Spark

About Spark Workshops:

Spark Workshops provide social innovators with an opportunity to explore resources, connections, and potential solutions to help their social ventures. These workshops tap into the collective knowledge within Columbia University and the larger entrepreneurial and social impact community.

Spark is a platform for ventures to make valuable connections, as the audience is a self-selected group interested in the topic area. Ventures are also able to gather diverse ideas through group brainstorming to help them address specific questions or problems within the business or organization.

These workshops are free and open to the public. Participants can expect to bring their ideas, experience, and connections to help solve social and environmental challenges that social innovators aim to address.

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History of the Spark Workshops:

The inaugural Spark Workshop was held on April 24, 2012 with Manmeet Kaur, ’02BUS, and her venture, City Health Works. City Health Works is a prevention-focused healthcare venture in Harlem. Manmeet had her classmates gather together to listen to a brief presentation about City Health Works, and then she had the group engage in an interactive break-out session dedicated to helping her work through some of the challenges she had been facing. The session was helpful not only to Manmeet, but to others in attendance as they were able to make connections with fellow social innovators. From this, the Spark Workshop series has evolved to an event dedicated to providing New York City's social innovators with the opportunity to explore resources, make connections and learn about potential solutions to challenges they are facing through the collective knowledge of Columbia University and the larger entrepreneurial and social impact communities.

Past Spark Workshops:

2019

February 12 - Retouch Haiti: Creating Sustainable Employment by Building Links Between Haiti and Global Markets

Facilitated by Camille Park ’19BUS and Alex Polinis

Retouch | Haiti is a social enterprise that provides graduates from a free film and audio engineering college in Haiti, called The Artists Institute, with specialized training in e-commerce photo and video post-production.

With these graduates, Retouch | Haiti operates an e-commerce photo and video post-production service that specializes in providing global retailers, brands, and creative agencies with high-quality, high-volume, and quick-turn around capabilities at an affordable cost. The need for online imagery is growing, as is the demand for high-quality and affordable post-production services. There exists a quality gap between current offshore vendors' capabilities and the industry’s quality expectations, and Retouch | Haiti aims to fill this gap.

Retouch | Haiti is an incubator to test the training tools, organizational structure, business model, operational efficiency, and product offering in the market. The long term objective is to create a business model that can be successfully expanded to other locations in Haiti and replicated around the world.

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2018

December 11 - HereO Ventures: Using Video Technology to Create Partnerships between Refugees and Investors

Facilitated by Ignacio Inda ’06SIPA

Populations in post-conflict areas often experience isolation from the international community, have difficulty accessing basic sources of income, and lack opportunities to find either full-time job opportunities or a favorable environment to launch their own businesses.

At the same time, individuals in developed countries are unsure of how to address the refugee crisis and are simultaneously unable to find meaningful investment opportunities that both address a societal challenge and provide a return on their capital.

HereO Ventures is a two-sided for-profit social enterprise designed to facilitate a cross-border supply of the three HereO pillars (peer-to-peer micro-debt/micro-equity loans, professional mentoring services, and emotional support) to refugees and other populations in post-conflict situations via an online video platform.

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November 13 - Social Entrepreneurship in Rural Communities: Breaking Generational Cycles of Poverty

Facilitated by Elizabeth Dettke ’19CSSW

In 2014, Elizabeth Dettke and Christine Nyirahabimana started a social enterprise bakery in Rwanda, hiring 10 HIV positive single mothers as their employees. The business was an immediate success and after six months, all employees were able to double their monthly incomes. However, starting a business is no easy task. During a drought, they had to temporarily cease operations due to rising commodity prices. Even more devastating was that the business lost 3 of its employees to AIDS. These would be difficult setbacks for any start-up, but Christine and Elizabeth are determined to make their social enterprise sustainable.

