Karen Runde, Author at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship

Karen Runde

Karen Runde is Director of Alumni Programs at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship located at Santa Clara University where she helps the social enterprise alumni community continue to scale their impact. Prior to joining Miller Center, Karen worked at As You Sow, promoting corporate social accountability around conflict minerals and cotton. Karen holds two Master of Science degrees in Environmental Studies & Sustainability Science from Lund University and Roskilde University and a BA from UCLA. In her spare time, she teaches barre classes at Pure Barre Burlingame.

Written Articles

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Karen Runde - April 25, 2024

A Thriving & Vibrant Social Entrepreneurship Network: Why Miller Center is Catalyzing Investment in Africa

It’s Spring in Africa for social entrepreneurship. The energy is palpable. With every trip the Miller Center team makes to Africa, it becomes more and more apparent that the social enterprise ecosystem is thriving, and that the network effect of our enterprise partners in this region is very vibrant. Coming hot off the heels of our most recent trip to Kenya and Rwanda last month, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship was honored to be a knowledge partner at the Sankalp Africa Summit. This was the 11th year in which Africa’s largest convening on impact entrepreneurship and sustainable development took place in Nairobi, Kenya. We teamed up with Jibu (a fellow Miller Center enterprise partner) to be the official water sponsors of the conference, providing “inspiration in every drop” to all of the Sankalp attendees. We also co-facilitated two conference sessions with our partners from Alpha Mundi, Segal Family Foundation, Rippleworks, DRK Foundation, Villgro Africa, Pollinate Impact, and Impact Hub Abidjan.

Peer Learning at Entrepreneur Workshop in Nairobi

Miller Center has 136 enterprise alumni with impact in Kenya and knowing that several more Miller Center enterprise alumni were present in Nairobi for the Summit, we took this opportunity to bring together the alumni network and host a day-long interactive workshop. This year, the workshop sessions were tailored to the specific needs of attending entrepreneurs and focused on topics identified by the network. As part of Miller Center’s Alumni Strategy aimed at fostering peer learning, we collaborated with fellow Miller Center partners Manuel Wiechers and Morgan Babbs to develop workshop sessions centered on building recurring revenue models and cultivating company culture for scalability. It was energizing to work with and reconnect with so many enterprise alumni.

Santa Clara University and Kenya Ambassador Meg Whitman

We were invited to the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya to share more about Santa Clara University’s (SCU) vision to be a globally engaged Jesuit university and Miller Center’s mission of accelerating entrepreneurship to end global poverty and protect the planet. There is significant alignment between Ambassador Meg Whitman’s enthusiasm for trade and investment opportunities in Kenya and Miller Center’s expertise in accelerating investment-ready social enterprises. We committed to continue to explore avenues for collaboration between Kenyan initiatives and SCU, especially under the leadership of President Julie Sullivan.

Supporting the Rwandan Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Following the whirlwind week in Nairobi, we continued to Rwanda. During our time in Kigali, we had the pleasure to co-host an entrepreneur reception with INKOMOKO, another fellow Miller Center partner. We also met with members of the Rwandan Ministry of ICT and Innovation, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), and the US Embassy in Kigali to explore potential collaborations and partnerships in line with Rwanda’s vision for entrepreneurship. It’s inspiring to witness the country’s transformation under the strategic leadership of President Paul Kagame over the past two decades. The investment in new infrastructure to drive the country’s entrepreneurial spirit and support its growing economy reflects their ambitious aim to become a Middle-Income Country and a regional thought-leader across many industries by 2035.

Investing in Miller Center Enterprises

One of the biggest highlights of this trip was visiting our social enterprise partners and seeing firsthand the transformative impact their businesses have on the communities they serve. We visited four of our enterprise partners – Deevabits, Nyota, Sistema.bio, and Solar Sister, two of which are also Miller Center Capital investees. To date, Miller Center Capital has made 29 investments in our enterprise alumni, with 20 having impact in Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia. Miller Center very much shares the ardor of Ambassador Meg Whitman to encourage growing businesses and investment in Africa. With every investment that Miller Center Capital makes, we aim to catalyze significant additional investments into enterprises that are driving real and growing impact across the continent.

Thriving Social Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa

To say entrepreneurship is thriving in Sub-Saharan Africa would be an understatement, especially with enterprises dedicated to addressing poverty and environmental concerns. There is a reason that Kenya has been dubbed the “Silicon Savannah.” With technological advances, such as the mobile money service, M-PESA, Kenya has dramatically extended its global reach and broadened the way the country is able to connect within the Kenyan market.

