Santa Clara University

The GSBI^TM’s success can be attributed to people - social entrepreneurs, guest lecturers, a committed leadership team, and experienced volunteer mentors. Much of the strength and long-term sustainability of the GSBI has been built on the reservoir of experience, passion and good will of GSBI mentors - a unique program feature.  

More than 40 successful Silicon Valley executives, many former founders of NASDAQ companies or venture capitalists, serve as mentors for the GSBI. The experience not only benefits the entrepreneurs, but also has tremendous value for the mentors themselves. As Bob Dench, 2010 lead mentor commented, “The mentors gain an appreciation for the real obstacles that many of these social entrepreneurs face in developing countries, obstacles that just do not exist here, where we take our infrastructure for granted. It’s a learning experience for all of us."

You can read our GSBI Mentor job description here. If you believe your own accomplishments and interest in social benefit might make you an ideal candidate to be a GSBI mentor,  we invite you to fill out our Mentor Information Form so we can learn more about your unique qualifications.

GSBI Mentor Values

These values and prioritization thereof, were generated by our community of Mentors. The Mentors see this as a "live" document to be reviewed from time to time. Based on this work, we would say that a GSBI Mentor, as an expression of our shared values, would be:

• Engaged & Committed - a pledge to truly be there with the social entrepreneur
• An Active Listener - to help the social entrepreneur actively explore and probe; pursuing more than just the spoken words
• Pragmatic - serving the social entrepreneur by insisting on solutions that are practical and realistic to implement and achieve... but not taking over
• Challenging - our role includes the importance of sometimes "pushing back" or "pushing for more"; sometimes referred to as "tough love"
• Honest - authentic; being sincere and frank with integrity
• Expressing Humanity - sharing the social values of our social entrepreneurs of being humane and benevolent to our fellow travelers
• Humble - the absence of arrogance of the importance of focusing on the social entrepreneur rather than self
• Respectful - appreciative and valuing the social entrepreneur, their business and culture; as well as respecting fellow Mentors and GSBI staff and faculty
• Inspiring - reinforcing the social entrepreneur and their vision for scale and change
• Encouraging - being complimentary and the positive "cheerleader" of the social entrepreneur's growth and work.

2011 GSBI Mentors