This workshop discussed how to make a micro social enterprise profitable and viable. It focused on the importance of staff development, capacity building, and knowledge transfer. How does one ensure a small business in a rural setting has the necessary tools to thrive? For how long and to what extent is outside funding helpful and necessary? The Duterimbere Bakery hires women who have been historically marginalized from their communities. What type of support do such initiatives need from a policy and market perspective?

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March 27 - Open Collaborative Social Innovation: Helping Good People Do More Good for More People

Facilitated by George Kyriakopoulos

Large corporations are leveraging the best collaborative innovation technologies to generate billions of dollars in new business. By bringing together thousands of minds from around the world to engage on tactical, strategic, and operational problems, they’re able to identify solutions that would otherwise never see the light of day.

What if these same technologies could be leveraged for problem solving for social impact? What if nonprofits of any size, anywhere around the world, could tap into the expertise and resources of those same minds?

Endeavour Innovation is a single, central, open impact innovation platform available to nonprofits at no cost. They are creating the capacity to engage with anyone, anywhere around the world, and at any time for social impact.

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February 20 – The American Bionics Project: Promoting Revolutionary Technology for People with Disabilities

Facilitated by Steven Galeazzi ’10BUS

There is a gap between the needs of people with physical disabilities in the United States and the solutions available to meet those needs.

Promising technologies exist, either in labs or as early stage ventures, but the rate of innovation in this space is slow due to a limited investment pipeline committed to disability-related technology and related biomechanical solutions. This lack of investment (and subsequent lack of rapid innovation) stems from traditional funding sources not seeing the large profit potential necessary to justify adding such investments to their portfolios.

What if technologies for people with physical disabilities can be profitable while also helping those in need? What if they can be designed not only to serve people with disabilities, but also to spur innovation for broader consumer markets?

By providing early stage funding and business advisement, The American Bionics Project will serve as the catalyst for advanced technologies and medical solutions for people with physical disabilities.

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2017

November 15 – What is the Best Way to Find Non-prescription Remedies for Patients and Caregivers?

Facilitated By Ashley Lim ’12CC, Founder and CEO, CuraHub

CuraHub is a personalized product search website for patients looking for non-prescription remedies, starting with patients suffering from psoriasis. About 44% of patients search online for medical information, but many end up with inaccurate information and a long trial and error process. CuraHub aims to improve patient outcomes by simplifying the product search process and empowering patients with knowledge. Their vision is to help find optimal treatment for each and every patient.

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September 27 – Firms with Benefits: How Sustainability is Reshaping the Competitive Business Landscape

With Aziza Jamgerchinova ’13BUS ’06JRN

Most executives understand the strategic importance of sustainability and how profoundly it will affect the success, and even the survival, of their businesses. However, very few have successfully tackled the challenge of creating a truly sustainable organization.

Where do businesses turn when seeking to develop or expand their sustainability practices? Where can they find answers to questions around how best to manage their supply chain, or how to reduce their carbon emissions?

The Firms with Benefits platform aims to help businesses understand how others have benefitted from incorporating sustainability into key areas of their organizations such as leadership, methodology, strategy, management, and reporting. This platform intends to cultivate and enhance both the desire and the ability to use sustainability as a competitive weapon.

Firms with Benefits will help businesses get smarter, more competitive, and more innovative by synthesizing the conversation around sustainability. The goal is to create an instructional content platform with dynamic learning videos that are short, mobile, and immediately actionable. The information will be curated for the existing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) community and businesses looking to leverage sustainability-based management. The videos will tell stories that identify key decision points that can be used by other companies looking to implement sustainable practices of their own.

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February 1 – Hacking Community Solar with Social Solar

With Donna Sanders ’17BUS, Co-founder of Social Solar; and special guest speakers Gary Skulnik, Founding Partner of OurPower; Annie Su, Senior Analyst of Ecogy Solar; and Yanik Kalish’12BUS, CEO of SolarKal

Pollution that arises from the burning of fossil fuels has several environmental, financial, and health consequences. As a result, international, national, and local laws are being enacted favoring renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. New York State, specifically, has enacted a Clean Energy Standard that mandates 50 percent of all energy come from renewable sources by 2030.