Africa is a young continent, with 60% of the population under the age of 25. Additionally, Africa is also the last emerging market meaning that the country offers the last big supply chain opportunities and untapped consumer prospects. Drawing parallels to the development surge in Southeast Asia 20 years ago, it’s reasonable to anticipate a very similar and rapid development trajectory across Africa. The enterprises supported by Miller Center Capital are advancing sustainable solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, and our fund intentionally offers innovative financing tailored to accelerate the delivery of these solutions. Impact investment convenings like Sankalp Africa Summit prove that there is a desire and ecosystem primed for not only expanding economic development but also for creating truly forward-thinking solutions across the continent.

Really Getting Into It…Full on Immersion

Miller Center is hosting our annual summer immersion trip, bringing a group of delegates to Kenya and Rwanda in June. The experience provides a unique opportunity to witness first-hand the power of entrepreneurship to transform lives and create climate resilience in a variety of communities across Africa. We are excited to have President Julie Sullivan and her husband join us on this trip. It will be an engaging experience in which we visit seven investment-ready social enterprises who have participated in Miller Center’s flagship accelerator program.

Miller Center and Santa Clara University, under President Sullivan’s strategic plan, is well positioned to become a global hub for collaboration that advances economic, social, ecological, and political development. Being physically located in Silicon Valley, we find ourselves uniquely placed to do this as we leverage our close proximity to and relationships with several global tech corporate giants. And by leveraging the partnerships that Miller Center has already established with our African social enterprise network across the continent – we have much more opportunity to further drive catalytic capital and help innovate, scale, and lift entire populations out of poverty.

We began 2024 with a shared commitment to make a difference through deep and meaningful engagements with our African entrepreneur community. We are well on our way to continuing to create ripples of positivity together!

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Karen Runde - January 5, 2024

Coming Full Circle: Where Miller Center’s Entrepreneur Alumni Network is headed in 2024

As a way to celebrate and wrap up the year in review, Miller Center counted down the end of 2023 by releasing our top 10 highlights of the year. Check out our year-end wrap-up HERE. It should come as no surprise that many of those highlights revolved around our entrepreneur alumni community.

We first announced a commitment to doubling down on our alumni strategy as a key part of Miller Center’s larger 2025 Strategy back in 2021, and it was exciting to see how much of that strategy came into fruition last year. One banner example was the 2023 Fall In-Residence, in which the entire cohort was composed of 12 stellar Miller Center alumni. It was also the first time leaders from other alumni enterprises were invited to support the In-Residence cohort in meaningful ways. Miller Center hosted its inaugural In-Residence at Santa Clara University in 2003, making the 2023 event our 20th anniversary. It’s remarkable to see how much the Miller Center alumni community has grown and scaled over the last 20 years. It’s also incredibly gratifying that the entrepreneurs in this network have chosen to stay connected and support each other in their journeys.

A Critical Juncture for Santa Clara University & Miller Center

As we begin 2024, we are gearing up to build upon the successes of our 2025 strategy. This comes at a particularly serendipitous time, as Santa Clara University, under the leadership of President Julie Sullivan, looks toward the future with Impact 2028. This is the university’s strategic plan for building greater impact in pursuit of a more just, humane, and sustainable world.

This will serve as a critical roadmap as we navigate a complex higher education landscape, and continue our progress as a leading Jesuit university.

President Julie Sullivan

There is significant alignment between President Sullivan’s strategic priorities and Miller Center, particularly as it relates to focusing efforts to support our highest potential enterprise alumni. Two key priorities for Santa Clara University are to take a human-centered approach toward solving some of our world’s most critical issues and position the university as a globally engaged Jesuit university. Miller Center sees tremendous potential to leverage the work we do with our entrepreneur alumni community in translating these priorities into actions. We specifically work with enterprises from all over the world in the areas of climate resilience and women’s economic power. After an enterprise completes an initial Miller Center program, we continue to support them as an alum in scaling their positive social and environmental impact.

Investing in High-potential Enterprise Alumni

Let’s take a step back and define what we mean by high-potential enterprise alumni. And how does supporting this subset of the alumni community coordinate with SCU’s strategic priorities? Miller Center takes a 360-degree view when it comes to evaluating social enterprises for our alumni programs. First and foremost, we prioritize enterprises that have both a robust impact model and business model that are interwoven. In other words, the enterprise has sustainable revenue AND makes a positive impact in the community it serves, without comprising either. Other evaluation parameters that we look at when gauging a high-potential alum are its efficiency to growth capacity ratio and investment readiness.

Last year Miller Center officially launched our own fund, Miller Center Capital, which enables us to invest in the alumni community. For a Miller Center alum to qualify as investment-ready and a candidate for the fund, we look closely at the enterprise’s diligence materials, amount of capital raised, and their legal structure. In 2023, we made five new investments in Awaaz.de, Deevabits Green Energy, VITALITE Malawi, Someone Somewhere, and WARC Africa. These investments are driving real and growing impact in helping them advance innovative and human-centered solutions.

