Look, rather than trying to start up in-house social entrepreneurship degree programs, and the accompanying fellowships, higher education institutions would be much better off aligning their endowments, entrepreneurs, and educators with real social purpose:
Finding quality candidates interested in this sector and, in exchange for equity, enabling them to borrow against an education loan from the endowment.
That is, if the degree costs $100,000, and they want to attempt their venture with $50,000, the company gets that (staggered), and the school ~10% of equity with the understanding that:
- If the venture succeeds (measured against certain benchmarks – $X Revenue, X constituents affected), all of which is facilitated by access to educational materials (including classroom, professor time + lectures etc), then the student earns their MBA.
- The school can keep the revenue stream or exit. The company essentially absorbs the $50k out of the student’s pocket, covering a big chunk of their education cost. + an MBA. + the experience.
- If the venture fails, students go about their traditional MBA and are responsible for the $100,000 + whatever they actually took out without interest. (I.E. If the loan was $50k, but only $10k was actually paid out.) Instills discipline in capturing the funding and spending it.
Of course, this kind of risk isn’t for everyone, but I’d jump at this in a heartbeat.
-Shlok
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