Kick-off Event for YouthBridge SEIC to feature Jessica Jackley

YouthBridge SEIC and Washington University Olin Cup to Share Spotlight

St. Louis, Missouri , September 01, 2009 -

The YouthBridge Community Foundation has renewed its partnership with Washington University's Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies to fund the annual Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC) with an initial $450,000 pledge over the next three years.  YouthBridge has been a major sponsor of the competition for non-profit, community-based ventures since its inception in 2005.  The newly named “YouthBridge SEIC” is unique in St. Louis and, in terms of monetary awards, is the largest competition of its kind in the U.S.

 “The YouthBridge commitment is helping to build the innovation environment around social issues in St. Louis,” says Ken Harrington, director of the Skandalaris Center.  “The free workshops and the speakers we offer, thanks to YouthBridge, get people thinking about new business models to help them meet their mission.  They offer unique opportunities for people to connect and help each other.” 

During the past five years, the SEIC has made 23 awards totaling $480,000, including $5,000 student awards each year presented to the best student-founded or supported venture. The competition defines social entrepreneurship as "using entrepreneurial skills to craft innovative processes, approaches, and solutions to help resolve social issues."

Last year’s 42 entrants in the SEIC included a diverse range of ventures with missions to provide educational, cultural and vocational training. Additional sponsors to the YouthBridge SEIC include the Incarnate Word Foundation, the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis and the Daughters of Charity Foundation of St Louis.

To kick-off the 2010 YouthBridge SEIC and the annual Olin Cup entrepreneurial competitions, the Skandalaris Center is sponsoring Assembly Series speaker Jessica Jackley on Sept. 17, 5p.m., in Simon Hall’s May Auditorium.

Jackley is a co-founder of Kiva, the first person-to-person micro-lending program.  “Kiva enables people to make loans of as little as $25 directly to small businesses in the developing world and then maintain one-to-one contact online with the entrepreneurs who receive the loans” according to Jackley.

Jackley’s interest in helping third world entrepreneurs was inspired during travels and study abroad when she was a junior at Bucknell University.  Since launching Kiva in 2005, she has spoken widely on microfinance and social entrepreneurship.  She has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with certificates in Global Management and Public Management.  The Skandalaris Center will host a reception following Jackley’s presentation.

The 2010 YouthBridge SEIC competition is open to all members of the WUSTL and St. Louis communities and accepting applications now. For information about the entry process, go to: http://www.sc.wustl.edu/SEIC/enter.html.

The Olin Cup competition sponsored by the Skandalaris Center and the Olin Business School is open to teams with at least one WUSTL student or alumnus. Entry information is available at: http://www.sc.wustl.edu/OlinCup/enter.html.