a new sewing floor in Peru. The contest, he admits “was not merit-based. It was a popularity contest,” but the potential gain was great enough that “we just shut down and went all hands on deck,” gaining “millions of impressions” on Facebook and other social media sites.

His business model also includes partnering with a wide range of others, from sneaker manufacturer Vans—using Krochet Kids intl.’s Peruvian fabric—and the consumer products distributor Birchbox, to VSCO, a photo-sharing app. “They’ve allowed us to reach unique and specific audiences,” he says. “Partnership is a two-way street and we’ve realized the amount we have to offer. It’s a really beautiful thing. It’s a win-win.”

Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading our free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.

Paying it Forward

Posted on by Case Foundation

I’m pretty sure that the first time I saw the inside of a professional office I was a 15 year-old high school student in Florida. The child of a single mom working to raise four children, I was fortunate enough to attend a private school on a scholarship. At the time, I thought I wanted to pursue a career in law, so I was quite excited to be reporting for an internship that my school had arranged in a prominent law office. I had no way of knowing then, but the man I would meet in that office, who would later become my mentor (and my boss), would change the trajectory of my career, and my life. Looking back on those early days, I know that without the generosity of others – those who gave of their time and resources, and who took me under their wings to provide access to opportunities that might otherwise have been out of reach – I would not be where I am today.

This week, as I participate in Fortune’s 2015 Most Powerful Women (MPW) Summit in Washington, DC, —a convening that brings together preeminent women in business, along with leaders in government, philanthropy, education, and the arts—that office in Florida seems a world away. Yet, I know that just outside the walls of this Summit there are thousands of talented young people who have never been in an office, never been asked to share their opinion and never had someone tell them that they have the potential to change the world.

That is why I am taking part in Fortune’s MPW High School Notebook Mentoring session, which brings together the extraordinary talents of MPW delegates, the Fortune and Time Inc. stage and the career hopes of 30 high school juniors and seniors from the Washington, DC, area. The idea of democratizing opportunity and giving young people access to resources has continuously animated me throughout my career, and I am so pleased to be able to participate in an event that embodies this principle. For this special event focused on STEM careers, Fortune is partnering with Girls Inc., a national nonprofit that helps give high school girls the right tools to succeed in their careers and educational pursuits.

In a field where women (in the US) are 45 percent more likely than men to leave the industry within a year, as noted by a recent study from the Center for Talent Innovation, we need solutions—now. The same study found that one way to address the challenges facing women in science, technology and engineering careers is mentorship, which helps mentees “crack the unwritten code of executive presence, improving their chances of being perceived as leadership material. Most important to the companies employing them, [mentors] help women get their ideas heard.”

We can — and need to — do much more when it comes to giving young women access to mentors who will help shape their futures and allow them to dream beyond their circumstances. That’s why over the years, I’ve looked for opportunities to mentor, whether through Fortune and the US State Department’s long-standing Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership, where I’ve had the opportunity to mentor Ama Pomaa, an incredibly resilient woman from Ghana, who, since first knowing her, has been elected as a Member of Parliament, or through programs like the Georgetown Global Social Enterprise Initiative, and beyond. And that’s why I’m so excited to continue paying it forward today, and urging other leaders to do the same. When more women are supported and empowered to reach their full potential, everyone wins. 

Women’s Venture Xchange-Africa: Expanding Women-led Businesses in Africa

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Global Entrepreneurship Network is now accepting applications for Women’s Venture Xchange-Africa!

This year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Nairobi, Kenya put a spotlight on the rising stars of entrepreneurship and the burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa. The summit showed how the people and companies of Africa are ripe for real financial investment to grow their businesses, strengthen their communities and provide solutions for some of the world’s most pressing problems. The Case Foundation was honored to join GES and get a first hand look at the individuals, communities, policies and programs driving competitive and novel business ideas to scale. And we were particularly honored to pivot the main spotlight to shine on women entrepreneurs and the economic and business case for investing in their success.

Part of that spotlight includes a new partnership with the Women’s Venture Xchange-Africa (WVXA), a pilot launched at the Summit with Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), the Mara Foundation and U.S. Department of State, WVXA will provide four African women entrepreneurs the opportunity to scale their business through access to strong mentorship and capital networks in Nairobi. The program is designed to help established women-owned businesses expand beyond the borders of their own countries—gaining access to new regional markets, research and insights into best practices.

The entrepreneurs will be selected based on their company’s likelihood of successful regional expansion, the business’s growth stage, the uniqueness of the concept and their professional ambitions for their time in Nairobi. WVXA will be focused on drawing entrepreneurs who have established their businesses locally and are poised for cross-border expansion within East Africa.

We look forward to seeing the results of the first cohort of entrepreneurs and building upon the evidence base from our own work in driving more inclusive entrepreneurship – entrepreneurship that is more inclusive of under-represented groups, more inclusive of under-leveraged places and more inclusive of businesses that shoot for financial AND social impact returns. We are thrilled to see the belief in the power of entrepreneurship continue to thrive in every corner of the world, and look forward to seeing how WVXA unlocks the huge potential in the four women entrepreneurs selected to participate this year.

For more information or to apply to the WVXA program visit the Global Entrepreneurship Week website. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until October 23, 2015. Stay tuned for more updates as the application and selection process develop!

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