Traditionally, many people are unable to participate in solar energy because they rent their home, live in an apartment building, or own properties unsuitable for installing solar panels. With the New York State Shared Renewables Program, customers can, for the first time, join together to share in the benefits of local solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects. Under this program, solar electric panels are installed offsite to produce renewable energy for subscribing members. Each member’s solar production then appears as a credit on their monthly utility bill. Residents of apartments and condominiums can now go solar!

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2016

November 15 – Disrupting Distrust with Rise

With Alphonzo Terrell ’05CC, Co-founder of Rise; and special guest speaker Robert Gangi ’05CC, Director of the Police Reform Organizing Project

Rise is a mobile app that aims to answer the question “What can I do to help?” by providing users with a curated selection of causes. The app fosters shared values and a network of friends and communities by providing a platform for donations, videos for audience engagement, and social sharing.

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April 5 – Killer Snails

With Mandë Holford PhD, Lindsay Portnoy PhD, and Jessica Ochoa Hendrix ’09BUS

Killer Snails, LLC is a learning game company that celebrates extraordinary extreme creatures found in nature. Killer Snails (KS) creates intriguing learning games using venomous marine snails as a conduit to explore issues of scientific learning. The exciting venom content encourages players to think analytically about the world around them and the many opportunities and challenges present in scientific exploration to become science changemakers. The company is collaborating with the American Museum of Natural History and has received National Science Foundation grant funding.

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2015

December 1 – Due Diligence Goes Both Ways

With Christine Mendonça, Managing Director, Shore to Shore Advisory

The due diligence process should not be a one-way street. Far too often it’s the investors that do most of the investigating, when entrepreneurs have a responsibility to themselves, their organization, customers, and their mission to perform due diligence on their potential partners. As an entrepreneur you really need to know who your potential investor is before you sign on the dotted line. In her talk, Christine Mendonça, goes through the process of how to screen potential investors, perform investor due diligence, and navigate best fit. It can’t and shouldn’t be all about the money. Doing the work now, ensures that after the deals done you have right partners at the table to navigate growing your social venture.

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2014

December 1 – Project Gado

With Tom and Amy Smith, Co-founders, Project Gado

Project Gado is a social enterprise digitizing and sharing the world’s visual history. Project Gado works with archives to digitize their collections at little to no upfront cost, and partners with Getty Images to help organizations create a sustainable revenue stream from their historical photos. Project Gado also works with individuals to scan personal photo collections including prints, slides and negatives.

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November 18 – e-NABLE

e-NABLE fulfills recipients’ need for affordable and easy to access devices. It is a diverse network of volunteers who use 3D printing to provide upper-limb prosthetics to differently-abled children and adults around the world. e-NABLE has relationships with prosthetists and other health care providers as well as academic and research institutions, including Rochester Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins and Creighton universities. In addition, international initiatives with NGOs and other groups are underway to provide greater delivery of prosthetics to underserved populations in developing countries as well as in areas experiencing conflict and the effects of natural disaster.

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June 17 – Terraly, Inc.

With Seth Harlem ’15BUS, Co-founder and CEO, Terraly, Inc; and Mo Mobarak, Co-founder and CTO, Terraly, Inc.

Terraly is a mobile application that raises money for clean water around the world. Terraly makes a connection between having an alcoholic drink and raising money for clean water.

How does it work?
Using Terraly, a user confirms their location and enters what they are drinking. So, if you are at the Amsterdam Tavern drinking a Blue Point Toasted Lager, you tell the app where you are and what you’re drinking.

In exchange, Terraly donates money to a clean water charity. Each donation funds one day of clean water for one person. Donations are funded from the revenue generated by providing alcohol producers with consumption data and real-time consumer engagement opportunities.

Terraly keeps users engaged by showing the impact of participation on global clean water efforts and allowing the sharing of impact with friends.