Expanding the Alumni Suite of Services

In addition to establishing a fund, we’ve expanded our suite of services that bring value to alumni social enterprises through personalized mentorship, coaching, and original curricula. Our alumni services continue to build on the enterprise’s capacity to design and track key metrics and develop high-quality fundraising materials and skills. What’s more, we create safe spaces where entrepreneurs can access peer support and best practices. Recognizing the importance of serving the entire organization, our services are not just limited to the CEOs or founders of participating social enterprises. Miller Center also works to contribute meaningfully to the development of alumni organizations’ senior and middle management which are critical to the enterprises’ ability to successfully scale.

Determining the Most Effective Way to Scale

A huge component of our work to support our alumni is creating bespoke engagements that will best enable the enterprise to scale. These types of customized engagements are critical in helping the enterprise identify what effective scaling looks like for their business.

In the world of social entrepreneurship, there are many ways in which to scale — including extending the reach of solutions to new customer segments, markets, or geographies. Miller Center’s alumni programs take a broad lens of scaling options through which our alumni can grow the impact that they are already enabling through their products or services.

The common thread through all of these scaling approaches is taking the time to discover and fully understand the problems the business is solving. In other words, involving the end-user from the very beginning by placing their needs at the center of the social enterprise’s business model. What is equally important is recognizing the inherent benefit of forging deeper connections between an enterprise’s customers, funders, and other ecosystem partners. It is this interconnectedness that Miller Center’s Alumni Network helps harness and foster and where our enterprise alumni can get the most value when they continue to stay engaged with us.

Coming Full Circle With Alumni

Many Miller Center alumni, such as our 2022 and 2023 Impact Excellence Award recipients, have gone on to scale by orders of magnitude since initially participating in a Miller Center program. These types of social enterprises are at a stage of growth in which they may not necessarily need the support offered by our alumni programs. Nonetheless, they keep coming back and Miller Center has developed deeper partnerships with this subset of our enterprise alumni, reinforcing the value of interconnectedness and wanting to stay connected.

One shining example is Jibu. Established in 2012, Jibu first participated in a Miller Center accelerator program in 2014 to build foundational business practices that then enabled them to secure a critical initial investment. Since 2014, Jibu has gone on to scale across 8 countries in Africa and has securely established itself as a premier water franchise entity. They have grown to a stage of operation in which they are now able to give back and support their social enterprise peers by sharing their own learnings. We are excited to announce that this year, Jibu Co-founder Randy Welsch will co-facilitate and lead Miller Center’s newest Leadership Circle, focused on developing emerging leaders from our alumni organizations’ senior and middle management.

Another excellent example is IluMéxico. Established in 2010, IluMéxico first participated in our accelerator in 2013 to help solidify their last-mile distribution model, delivering affordable solar energy solutions to rural communities in Latin America. They’ve now expanded by launching a new initiative called Popular Power from the core IluMéxico team that focuses on creating digital solutions for solar companies so that they can scale more quickly. IluMéxico CEO and Co-Founder Manuel Wiechers helped facilitate a human resources workshop during our 2023 Fall In-Residence. It was so well received, that we are excited to continue to partner with him in delivering a similar in-person workshop in Nairobi in March.

It is alumni like Randy and Manuel that show how much the Miller Center alumni community has grown and, quite literally, grown up. We’ve come to a beautiful full circle where our entrepreneur alumni are able to give back and support other Miller Center enterprises by leveraging their own industry and sector expertise.

What’s in store for 2024

In addition to our flagship Fall In-Residence, Miller Center has several events and activities lined up for our alumni community in 2024. We are thrilled to host a number of in-person alumni workshops and receptions across Africa, Latin America, and India this year. Members of our team will also participate in the Latin America Impact Investing Forum (FLII) in Mexico, Sankalp Africa Summit in Kenya, and AVPN in the United Arab Emirates.

We will continue to deliver bespoke mentorship and investments through Miller Center Capital. Additionally, this year we are excited to partner with 12 Santa Clara University professors offering undergraduate and graduate coursework that’s specifically designed to help our alumni scale and also integrates social entrepreneurship into courses across several departments to create a multidisciplinary framework of learning. All of which is in perfect alignment with Santa Clara University and Miller Center’s strategic vision of being globally engaged and creating human-centered solutions to our world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Miller Center is heading into 2024 with a shared commitment to make a difference through deep and meaningful engagements with our entrepreneur alumni community. Here’s to a year of creating ripples of positivity together!

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Photos:

Awaaz.de Co-founder and CEO Neil Patel (center) with Miller Center Alumni Programs Director Karen Runde and Impact Investing Director Paul Belknap
2023 In-Residence cohort backstage at SOCAP23
IluMéxico Co-founder and CEO Manuel Wiechers (far right) and Chief Innovation Officer Morgan Babbs receive our Impact Excellence Award from Miller Center Advisory Board member Manoj Jain and Executive Director Brigit Helms

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Karen Runde - November 13, 2023

Better Together! Celebrating Our Fall 2023 In-Residence

It’s difficult to convey the impact that Miller Center’s In-Residence has if you haven’t participated in one. It’s one of those experiences that doesn’t fully resonate until after you’ve gone through it. Our team often jokes that Miller Center is one of the best-kept secrets in the social enterprise ecosystem.

