A growing energy is brewing among student entrepreneurs and this energy has green written all over it. Environmentalism has become an important staple in the youth culture and it is only growing in scope. With more websites, magazines, newspapers, and organizations devoting their time to environmentalism it is no surprise that student businesses are creating businesses around the cause. One student business, called The Beanstockd Project (no e), took entertainment and turned it green:

"The Beanstockd Project is a web-based environmental media organization using pop culture as a vehicle to deliver environmental news to young-adults who would not otherwise be exposed to it. Our goal is to harness the power of competition and entertainment to effect tangible change in the real world using an innovative and unprecedented web 2.0 application."

Started by Angela Antony (Harvard University), The Beanstockd Project decided to really mix it up by taking something which people are genuinely curious about, like entertainment and media, and the concerns of the Earth. The killer concept for this student venture is that there is no end to the creativity involved in making environmentalism relevant; every business, product, attitude, and philosophy has to do with how people react to the Earth and this is important for the future development of civilization. With enough application innovation and marketing, The Beanstockd Project could become a go-to resource for those who want to know what's happening while keeping it green.

To see more details about these businesses you can login at StudentBusinesses.com to view full business plans for these and other top startups around the country.

Labels: Beanstockd Project, social entrepreneurship, student business., student venture

Posted at 7:13 PM  

Communities are the life-blood of the entrepreneur. Without them you have no demand, help, or resources. That is why StudentBusinesses.com is featuring a startup that is about those who live in the community. Any organization setup to help a community is always seen as a benefit to those within it; naturally the community fosters values that need reinforcing to keep the community together. Students understand this concept well since students live and thrive on a community of helpers, learners, and thinkers. That is why several students were able to create an online community for those in need of direction and help.

Treating Eating, Inc. is a startup about helping people overcome and seek help for their eating disorders and also for those who know someone with an eating disorder. It was started by Candice Sombrero, a student that understood that communities, especially online ones, have immense benefits for those in search of help:

"Treating Eating, Inc. is a free, interactive online community committed to providing research, shared personal experiences, and an environment conducive to overcoming eating disorders. Through personal relationships, Treating Eating will strive to transform lives by offering support and guidance to not only those affected, but also their families and friends. Treating Eating will touch millions of lives across the nation and empower individuals with eating disorders to pursue a healthy lifestyle."

Social entrepreneurship aims at affecting society in some way and Treating Eating does just that. Eating disorders have become a real problem, especially in western societies, and any attempt at dispelling myths and providing good health information is key to a healthier lifestyle. Eating problems usually come out of a heavy or influential amount of pressure to look thinner or look different than they do at that time. By creating a community of people who understand and are affected by eating disorders, Treating Eating will be able to do away with that pressure. Also, the web startup has a lot of potential to include doctors and health resources that previously may have been difficult to find. Doctors are a great source of knowledge about this issue and could make an impact in the forums or write articles about how to seek proper help. With a dedicated base and a lot of features offering advice and information, Treating Eating, Inc. has a lot of potential to help many people world-wide with these disorders.

To see more details about these businesses you can login at StudentBusinesses.com to view full business plans for these and other top startups around the country.

Labels: social entrepreneurship, student startup, studentbusinesses.com, treating eating, Treating Eating inc

Posted at 6:33 PM  

This week, StudentBusinesses.com is featuring two exciting student social-entrepreneurial startups that recognize the need for skilled leaders in a complex world. The premise behind these startups is that there exists a deficit of intelligent leaders who are not only educated in national issues, but who are also knowledgeable about global causes. Though these startups have similar goals, they branch out in two important areas: one startup begins in the classroom while the other begins in a different country.

The founder and director of The School for Ethics and Global Leadership, Noah Bopp, who holds a degree from the Klingenstein Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, is convinced that a sound leadership education can be created in the classroom:

"The School for Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL) is a semester-long, residential program in Washington, DC for motivated high school juniors from across the United States. Students who attend SEGL receive honors-level academic credit at their high schools along with an experiential curriculum focusing on ethics, leadership, and international studies."

SEGL, a program that emphasizes that the semester leadership experience is a proven benefit to young students, chooses 32 juniors a semester to participate. The goal of the program, taught by a myriad of educators, academics, and political leaders, is the nurturing of "ethical thinking skills, leadership development, and international understanding." The curriculum, in addition to teaching classes on global ideas and leadership, offers language courses such as Arabic and Chinese. The environment of the SEGL classroom matters just as much as the case models that are studied within it; the program seeks a diverse background of students that are both economically and racially representative of the United States. Another goal of the program that is akin to creating student leaders is creating teacher leaders in what they call "an innovative teacher education program." One intention of the teacher program is to influence as many students, teachers, and schools across the nation as possible. This change,they hope, will affect millions.

With a similar interest in global education and leadership, Morgan Radford, the creator of Learning Through Leadership (LTL), hopes to change young people through travel. Radford, an undergraduate Social Studies concentrator from Harvard College, and Lauren Williams, at the Mason School of Business at William and Mary, have come together to create a leadership program designed to teach effective leadership:

"LTL develops emotionally-intelligent, socially-minded global leaders through public service and civic engagement projects. Designed for undergraduate or recently-graduated students, LTL partners students with three different nonprofit organizations in three different countries for a period of six months."

The goal of LTL is to positively impact two groups of people: the served and the server. The effectiveness or measure of the program lies in the extent to which a new generation of global leaders will leave each country sufficiently impacted by their real and theoretical experiences of leadership. Though students are put through a two week leadership training that is intensive and theoretical, the real triumph of the program is in the traveling, learning, leading, and doing social good.

To see more details about these businesses (both social and for-profit), you can login at StudentBusinesses.com to view full business plans for these and other top startups around the country.

Labels: Learning through Leadership, School for Ethics and Global Leadership, social entrepreneurship, studentbusinesses.com

Posted at 9:33 PM