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May 10 – Education Technology: Can Education Technology Close the Achievement Gap?

With Ryan Betts, Teacher, Darien Public School District; Stanley Buchesky '02BUS, Managing Partner, The EdTech Fund; Daniel Konecky, Director of Online Development, Relay Graduate School of Education; Alia McCants '13BUS, Director of Operations, New York City, Relay Graduate School of Education; Terrence Robinson, Teacher, CASA Middle School, Bronx, NY; and Kevan Ottochian, Teacher, Warwick Valley Central School District

Technology has become a critical part of how today’s school children are educated. From individual classrooms to broader district-wide systems, technology’s integration into established learning systems increasingly raises questions and poses challenges to the status quo. This Spark workshop is dedicated to brainstorming ways that technology can be leveraged to close the achievement/opportunity gap in low-income communities in the US by discussing key problems related to data tracking and reporting, school and school-system operations, classroom learning, and scaling successful solutions.

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April 1 – Drive Change

With Jordyn Lexton, Founder and Executive Director, Drive Change; Roy Waterman, Culinary Arts Mentor, Drive Change; and TJ, Marketing Director, Drive Change

In New York State, the age of adult criminal responsibility is 16 years old. Each year, thousands of kids leave the criminal justice system with adult felony convictions that are made public to future employers and academic institutions. As a result, opportunity for change is limited and re-offense is common: the recidivism rate for adolescents treated as adults in the criminal justice system is nearly 70%. The adult system has a devastating impact on young people.

Mission: To build and operate state-of-the-art food trucks to hire, train, and empower formerly incarcerated youth ages 16-25. We generate opportunities for youth coming home from adult jail/prison so that they can live crime-free, bright futures.

Drive Change is a hybrid for-profit/non-profit organization. All of our food trucks are for profit LLCs that are wholly owned by the non-profit 501c3. That being said, all sales from the trucks recycle back into the organization so we can subsidize the cost of running our Drive Change re-entry program.

The re-entry program is eight months long and consists of three distinct phases: a 2-month pre-employment training phase, a 4-month employment phase, and a 2-month transition phase. As participants graduate through each phase, they will see an increase in pay scale, from $8/hr up to $12/hr.

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February 4 – Health for All

Health For All, representing Columbia University for the 2014 Hult Prize, was formed by five Columbia students who came across these astonishing statistics from India’s Bharat Health Organization: "More than 61 Indians go below the poverty-line every MINUTE due to spending on treatment for diseases already occurred.” At the same time, WHO indicates that at least 80% of premature deaths in India are from cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes. Recognizing the potential to improve the lives of generations to come in slum communities across India and the world, Health For All brings communities together to enjoy the health benefits of dance while learning strategies for healthy living and tracking their impact. The goal is to reach 25 million slum dwellers by 2019. Building on the popularity of television dance competition shows like Dancing with the Stars, Health for All aims to use dance competitions to promote health, scholarship and work opportunities to those living in slums.

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2013

December 3 – Inspiring Capital

With Nell Derick Debevoise ’12BUS , Founder and CEO, Inspiring Capital; Yael Silverstein ’13BUS, Director of Products and Marketing, Inspiring Capital

“To be or not to be… a 501c3?” This workshop focused on finding solutions to whether Inspiring Capital should be structured as a nonprofit or a for-profit venture. Nell and Yael outlined the Inspiring Capital business model, explained the goals for Inspiring Capital’s future, and discussed their thought process as it related to picking a business structure for the firm.

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November 12 – Kangu

With the 2013 winner of Social Venture Pitch Competition at the Social Enterprise Conference Casey Santiago ’07BUS, Founder, Kangu; and Co-facilitator: Anu Khosla, Marketing and Community Director, Kangu

This workshop focused on finding solutions to the challenge of financing and customer growth. Areas of discussion: financing to support growth and scale; angel investors, impact investors, foundations, and business development Customer growth; and driving footfall and conversion.