This past October, Miller Center hosted this year’s 2023 Fall In-Residence cohort at Santa Clara University followed by sponsoring them at the SOCAP conference in San Francisco. The 12 stellar enterprises invited to participate this year represented some of Miller Center’s most scalable, impactful, and investable enterprise alumni. They operate in sectors including sustainable agriculture and food security, financial services, maternal health, clean energy, emerging market entrepreneurship, ethical fashion, and the circular economy. These 12 organizations were invited to come to In-Residence because their businesses are quite literally disrupting the structures that allow poverty to exist and the earth to be degraded.

During the Welcome Reception on the first day of In-Residence, the 12 participating enterprise alumni had an opportunity to present to the broader Miller Center and Santa Clara University communities, and share their collective raise of more than $100 million in capital that will further enable them to create solutions and even new ecosystems that are decentralized, can scale at a pace that meets market demands, and shifts power back into the hands of those most vulnerable. Additionally this year, Miller Center awarded the 2023 Impact Excellence Award to IluMexico and Sistema.bio, two inspiring alumni who have scaled by orders of magnitude since their initial participation in a Miller Center program.

Concentric Circles of Entrepreneur-centric Support

What was particularly amazing about this year’s In-Residence was the sheer number of partners who came together all with the shared goal of supporting the enterprises in this cohort. What sets Miller Center’s programs apart from other accelerator programs in the ecosystem is that we truly do take an entrepreneur-centric approach to supporting entrepreneurs. Our core model is a trifecta approach in which we connect social entrepreneurs with executive mentors and Santa Clara University students to create real-world impact.

But recognizing that real change only happens when you broaden your sphere of influence, this year an unprecedented number of impact investor partners, SCU faculty, corporate partners like ServiceNow, and other Miller Center entrepreneur alumni came to In-Residence, all with the intention of providing a continuum of support to this year’s cohort. Much like concentric circles, where each circle gets larger and larger but still shares a common center; this cohort was surrounded by many concentric circles of support.

A big part of In-Residence is the opportunity for social enterprises to participate in mock investor panels. Miller Center was thrilled to have funding partners like DRK, FINCA, IMPAQTO, Segal Family Foundation, and Upaya Social Ventures participate as panelists in these sessions this year. Additionally, this was the first year that other Miller Center entrepreneur alumni were invited to serve either as mock investors themselves or help facilitate a session or workshop on relevant topics such as networking best practices, presentation skills, HR and talent management, Carbon Credits, and the current hot topic, Artificial Intelligence (AI). Leaders from Awaaz.de, Grameen Foundation, Husk Power Systems, IluMexico, Jibu, Sistema.bio, and Vega Coffee all participated and provided invaluable insights to the current cohort. 2003 was the first year that Miller Center hosted its inaugural In-Residence at Santa Clara University and it’s remarkable that 20 years later, the Miller Center alumni community has not just grown and scaled, but the entrepreneurs in this network choose to stay connected and support each other. It truly is a tremendous group of humans.

Everyone needs a community, and it was incredible that so many people came to In-Residence this year to support a small but mighty group of women and men who could literally do anything with their lives, yet choose to dedicate themselves to accelerating a world without poverty. It’s humbling, it’s inspiring, it’s #socentric!

If you would like to learn more about each enterprise in this year’s In-Residence, we encourage you to watch their Welcome Reception presentations as well as their recorded pitches here.

You can also access the 2023 In-Residence Investor Guidebook Here.

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in making this year’s In-Residence a success. In the words of our Executive Director, Brigit Helms, “We truly are better together!”

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Karen Runde - September 29, 2023

Miller Center In-Residence Cohort Jointly Seeking to Raise $100M+. Check them out!

As summer draws to a close and Santa Clara University begins to buzz with the energy and excitement of students returning to campus, Miller Center is also gearing up for our flagship fall season. This October, we will welcome the 2023 In-Residence cohort to SCU and participate in the SOCAP conference in San Francisco.

Sponsored by our partner, ServiceNow, the 12 social enterprises invited to participate in this year’s Fall In-Residence represent some of the most inspiring leaders directly addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). During Oct 19 – 22, these entrepreneurs will participate in an in-depth mock investor meeting, take part in presentation skills training and leadership management workshops, and engage in roundtable discussions with SCU faculty and students — all with the goal of preparing them to more effectively tell their stories so that they can access the right kinds of capital for their stage of development. Following the In-Residence, the cohort will also be sponsored by Miller Center to attend the SOCAP conference in San Francisco, where they will have more opportunities to showcase their work as part of the exclusive SOCAP Entrepreneur Program, network, and engage directly with the impact investing community.

