National Social Venture Competition Announces 2002 Winners

Contact:
Ute Frey
Haas School of Business
510-642-0342
frey@haas.berkeley.edu

Berkeley -- Four winners emerged at the final judging round of the National Social Venture Competition held at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business on Saturday, April 6. Winners and finalists shared prizes totaling $100,000.

The competition, a partnership of the Haas School of Business, Columbia Business School, and The Goldman Sachs Foundation, is the only business school competition fostering the creation of businesses and nonprofit organizations that are profitable or financially sustainable and can demonstrate a quantifiable social return on investment.

The winners are:

• A $25,000 Grand Prize for Best Blended Value Business Category (for plans demonstrating the highest, most integrated financial and social returns)
  Regale Corporation: Designs and manufactures technologically advanced and environmentally-friendly molded products as an alternative to plastics and foams (Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley)
• A $25,000 Grand Prize for the High-Growth Category:(for plans demonstrating financial profitability within 5 years)
  Wilson TurboPower, Inc.: Produces next-generation micro turbines with efficiencies and costs comparable to centralized power generation (MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA)
• A $25,000 Grand Prize for the Medium-Growth Category:(for plans demonstrating with significant social impact longer path to profitability)
  Bronx Charter School for the Arts: A public charter elementary school organization that focuses on arts in urban areas (Columbia Business School, New York, NY)
• A $5,000 Prize for Outstanding Social Return on Investment (SROI) Analysis
  The Prize for Outstanding SROI was split between Regale Corporation and Windows of Opportunity. Windows of Opportunity is a producer of lead-safe window replacements (Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, MD). Regale and Windows of Opportunity each will receive a $2,500 prize.

Honorable mention and best all-MBA team went to Casas Sin Fronteras, which develops affordable housing solutions to low-income residents of Mexico (The Eller Graduate School of Management, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ). Honorable mention for innovation in the SROI category went to Pachamama Coffee Cooperative of Small Scale Coffee Producers, a non-profit cooperative of small-scale coffee producers (University of California, Davis).

Ten finalist teams competed in Saturday's final round of judging. Each finalist team received $1,000-2,000 in travel money to attend the final competition in Berkeley, California.

The teams were judged by leading representatives from foundations, investors and venture capital, and academia who have been on the forefront of this quickly growing field of social entrepreneurship.

The 2002 competition attracted 77 business plan submissions -- a 140% increase from last year -- from 31 business schools across the US. The plans covered a broad spectrum of education, technology, health, community development, and environmental industries.

The competition began three years ago as a student-organized social venture competition at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business. It expanded its national scope in 2001 with new partners, Columbia Business School in New York and The Goldman Sachs Foundation, headquartered in New York, which has provided $1.5 million in funding for the competition.

Together, the three institutions are committed to building upon their respective networks of global business leaders, academics, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to achieve their vision: the expansion of social entrepreneurship globally. A September 13, 2002, symposium, titled "Redefining of Profit, Business, and Success," will be held on the Berkeley campus to advance the discussion of the trends, challenges, and successes in the field of social venture entrepreneurship.

###
NOTE: For more information, visit the web site at http://www.socialvc.net
or contact:

Haas School of Business
Ute Frey
University of California, Berkeley
Phone: (510) 642-0342
E-mail: frey@haas.berkeley.edu

Columbia Business School
Maria Graham
Phone: (212) 854-5955
E-mail: Mag177@columbia.edu

The Goldman Sachs Foundation
Karen Linehan Mroz
Phone: (212)357-5296
E-mail: Karen.Mroz@gs.com

Edward G. Novotny
Phone: (212) 490.2065
E-mail: novotnygs@aol.com

Background:

The Haas School of Business and The Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the leading producers of new ideas and knowledge in all areas of business and is also influenced by its proximity to Silicon Valley. In 1970 Haas became one of the first business schools to teach
entrepreneurship. In 1991 it established The Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to foster academic programs, community outreach and campus wide collaborate on in new venture creation, entrepreneurship and venture capital. This emphasis on entrepreneurship,
coupled with the Haas School's commitment to the social and environmental ramifications of business, which date back to its founding in 1898, creates a unique learning environment that gave birth to the National Social Venture Competition in 1999.

The Eugene M. Lang Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School

The Eugene M. Lang Center at Columbia Business School serves as a living laboratory for student entrepreneurial ventures. The unique approach to entrepreneurship education at Columbia Business School combines a systematic integration of entrepreneurial themes throughout the core curriculum, a strong elective course program, rigorous hands-on lab
courses and a commitment to making entrepreneurship a viable career option for students. Mentors, largely successful alumni, provide vigorous, high-level advice and guidance throughout the business development process and the eventual start-up. The Lang Center also supports socially responsible ventures and has created a distinctive model for developing an entrepreneurial network that has been incorporated into the National Social Venture Competition.

The Goldman Sachs Foundation

The mission of The Goldman Sachs Foundation is to promote excellence and innovation in education worldwide, and to improve the academic performance and lifelong productivity of young people.