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August 6 – Ed Tech

With Damon Kornhauser, INCITE Creatives; Andrea Coleman, Office of Innovation at the New York City Department of Education; Esteban Rodriguez, Education, Entrepreneurship; Zak Malamed, Student Voice Live; Holly Pavlika, MOMentum Nation; Stanley Buchesky '02BUS, The EdTech Fund

The Ed Tech workshop discussed the various issues that affect six key stakeholder groups in the education-technology space: education policy makers, education entrepreneurs, students, parents, business partners, and educators. Each stakeholder group discussed the barriers that they encounter from their perspective and brainstormed about how to overcome these hurdles to effectively integrate technology into the classroom.

Each group shared the internal and external factors that impact their sector’s success, and many commonalities were discovered, including bureaucratic challenges, lack of familiarity with technology and its benefits, concern about costs—both financial and time resources—for implementation, a generational gap between the technologies that students are comfortable with using for learning and what the teachers are comfortable with using for teaching, and a need for open discussion among all types of decision makers.

Ultimately the group concluded that there is a great need for ongoing conversation that includes all stakeholders, but especially policy makers, school officials, teachers and students, in order to reach an agreement about the best ways to better the integration of technology into the classroom environment. To continue the discussion with “Spark-leaders” on education technology please join Rethink Learning NYC for their first Meetup on August 28!

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July 23 – Defy Ventures

With Catherine Hoke (Rohr)

“What would it be like if you were known for the worst thing you’ve ever done?” asked Defy Ventures founder Catherine Hoke as she started the workshop. In this session, Catherine explained how Defy Ventures provides carefully selected, ambitious men and women who have criminal histories with life-changing entrepreneurship, leadership, and career opportunities. Its mission is to transform the lives of business leaders and people with criminal histories through their collaboration along the entrepreneurial journey.

Attendees were asked to explore questions around scaling nationally by examining models currently used by other organizations and adapting them for Defy. The group felt that Catherine’s involvement in Defy was crucial and needed to remain a priority. It was also suggested that Defy Ventures create local “chapters” in expansion cities with headquarters in New York. Certain attendees thought that a franchise model may not be suitable for Defy, given the strong ties needed for the mission and the difficulty of standardizing processes and activities.

One breakout group tackled the issue of whether they should create a for-profit/hybrid structure to improve their current business model. Ideas varied from partnering with Macy’s to create fashion lines with graffiti lining for a percentage of proceeds, to ideas around creating a structure that drew from organizations such as Accion, Endeavor and Acumen. Attendees also suggested developing an online course for prisons as an opportunity to increase revenues as well as help identify key individuals for the full-scale program. For information on how to get involved, please click here to see the upcoming events and to sign up for: Taste of Defy, Mocktail Day, and Sales Expo events.

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July 9 – International Social Entrepreneurship Workshop

With Selen Ucak '03BUS, The American Turkish Society; Nell Derick Debevoise '12BUS, Inspiring Capital; Tami Kesselman, Vision2Action / IvyGirl Advisors; Shireen Khan '02BUS, Virtue Consulting, Shubio; Decker Ngongang, Echoing Green

After attending the Spark Workshop on Building the Ecosystem for Social Ventures; Selen Ucak proposed a workshop focused on International Social Entrepreneurship. This workshop also served as a place for international social entrepreneurs to meet peers within the network and build relationships that will hopefully help advance their venture. This community shares some challenges with social entrepreneurs in the US; however, international social entrepreneurs face additional challenges including cultural differences when scaling, differing government regulations and compliance restrictions, marketing and branding challenges given cultural differences, among others factors.

Attendees broke out into groups to generate solutions to these challenges and identify the types of platforms needed to help implement these solutions. Among the many suggestions were the strengthening of existing mentorship programs, online platforms for questions to help entrepreneurs, best practices for tapping into diaspora funding, developing benchmark metrics, and more. Facilitator Nell Derick Debevoise mentioned the importance of pitching a social venture to investors and emphasized the aspects that investors will be looking for.