This In-Residence cohort is jointly raising more than $100 million with compelling investment stories that range from offering impact opportunities that will deliver market rate returns while addressing traditionally underserved markets to providing novel services with the potential to disrupt the industries they operate in. What all 12 enterprises have in common is that they are delivering positive impact through scalable business models. Miller Center Capital provides flexibly-structured, early-stage debt to companies like these, and has already invested in Sistema.bio to help them bridge the “valley of death” and activate additional capital.

As our Center continues to double down on efforts to support social entrepreneurs with the highest potential, this cohort is composed entirely of Miller Center entrepreneur alumni, working within our core focus areas of women’s economic power and climate resilience. For example, ONOW seeks to reduce poverty across Southeast Asia by providing business training, financial education, leadership coaching, and digital support tools to young entrepreneurs, particularly migrant women. Additionally, ONOW’s CEO Matt Wallace currently sits on Miller Center’s Social Enterprise Alumni Advisory Council.

Among the participating alumni are two enterprises from the Miller Center and Chevron portfolio. Our work with Chevron focuses on social enterprises with impact in Asia that directly address our core focus areas. Sistema.bio, one of Miller Center’s oldest enterprise alumni, manufactures and distributes high-quality, affordable bio-digesters that enable farmers to convert waste into renewable energy and organic biofertilizer. Since its founding in Mexico in 2010, Sistema.bio has scaled considerably and now also operates across East Africa and India. GajiGesa in Indonesia, which came to us through our partnership with Women’s World Banking, quickly became one of Miller Center’s and Chevron’s newest success stories. With 67% of Indonesian workers unable to provide reserve funds for a week, the enterprise offers a financial wellness platform providing employees access to capital and financial resiliency. To date, GajiGesa has supported over 19,272 financially resilient employees with over 14,000 employees reporting an increase in savings.

ONOW, GajiGesa, and Sistema.bio are just three examples of this year’s impressive In-Residence cohort. All of the participating enterprises have created models of success and are actively accelerating hope for a world without poverty. We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome them in person this month to Santa Clara.

Introducing Our 2023 – 2024 Social Enterprise Alumni Advisory Council

Miller Center is excited to announce the Social Enterprise Alumni Advisory Council for the 2023 – 2024 term, which includes four members from our inaugural council and four new members. As part of our ongoing effort to get direct feedback and direction on strategy and tactics from the “voice of the customer”, this stellar group of social entrepreneurs will further enable our Center to make informed choices to bring about our most ambitious outcomes. The entrepreneurs invited to join the 2023 – 2024 Council are all partners and alumni of our accelerator programs and were carefully selected as they are representative of the social enterprises we work with globally.

As Miller Center continues to double down on our efforts to recruit for our accelerator programs, serve the entrepreneur alumni community, grow Miller Center Invest, and strengthen academic partnerships across Santa Clara University, it is critical that we continuously listen to, work closely with, and align to the needs of the social enterprise community. The Alumni Advisory Council is a representative body acting as an ongoing sounding board and focus group for these consultations.

Each of the eight Advisory Council members brings unique perspectives and wisdom about the social enterprise ecosystem across several sectors and regions with businesses focused on sustainable farming, safe water, emerging market entrepreneurship, food security and nutrition, women’s health, empowering artisans, and energy access. They hail from Cameroon, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Thailand, Uganda, and the US, with the impact of their enterprises extending across Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia.

We are thrilled to announce the four returning members and four new members joining the Council.

Returning Council Members:

Manka Angwafo, Founder & CEO Grassland Cameroon

Zubaida Bai, Founder & Board Chair Ayzh, President & CEO Grameen Foundation

Antonio Nuño, Co-founder & CEO Someone Somewhere

Manoj Sinha, Founder & CEO Husk Power Systems

New Council Members:

Lucy Ashman, Founder Tierra & Lava

Sonali Mehta-Rao, Co-founder Awaaz.de, Founder Ahaana Ventures

Matt Wallace, Managing Director & Co-founder ONOW

Galen Welsch, Co-founder & CEO Jibu

Please join me in welcoming the 2023 – 2024 Social Entrepreneur Alumni Advisory Council to the Miller Center family:

Pictured: Advisory Council members Zubaida Bai, Lucy Ashman, Sonali Mehta-Rao, and Galen Welsch with Miller Center staff members Karen Runde, Karen Carter, Paul Belknap, and Eli Latimerlo.

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Karen Runde - May 11, 2023

The Pope, the Climate Crisis, and Social Entrepreneurship

An Invitation to Speak at Climate & Environmental Justice Conference

Last month, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship was proud to be a sponsor of the Climate & Environmental Justice Conference, held at Santa Clara University. Organized by the Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative in affiliation with the Association of the Jesuit Colleges and Universities, the conference’s goal centered around advancing community-university partnerships to promote climate and environmental justice.

