Tag: Skandalaris Center



There’s a new venture-capital seed fund on campus. The Skandalaris Center is launching the fund aimed at helping to propel early-stage business ventures by students, faculty and recent alumni.

The new William Greenleaf Eliot Seed Fund, named for Washington University co-founder William Greenleaf Eliot, is managed by the university’s Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. A group of approximately one dozen individual angel investors made a capital commitment to the fund and will serve on an advisory committee to review funding proposals. The investors also may get an opportunity to serve as strategic mentors to the startups chosen to receive support from the fund.

“We are thrilled to initiate this new partnership between private investors and Washington University,” said Emre Toker, managing director of the Skandalaris Center. “This new venture-capital fund will help us further support the science, technology and medical work being done at the university in the innovation/entrepreneurship space, and help to launch and further elevate that great work.”

“The William Greenleaf Eliot Seed Fund is an extension of the many supports and resources the Skandalaris Center already provides to startups within the Washington University community,” said Provost Holden Thorp. “The university is proud to offer another option to nurture these early-stage businesses as they develop, evolve and thrive.”

Startups affiliated with Washington University may apply for the William Greenleaf Eliot Fund via the Skandalaris Center; there is a rolling review process for those applications.

By Erika Ebsworth-Goold, WashU Public Affairs




Calling all entrepreneurs! It’s time to sign up for the business plan competitions managed by the Skandalaris Center. There are workshops, advisors, and coaches to help first-time entrepreneurs through the process. Registration for information sessions is required.

Skandalaris Center Cup (SC Cup) Info Sessions
$5,000 award to student-founded, for-profit startups, with the potential for further investment.
3 info sessions:
Thursday, September 29th, 5:00 – 6:00 PM, DANFORTH CAMPUS, MALLINCKRODT 128
Wednesday, October 5th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM, DANFORTH CAMPUS, MALLINCKRODT 128
Wednesday, October 5th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM, MEDICAL CAMPUS, FARRELL LEARNING AND TEACHING CENTER (FLTC) ROOM 214

Link here to register.

Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition (SEIC)
Impact. Innovation. Income.
Do you want to work with students from across campus and community experts from all of St. Louis on key social challenges?  Do you want to learn skills to help you create sustainable social change? Up to $100,000 in investment and services available to selected participants.
Kick-off Event:
Friday, October 14, 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Brown Lounge (2nd Floor)
Link here to register.

Washington University Startup Training Lab (WU-STL) Workshop Series
Want to learn more about how to start a startup? Join us for these bimonthly entrepreneurial skills series offered by the Skandalaris Center in collaboration with the Brown School of Social Work. The workshops take place on two Fridays per month, 1-5pm and are free and open to the public.
Begins:
Friday, October 21st, 1:00 – 5:00 PM, Mallinckrodt 128
Link here for more information.




Photo, above: This student team in the Venture Advising Consulting Course taught by Clifford Holekamp, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship, spent 10 days in Budapest, Hungary immersed in the startup community and consulting for GPS Tuner, a leader in the field of software development for GPS navigation.

Olin creates powerful connections between businesses and our students—because we know the real-world measure of a program is how your academic experience translates into the workplace.

Of course, an internship is a time-honored way to gain experience and to demonstrate aptitude and skills.

But you’ll also find applied-learning opportunities in our classrooms, student clubs, and extracurricular activities—allowing you to explore new career options and gain substantive on-the-job experience, valuable mentors, and networking contacts.

1. The Center for Experiential Learning

Innovative learning. Real-world projects. Outcomes with impact. That’s the Center for Experiential Learning (CEL). The CEL matches highly motivated students at Olin Business School with organizations seeking strategic consulting services.

The CEL has five unique programs dedicated to innovative learning and delivering impact:

» Practicum pairs teams of talented Olin students with companies seeking smart solutions to management challenges.

» The Taylor Community Consulting teams of two to four graduate-level students provide pro bono consulting services to St. Louis nonprofits.

» The Olin/United Way Board Fellows program takes second-year MBA students from the classroom to the nonprofit boardroom to provide a unique lesson in leadership.

» CELect students consult for entrepreneurs at a tech incubator to better understand the challenges of a startup and advise on best-practice business strategies.

» Global Management Studies are student-directed courses that focus on industries, management styles, or emerging markets in a country or region outside the United States.

2. Investment Praxis

Guided by seasoned professionals, students manage $1.5 million of Olin Business School’s endowment.

3. Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation     and Entrepreneurship

Extracurricular entrepreneurship activities, such as business plan competitions, promote corporate innovation and the commercialization of new business ideas. The YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition has awarded over $600,000 in grants and in-kind services and also includes a $5,000 student cash prize.

4. Volunteering

Nonprofit organizations provide a wide variety of experiences to their volunteers. The Community Service Office serves as the major initiative of the Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University, supporting cocurricular service among undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.




Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone… but that’s where intrapreneurship comes in. Join the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurship for a panel discussion on Entrepreneurship or Intrapreneurship: Which is for you?

CorpEshipPanel (2)Panelists from Boeing, Anheuser-Busch, MasterCard, and more share how they have innovated at the corporate level. After the panel, there will be time for you to network with the panelists one-on-one.

