All Posts

Social entrepreneurship is an ever-evolving field that continues to make a positive impact on society. At the Center for Social Ventures based out of Vanderbilt University's Owen School of Management, we are committed to empowering social entrepreneurs through our impactful initiatives. Our center serves as a hub for graduate and undergraduate students, dedicated faculty members, funders, and external collaborators in the Nashville community and beyond. We strive to foster a

Are you passionate about driving positive change through social ventures? Do you want to be a part of a mission that aims to make a real difference in the world? If so, we invite you to join us at the Center for Social Ventures. Based out of Vanderbilt University's Owen School of Management, our center is dedicated to promoting social impact through innovative business solutions. Whether you are a graduate or undergraduate student, a business or social impact faculty member,

In the ever-evolving landscape of social impact, innovative solutions and collaborative approaches are vital in driving positive change and creating a lasting impact on communities. The Center for Social Ventures, nestled within Vanderbilt University's Owen School of Management, serves as a beacon of inspiration for the social ventures community by championing creativity and collaboration in addressing societal challenges. At the heart of the Center for Social Ventures' missi

Parker Willmon, Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering ’25 TFC Social Startups Chair 2022 – 2023 TFC Impact Investing Chair 2023 – 2024 In 2021, I got involved with the TFC by competing in our pitch competition. The focus of the pitch was a business idea that could employ 250 people in Middle Tennessee by 2024 following the pandemic. My background was in engineering, and I was surprised by the focus this organization put into stakeholder value rather than purely shareholder value. It s

Mariam Malidze , MSF’24    I am excited to share my journey through the Turner MBA Impact Investing Network & Training ( MIINT ), a program co-produced by Bridges Impact Foundation and the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. MIINT was an incredible opportunity for me to gain hands-on experience and dive into the intricate world of impact investing.  Embarking on a New Adventure   Our journey in the MIINT competition began when five diverse minds—each from a unique academic and

Allie Reichert (PhD student in Anthropology, concentrations in global health and Latin American studies), TFC Project Pyramid Chair   Hi TFC Community! If we haven’t met, my name is Allie Reichert. I am a third-year PhD student in Anthropology, with concentrations in global health and Latin American studies. I had the privilege of working as the Project Pyramid chair this year, organizing the two student trips to Guatemala and Ecuador over spring break. I’ve been working on h

James Keck MBA ’24 TFC Social Innovation Strategy Chair 2023 – 2024 Introduction The funding-gap for impact startups is gating access to much-needed innovation. This Gap can be described as the dearth of private capital available to help impact companies discover product-market fit. This article will breakdown each point: understanding the Gap, private capital’s role, and product-market fit (PMF). Brigit Helms of the Miller Center breaks the Gap down into 4 parts [1] : stage,

James Keck MBA ’24 TFC Social Innovation Strategy Chair 2023 – 2024 A quick reminder of why we’re all here: The Turner Family Center (TFC) for Social Ventures is committed to developing socially and environmentally conscious leaders and doers. We believe in leaving the world and our communities better than we found them. There’s a growing trend of MBAs pursuing careers in social entrepreneurship and impact investing. According to the  Global Entrepreneurship Monitor , the num

James Keck MBA ’24 TFC Social Innovation Strategy Chair 2023 – 2024 This year, I finally read Washington: A Life , the erudite biography by Ron Chernow. Chernow paints a colorful picture of President George Washington – one almost feels the founding father’s scowling presence 250 years later. Like most MBAs, I spend a considerable amount of time thinking about leadership. What does it mean to inspire a team? How does one find the balance between compassion and complicity when

D’Ana Rogers (Operations & Analytics and Strategy ’24) TFC Immersions Chair I’ve been living in Nashville for a little over five years, and like everyone else, I’ve noticed a consistent increase in f ood prices. These higher prices have made making ends meet difficult for many Nashvillians. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially since I know people struggling to put food on the table – sometimes I struggle too. Food insecurity is a challenging experience, and