I was invited to join a discussion panel alongside experts and academics in theology, sustainability, environmental science, climate policy, and communications from Santa Clara University as well as from Seattle University, USF, Stanford University, Loyola University Chicago and Catholic Charities — to sit down and address a very Jesuit-specific question:

“How can ‘We’ Implement Laudato Si’ Action Planning Across Universities?”

As a representative of Miller Center, my goal was to share how our Center’s partnership with social entrepreneurs can help implement Pope Francis’ encyclical.

Oh the Irony

Full disclosure – when I was first invited to join this panel, my initial reaction was, well isn’t this ironic? Growing up in more of a spiritual than religion-based environment, I held some skepticism about Catholicism’s relevance in addressing today’s problems.

And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering: a) What the heck is an encyclical? and b) What is Laudato Si’ and what is its connection to social entrepreneurship?

An encyclical is a public letter from the Pope with the aim of developing Catholic teaching on a topic in relation to current events. Pope Francis’s 2nd encyclical ‘Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home’ is a universal letter addressed to “every person living on this planet.” In this, Pope Francis emphasizes the need to care for the natural environment and all people and addresses the broader relationship between God, humans, and Earth. Hmm…This sounds more relevant than I’d expected.

Sitting down with Laudato Si’

Since Miller Center is a Center of Distinction within Santa Clara University, staff were all given a hard copy of Laudato Si’ at one point in time or another. My copy, admittedly, had gone missing after having lived in my desk drawer for some time. Fortunately, a trusty colleague still had his and lent it to me. So, in preparation for this panel, I finally sat down and read Pope Francis’ 160-page encyclical over the course of a few evenings and was impressed with the strong linkages he makes between global poverty and the role that social entrepreneurship can play in alleviating it.

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis acknowledges that those living in poverty are the ones most affected by climate change. He calls for all of us — individuals, communities, businesses, and governments — to address the issue of climate change and the economic challenges our planet is facing. His action plans are rooted both in the Church’s teaching on the environment and ecology, and in significant climate protocols. Pope Francis emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things, which is at the essence of what integral ecology is all about. Global challenges are inherently linked to human activities, behaviors, and relationships.

Coming from a sustainability science background myself, I also appreciated that the Pope referenced the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, one of the first major convenings to demand global collaboration in addressing climate change and was, for its time, unprecedented in stating that “human beings are at the center of concerns for sustainable development.” The 1992 Rio Earth Summit laid the groundwork for other international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement and for establishing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS).

Connecting Laudato Si’ to Miller Center: Putting the Practice into Real life

To take a step back, it is important to discuss the underpinning of social entrepreneurship and why Miller Center believes that business can be a driving force for positive impact. In other words, how do we arrive at social entrepreneurship as a solution to end global poverty?

The social enterprises that come to Miller Center and participate in our accelerator programs develop innovative and sustainable solutions that tackle some of our planet’s most critical environmental and social issues. Since 2003, we have worked with over 1,300 entrepreneurs whose primary mission is social justice and whose secondary priority is establishing an earned revenue model that enables economic self-sustainability. Miller Center is also intentional about supporting enterprises with a focus on climate resilience, women’s economic power, or the intersection of both. Specifically, within climate resilience, we accelerate enterprises who are addressing the needs of those living in poverty who suffer disproportionately from climate change. Their focus areas fall within the categories of safe water and sanitation, clean energy, and climate-smart agriculture.

These social enterprises not only promote climate justice, but do so in a way that elevates the dignity of the people they serve, enabling entire populations to become architects of their own future. And coming back to the notion of integral ecology, the social enterprises that Miller Center accompanies are quite literally disrupting the structures that allow poverty to exist and the earth to be degraded. These enterprises are creating solutions and new ecosystems that are decentralized, can scale at a pace that meets global demands, and shift the locus of power into the hands of the most vulnerable by creating economic opportunities.

Miller Center Social Enterprises

Recently, I traveled to Mexico and visited three social enterprises that are graduates of Miller Center programs. These enterprises are the embodiment of “business for good” as they have figured out a balanced way to pursue profits while also achieving social and environmental justice in the communities in which they operate.

Sistema.bio transforms animal waste into valuable resources by converting manure into biogas and biofertilizer. The biogas is used as an alternative energy source to charcoal and wood burning, and the biofertilizer is an organic alternative to traditional chemical fertilizers.

Someone Somewhere works with rural and indigenous artisans in the poorest states in Mexico. They bring local artisans’ products into the global marketplace. In 2022, Someone Somewhere became the first manufacturing company in Mexico to become Climate Neutral Certified.

Iluméxico is one of Mexico’s most innovative social enterprises. The company assembles, programs, and distributes solar solutions to last-mile communities — areas with the poorest of the poor, where people, places, and small enterprises are underserved and excluded, where the development needs are greatest, and where the resources are most scarce.