Snacks will be provided.

WHEN: 6-8 p.m., Wednesday, March 23

WHERE: Frick Forum

More information, click here.

 

 

Guest Blogger: Jessica Stanko, Campus Services Coordinator
Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship




Congratulations to the winners of the 10th annual YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition (SEIC) . Ten finalists competed for funding awards totaling over $100,000.  All of this year’s winners serve children and youth, and many were in the area of education.  The competition is hosted by the Skandalaris Center in partnership with the YouthBridge Community Foundation, with support from sponsors the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis and the Daughters of Charity Foundation of St. Louis.
And the winners are:

  • $30,000 YouthBridge Award to The MakerShare Initiative of The Disruption Department, which provides access to Maker and STEM technology to students in schools without the resources to do so
  • $25,000 Lutheran Foundation Award to Virtual Child Care Business Center, which is changing the business models of early care and education programs to save time, share costs, and increase quality
  • $25,000 Daughters of Charity Foundation Award to Magnificent Potential, which creates unique, high-quality screen printed t-shirts, while providing employment and personal development to local high school students
  • $25,000 Skandalaris Award to Code Red Education, which teaches 1st – 12th grade students computer science and computer coding in order to prep them for tech careers after graduation
  • $5,000 student award to Teaching Engineering to St Louis Adolescents (TESLA), which empowers disadvantaged youth through dynamic after-clubs to expose them to various STEM principles through hands-on design challenges rooted in engineering fields that foster creativity, innovation, and critical thinking

The competition is open to both Washington University students and social entrepreneurs from the community, and several of the finalists included Washington University alumni.  Magnificent Potential was founded by alumnus David Carroll (AM 2014) in his role as Chief Program Officer of Neighborhood Houses, a nonprofit serving the St. Louis community for over 100 years.  TESLA was founded by WUSTL School of Engineering junior Nicholas Okafor and his team includes several Washington University undergraduate students.

YSEIC 10The YouthBridge SEIC was founded ten years ago and since its inception has awarded more than $1.2 million to over 40 winning social ventures.  Many past participants in the competition attended the awards ceremony, and three past winners provided updates on their venture as part of the program.  All referred to both the value of the funding awards received as well as the connections made through the competition.  The value of those connections was shown again this year, as finalist teams showed universal support and encouragement for each other regardless of who won funding awards.

YouthBridge Community Foundation CEO Michael Howard opened the program speaking of the ten-year partnership with Washington University which has planted the seeds of the developing ecosystem of social entrepreneurship in St. Louis. He said the competition is a great example of community collaboration, citing the involvement of the Lutheran and Daughters of Charity Foundations, as well as past sponsors of funding awards and in-kind accounting and legal services.  Thanks to the competition, Howard said, “Organizations are feeding hungry children, providing job training, battling sex trafficking, providing clean water, access to healthy food, and supporting education initiatives.  All the teams, past and current, are doing and will do great things.”

Emre Toker, Managing Director of the Skandalaris Center, said “We are very grateful for the support that the YouthBridge Community Foundation has provided for the last ten years.  Our students have the potential and the desire to address the world’s most pressing social problems.  Along with our colleagues at the Brown School and at The Mission Center L3C we will continue to train the next group of social entrepreneurs on campus and in the community and look forward to the impact they will make.”

In other news from past YouthBridge SEIC winners:
2006 YouthBridge SEIC winner St. Louis ArtWorks will host a spring sale on Saturday, May 2, from 11AM – 2PM.  For more info see their website at http://www.stlartworks.org/.

2011 YouthBridge SEIC winner Janji has launched their new Haiti “Run for Another” running shirts.  Check out their website at http://runjanji.com/ and sign up to be the first to receive new product information every Wednesday.

2011 YouthBridge SEIC winner Perennial’s schedule of Creative-Reuse classes is at http://eepurl.com/bjrGV9.

2013 YouthBridge SEIC winner Independent Youth will host TrepStart Day on Monday, October 5, a one-day event where teens learn, lunch and launch into entrepreneurial thinking by interacting with successful teen entrepreneurs from around the US.  Early registration opens May 1 – more info at http://independentyouth.org/.

2013 YouthBridge SEIC winner The Circus Harmony Flying Trapeze Center is back up and running under the train shed at historic St. Louis Union Station.  They have classes every day except Monday. Take your friends and family for this safe fun activity and see how it feels to defy gravity! To book your flight, call 314.504.4298 or go to www.trapezestl.com.




Winners of the 2015 YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition will be announced Thursday, April 9 at an awards ceremony in the Knight Center. The annual competition has awarded more than $1.1 million in grant and in-kind services to more than 40 social ventures over the past decade.

YSEIC 10This year’s finalists include:
Angel Boutique Resale Shop
Code Red Education
Gigoit
Magnificent Potential
The MakerShare Initiative
The Willow Foundation
The Women’s Bakery
Teaching Engineering to St Louis Adolescents
The St. Louis MetroMarket
The Virtual Child Care Business Center

This event is free and open to all, but please RSVP.