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June 25 – Patronicity

With Chris Blauvelt, moderated by Rachel Jacobs ’02BUS, Detroit Nation

Patronicity is a localized crowdfunding platform that enables anybody to make a difference in their community by supporting local businesses, organizations and events while simultaneously offering incentives to do so. They accomplish this by helping these local entities—for example a small business—raise small amounts of capital through online donations for specific growth-related projects. In return for their support, the business offers value-adding rewards to the donors.Workshop attendees discussed the potential to scale Patronicity in major cities or whether geographic focus was the best strategy, as well as how to best develop a brand identity that differentiates them from competitors. Attendees focused on creating a strong marketing and social media campaign which in turn could bring brand awareness to the communities Patronicity has projects in. Suggestions were provided on how to use news articles, blogs and media mentions of successful Patronicity projects to create a demand for their more projects, as the organization continues to expand.

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June 11 – Social Sushi

With Chris Blauvelt, moderated by Rachel Jacobs ’02BUS, Detroit Nation

Social Sushi was founded as a social event to bring together professionals who enjoy sushi, want to meet other professionals in Detroit, and have a common interest in local community projects. It soon became clear that Social Sushi founder Jay’s special sushi sauce was a crowd pleaser at each networking event. During his workshop, Jay worked with attendees to determine what his next step should be, and how to scale the organization. The workshop determined that Jay’s key assets are his connections and the ability to bring together large networks of Detroit citizens interested in working on social change. Attendees proposed that Social Sushi become more like an event planning company, with a social mission dedicated to connecting those interested in change in Detroit. As his network increases, he can also start selling the addicting Social Sushi Sauce for additional revenue, brand recognition and additional donations back into the local community.

“If it weren’t for the excellent feedback that I got from my Detroit Nation session with Columbia Business School, it may have took me a long time to drill down on my focus and see clearly how we could be effective in a way that benefits everyone,” said Jay Rayford in an article on Detroit Nation.

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May 28 – De-Tread

With Audra Carson, moderated by Rachel Jacobs ’02BUS, Detroit Nation

Illegal tire dumping accounts for a large amount of blight in urban communities and Detroit’s residential communities are continually plagued by this problem. Illegal tire dumping also opens the possibility for the spread of disease and threats of fire hazards caused by rubber tire disposal. De-Tread’s purpose is to promote healthy and safe communities by solving Detroit’s problem of illegal tire dumping.

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April 23 – Building the Ecosystem for Social Ventures

With Elisa Miller-Out, Singlebrook; Vince Ponzo ’03BUS, General Assembly; Owen Davis ’08BUS, NYC Seed; and Professor R. A. Farrokhnia '04BUS, Columbia Business School

Elisa Miller-Out of Singlebrook facilitated small group discussions on the strengths and weaknesses of the current social venture ecosystem with the goal of brainstorming how we can help to build a stronger network for the future. Some of the strengths included: resources, fellowship programs, and government resources. Weaknesses were related to measurement challenges, a lack of governmental support, and a need for mentorship opportunities.

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April 17 – Global Mental Health at Columbia University

With Professor Kathy Pike, Columbia University

The GMHP@Columbia is an interdisciplinary program aiming to be a world leader in global mental health through pioneering initiatives that promote mental health and reduce the burden of mental illness worldwide. To this end, the GMHP@Columbia is committed to education, training, advocacy, clinical and research capacity-building in low income communities around the world. The program has partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as academic centers in countries including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Nigeria. In addition, the program aims to grow its internet-based global network of mental health practitioners from 4,000 to 10,000 members worldwide.

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April 2 – BlocPower

With Donnel Baird ’13BUS, CEO, BlocPower

BlocPower markets and finances solar and energy efficiency retrofits to churches, schools, nonprofits and small businesses in America's underserved communities--and hires local low income people to do it. BlocPower's online platform connects philanthropic investors to project microfinance opportunities.

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