A Destination University for Implementing Laudato Si’

One of the great things about being housed on a Jesuit campus like Santa Clara University is that there are ample opportunities to learn about relevant and pressing issues like climate justice. But what sets Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship apart is that the social enterprises we accelerate are implementing game-changing solutions in marginalized communities around the world.

It is in this role that Miller Center provides a pathway for university students and faculty to engage directly with that work. The Miller Center Lewis Family Fellowship provides transformational opportunities for students to learn and work with social entrepreneurs on the front lines of poverty eradication globally. This summer, we are sending 16 students to work with 7 of our enterprise alumni whose collective impact spans 6 countries. Additionally, each fall Miller Center offers a call for research proposals to faculty interested in fellowship and grant funding as a way to contribute to social enterprise education at SCU. We are also excited to host our third Faculty Curriculum Development Workshop this June in which we hope to further introduce the field of social entrepreneurship, share resources for curriculum development, and lay the foundation for co-creating meaningful research projects across the university.

Combining our physical location in Silicon Valley, the most innovative and entrepreneurial place on earth, with the Jesuit heritage of social justice, community engagement, and global impact, makes Santa Clara University, through Miller Center, a destination university for implementing Laudato Si’ action plans to advance integral ecology and environmental justice. We believe that together — Miller Center, students, faculty, and social entrepreneurs — we can accelerate hope for a future without poverty. In the words of Pope Francis, “All is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start.”

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Karen Runde - September 14, 2022

Meet the Safe Water and Climate-Smart Agriculture Cohort for the Fall 2022 In-Residence Cohort

Following a successful return to hosting an in-person In-Residence this past April — after a two-year pandemic-enforced hiatus — Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship is thrilled to announce the cohort for our second In-Residence this year at Santa Clara University.

In line with the Center’s goal of focusing efforts on social entrepreneurs with the highest potential, this sector-focused cohort is composed entirely of Miller Center alumni entrepreneurs working on safe water and climate-smart agriculture solutions. For many of the participating entrepreneurs, this will be their second and, for some, even third time participating in a Miller Center program. The 10 alumni enterprises invited to participate in the Fall 2022 In-Residence represent some of the most inspiring leaders directly addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

During October 14 – 17, these enterprises will participate in an in-depth mock investor meeting, participate in presentation skills training and leadership management workshops, and engage in sector-focused roundtable discussions with SCU faculty all with the goal of preparing the entrepreneurs to more effectively tell their stories as leaders of change. To commemorate Miller Center’s 25th Anniversary, the In-Residence will kick off with a welcome reception and celebration at Miller Center’s home in the courtyard of the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation, during which we will announce three more Social Impact Excellence Award recipients. Following the In-Residence, the cohort will also be sponsored by Miller Center to attend the SOCAP conference in San Francisco, where they will have more opportunities to showcase their work as part of the exclusive SOCAP22 Entrepreneur Program Cohort, network, and engage directly with the impact investing community.

These impressive alumni social entrepreneurs are creating models of success and providing a pathway out of poverty for the communities they support. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome them in-person next month to In-Residence at Santa Clara.

Creating Magic and Community at Miller Center’s 2022 In-Residence

The last time I found myself standing in front of a live audience was back in 2019, at what ended up being the last In-Residence Showcase that Miller Center was able to host in-person at Santa Clara University.

I had recently returned from maternity leave and was so excited to be able to gather with everyone and be part of a larger community working collectively to create sustainable solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Little did I, or should I say we, have any idea of what the next two years would end up looking like, how lonely it would feel, and how much we realized we took for granted the inherent value of being physically together.

Well here we are, two years later, happy and grateful to announce a successful completion of Miller Center’s 2022 In-Residence program. This year’s In-Residence was the Center’s first in-person event at Miller Center’s new home in the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation. It was incredibly energizing to reconnect in person, and to see so many familiar faces among our entrepreneur alumni, mentors, and the broader SCU community. As much as we all love Zoom, I think we can all agree that the real magic of an In-Residence happens when we all come together.

In line with Miller Center’s goal of focusing efforts on entrepreneurs with the highest potential, this cohort was composed entirely of Miller Center alumni entrepreneurs. For many of the participating entrepreneurs, this was their second and, for some, even third time participating in a Miller Center program.

During the week of April 2-8, these entrepreneurs participated in in-depth mock investor meetings, one-on-one meetings with mentors and bespoke consultants, and peer networking events that included wine tasting, an impromptu concert, hiking in redwood forests, and honing presentation skills. The week culminated with a showcase event in the SCDI Courtyard. Additionally, Miller Center provided sessions designed specifically for our mentor cadre as a chance to encourage mentor peer learning and engagement with each other.

This year also marked Miller Center’s 25th Anniversary, so the In-Residence kicked off with a special welcome reception in which we awarded six social entrepreneur alumni recipients Miller Center’s newly launched Social Impact Excellence Award.

