Seminar Description

Summary

Developmental Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (DESI) is a Fall semester seminar lead by Professor Alex (Sandy) Pentland on building  entrepreneurial ventures using the new generation of mobile information and communications technologies, with particular emphasis on technologies and ventures that can cause major social change throughout the world.   The course is co-taught with Prof. Juan Carlos Barahona (INCAE), and J. Bonsen (MIT).

We explore a range emerging business models and opportunities enabled by technologies developed in MIT labs and beyond.  We will examine case examples of both successful and failed businesses, and consider the general problems of deploying and diffusing products and services through entrepreneurial action.  By drawing on live and historical cases, especially from South Asia, Africa, and Latin America, we seek to cover the broad spectrum of challenges and opportunities

Expected Student Deliverables – Students are asked to craft a business plan executive summary, worthy of submission in the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition $1K Warm-Up (and possibly the preliminary round of the MIT IDEAS Competition) in the Fall of 2005.    In previous years several teams have won in the $1k competition, and we have had a 20% success rate converting plans to real businesses.

DESI Case Studies

This class surveys developmental entrepreneurship via case examples of both successful and failed businesses and generally grapples with deploying and diffusing products and services through entrepreneurial action. By drawing on live and historical cases, especially from South Asia, Africa, Latin America as well as Eastern Europe, China, and other developing regions, we seek to cover the broad spectrum of challenges and opportunities facing developmental entrepreneurs. Finally, we explore a range of established and emerging business models as well as new business opportunities enabled by developmental technologies developed in MIT labs and beyond. These are a few examples:

SEID -- global talent & development challenge matchmaker

dimagi / Ca:sh -- clinical interfaces, health information systems, and mobile technologies to manage global disease

BlueEnergy -- wind power systems

Way / MobilBanco -- electronic pre-payment for cellphones in Latin America

Past Executive Summaries

Mercados Infinitos -- distribution & delivery services in Mexico

Remittance International – community-building fin’l services Lat. America

CureAll -- mobile health care of syphilis in southern africa

Dlo Prop -- clean water via chlorination in Haiti

Safe Storage -- non-electric cold storage of vaccines in India

Grow Networks -- e-mailman wireless network for India and Costa Rica

Diabetic Pulse -- non-invasive diagnostic & self-manag’nt system for India

Asian Credit Organization -- credit rating & financial info for China

Eco-Meter -- ecological electricity distribution system for Asia

DissemiNation -- FM radio-delivered digital info in Latin America & Russia

InformUs -- info & financial services for farmers in India

Cresimento e Valor -- philanthropic investor services in Brazil

Mexico Board of Trade -- efficient market for agriproducts in Mexico

Green Cycle -- eco-composting for waste management and sanitation

Bilingual Storyteller -- toys for kids which speak multiple languages

Communifactory -- building communities of Habitats for Humanity

Safe Water Ventures -- purification, storage, and distribution of drinking water

Sustainable Education Solutions -- microfinanced teacher-training

TikaNet -- rural health care systems in India

Unwired -- participatory media research venture in Latin America & Asia

IKN -- International Knowledge Network for faculty training & development

Scooter Power

Fish Farm

EcoVenTour

Aqua Mexico

StudyWithMe.com

AquaCredit

Ecofuturo

Howtoons

Alumni Company Role Models

Africa Online

Evergreen Solar

World Water

Overview |  Class Website |  Resources