Project Pyramid started in 2006, and since then, it has brought together Vanderbilt students from multiple disciplines to engage meaningfully with socially conscious organizations across the globe. An interdisciplinary, student-led program that uses in-classroom and hands-on learning experiences to examine the causes and symptoms of global poverty, addressing the innovative and entrepreneurial ways or ganizations attempt to alleviate poverty. Seeking to establish market-drive

Trey Suddeth, MBA ’23 TFC Board Chair 2022 – 2023 That’s a wrap! I can confidently say we found people better than us across all the Board positions in accordance with the Bezos assessment method. Do I admire this person? Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they’re entering? Can they be a superstar? All, a resounding yes as we came to a consensus on the board appointments in March. As is the case every year, the challenge will be bringing th

In September 2022, graduate students had the opportunity to apply to be part of Vanderbilt's 2022-2023 MIINT (MBA Impact Investing Network & Training) Team. Turner MIINT  is an opportunity for graduate students to get hands-on training in impact investing. Students from top business schools get together to be part of a growing impact investing network. Turner MIINT, co-sponsored by the  Wharton Social Impact Initiative  and the  Bridges Impact Foundation , is a unique experie

On Saturday, November 12, the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures hosted the annual Hult Prize @ Vanderbilt, the local round of the global competition in which students from around the world pitch a venture that aims to address one of the world’s most pressing challenges. This year, the Hult Prize challenge is: redesigning fashion to make it more sustainable . The local round of the Hult Prize, in which students have just a few weeks to meet with their team, create a ven

K risten Heritage (Leadership & Organizational Performance ’23), TFC Immersions Committee  November 2022 Like so many others in this city, I am a transplant. I came to Nashville in 2015 for a job opportunity and it quickly became the place I knew I would call home for many years to come. Nashville is rich in so many ways — its cultural diversity (and subsequently its art and cuisine), its proliferation of festivals, and its many social ventures. During my first year of grad s

Over Fall Break this October, Turner Family Center for Social Ventures Director and Vanderbilt professor Mario Avila led a small group of students from the Owen Graduate School of Management on a week-long Global Business Immersion to Panamá. The Immersion, designed in conjunction with the Latin Business Association, created an opportunity for Owen students to experience the professional culture of Panamá and to explore the dynamics of working across borders. For much of the

Demi Washington (BS, Psychology & Minor, Communication Studies ’23) This past May, I was fortunate to be one of many Vanderbilt student-athletes that had the opportunity to experience the Impact Business Immersion trip to Antigua, Guatemala. This trip was a unique collaboration between Vanderbilt Athletics, the Owen Graduate School of Management, and Soles4Souls , a nonprofit social enterprise focused on the power of shoes. By preventing unwanted clothes and shoes from going

Kerri-Ann Anderson (PhD Candidate, Biological Sciences ’23) 2022-2023 Alumni Engagement Committee Member I had once envisioned myself leading groundbreaking initiatives to combat threats to human health in low- and middle-income countries. Since life put me on a path to a Ph.D. rather than an M.D., I spent my first few years at Vanderbilt searching for a direction that could lead me to that vision. Somewhere along the line I became conflicted; until I was introduced to the TF

In the second half of the 2021-2022 school year, graduate students from across a variety of Vanderbilt’s schools came together in Project Pyramid, an interdisciplinary class taught at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management by TFC Director Mario Avila. As part of the program’s unique experiential learning component, teams of students were paired with social enterprises across the globe whom they worked as consultants for. The projects varied in scope and final deliver

In March 2022, fourteen Vanderbilt graduate students traveled to Antigua, Guatemala over spring break as part of the Project Pyramid program. The Guatemala immersion was designed to help students better understand the landscape of social enterprise in-country and to advance the overall goals of the consulting projects they work on as a component of Project Pyramid. The students were part of three interdisciplinary teams working with social impact organizations based in Guatem