Santa Clara University

Science and Technology for the Underserved

The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI^TM) empowers socially-minded entrepreneurs to build sustainable, scalable organizations that solve problems for people living in poverty around the world. The GSBI is the signature program of Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society. We work with organizations that create value by lifting people out of poverty, utilizing self-sustaining community practices, and developing low-cost solutions. The GSBI is a combination of online, experiential, and skill-building offerings in a ten-month program.

We collaborate with a diverse group of partners including successful Silicon Valley executives, academic leaders, and the network of Jesuit universities. Our mentoring network helps participants scale their ventures to create jobs, sell their products and services, and solve problems internationally.

Social entrepreneurs who apply and win GSBI scholarships build capacity to effect systemic change through our proven combination of curriculum and individualized mentoring. We help participants create strategic business plans that they can confidently present to impact investors and other funders around the world.

Overview of the Program

The GSBI’s unique program to help socially-minded entrepreneurs begins with the application process in January, hosted on the Skoll Foundation’s Social Edge website. All applicants benefit from participation in three exercises and are mentored by graduate business students who have studied under a leader in the field.

Approximately 20 scholarship winners continue the process with six additional exercises, and are matched with Silicon Valley executive mentor teams that help them develop key components of their business plans. These structured assignments in virtual workspaces and via Skype take place over approximately five months, helping entrepreneurs and their mentors develop a set of shared objectives for the in-residence component of the GSBI.

Santa Clara University, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, serves as the setting for the intense two-week in-residence “boot camp” in August. Classroom sessions led by noted faculty and renowned experts complement peer-to-peer collaboration and mentoring with the Silicon Valley executive teams. Participants “stress test” business plans through curriculum, presentation, and feedback sessions. The in-residence culminates with formal business plan presentations to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

Click here to learn about the origins of the GSBI

Demonstrated Outcomes

Since 2003, 139 award-winning social enterprises have attended this program to become part of a growing network of path finding alumni for creating a more just and sustainable world. Nearly 95 percent of GSBI alumni are still working in their social ventures and more than 50 percent are scaling, meaning that revenue is growing faster than expenses. This scaling rate is more than three times that of conventional for-profit ventures. More than 70 million people have benefited from the work of the GSBI alumni network. Of those organizations that are scaling, approximately 80 percent report that the GSBI had a “high” or “very high” impact on the success of their organizations.

Contact

Have questions? Email us at gsbi2012@scu.edu