The 16 alumni enterprises invited to participate in this year’s In-Residence represent some of the most promising leaders directly addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus in the areas of women’s economic empowerment, climate resilience, or the intersection of both.

With this particular cohort of alumni, we have enterprises creating sustainable livelihoods for artisan and fishing communities that are giving Kenyan and Filipino women dignity and agency over their own lives.

We have enterprises working with smallholder farmers in Nicaragua, the Philippines, the Ivory Coast, and Cameroon to ensure food security, access to capital and fair market prices for their crops.

We also have entrepreneurs working to ensure that the future of energy is clean energy, by equipping hospitals in Nepal with solar energy, to organizations who are ensuring hard to reach populations in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, and Uganda have access to clean water, affordable biogas and solar home systems.

And with that, it is my pleasure to continue to welcome the most recent graduating In-Residence cohort to the Miller Center community of alumni.

Anthill Fabric Gallery
Awaaz.de
Bidhaa Sasa
CareNx
Cropital
Deevabits Green Energy
Doselva
Folia
Gham Power
Grassland Cameroon
Grassroots Energy
iKure Techsoft
Rio Fish
Seekewa
Taimba
Village Energy

If you would like to learn more about each enterprise, we encourage you to watch their Showcase presentations here as well as their recorded pitches here. You can also reach out at mc-alumni@scu.edu.

Finally, in Miller Center fashion, I’ll end with a quote:

“We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that comes with community.” – Dorothy Day

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in making this year’s In-Residence a success. You bring the magic to our community.

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Karen Runde - March 16, 2022

Meet the 16 Social Enterprises of the 2022 In-Residence Cohort

After taking a two-year pandemic-enforced hiatus from hosting in-person events, and a brief foray in experimenting with virtual hosting in 2020, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship is excited to announce that we are once again hosting our highly regarded In-Residence this April at Santa Clara University.

In line with the Center’s goal of focusing efforts on social entrepreneurs with the highest potential, this cohort is composed entirely of Miller Center alumni entrepreneurs. For many of the participating entrepreneurs, this will be their second and, for some, even third time participating in a Miller Center program. The 16 alumni enterprises invited to participate in this year’s April In-Residence represent some of the most promising leaders directly addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus in the areas of women’s economic empowerment, climate resilience, or the intersection of both through their enterprises.

For the week of April 2 – 7, these enterprises will participate in in-depth mock investor meetings, one-on-one meetings with mentors and bespoke consultants, peer networking events as well as a chance to hone their presentation skills with a culminating showcase event on the final day. Additionally, Miller Center is excited to provide sessions designed specifically for our mentor cadre as a chance to encourage mentor peer learning and engagement with each other. This year also marks Miller Center’s 25th Anniversary, so the In-Residence will kick off with a special welcome reception during which we will commemorate this important milestone with Miller Center friends and supporters.

Miller Center and Chevron Welcome Latest Cohort of Social Entrepreneur Graduates

Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship is excited to welcome the latest cohort of social entrepreneurs to our alumni community. These ten extraordinary entrepreneurs, with direct impact in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam participated in the 2021 Climate Resilience Asia Pacific Accelerator program, a collaboration between Miller Center and Chevron. This is the second program supporting Chevron’s contribution to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Asia Pacific region.

According to the World Bank, climate change has not slowed down and its connection with human wellbeing and poverty is increasingly visible. Unchecked, it will push 132 million people into poverty over the next 10 years, undoing hard-won development gains. The Climate Resilience Asia Pacific cohort directly addressed the most significant barriers for the region’s highest potential social entrepreneurs — those solving for reliable, affordable, low-carbon solutions that scale — with high-touch support from our mentor network, local Asia Pacific leaders, and Chevron staff. All of the social entrepreneurs focused on one or more of the following:

Energy, by providing access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy
Water, ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
Climate-smart agriculture, implementing sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices to increase productivity and production

After working through six-months of business and impact model curriculum with assigned Miller Center mentors, the program culminated in December with rigorous feedback panel sessions. These sessions, designed to simulate investor diligence meetings, gave participants an opportunity to receive feedback in real-time on their business and fundraising plans. In addition to the assigned curriculum, the program also included special webinars hosted by Chevron experts on the topics of human resources, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), governance, and board management. There was also an opportunity for participants to work with the Asia Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) to be featured on their Deal Share Platform.

Miller Center and Chevron worked together to conduct a robust marketing campaign that leveraged social media especially, through a series of videos and here are three examples:

Following a successful pilot program partnership supporting mini-grids in Myanmar and now this Climate Resilience Asia Pacific cohort, Miller Center is excited to continue collaborating with Chevron in further supporting social entrepreneurs who are directly addressing the nexus between the climate crisis and people living in poverty.

Congratulations and welcome to Miller Center’s newest social entrepreneur graduates!

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