Learning by Doing: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Spirit and Empowering Students Through Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Stories ~ A spotlight series for highlighting the success stories of Business Entrepreneurs

Pop-Up Venture Project

While traditional entrepreneurs focus primarily on generating profits and creating successful businesses, social entrepreneurs aim to create positive change by developing innovative solutions to societal problems while still maintaining a viable business model. Social entrepreneurs prioritize social or environmental impact alongside financial sustainability, often measuring success in terms of social, environmental ore community benefit rather than purely financial gain.

In both cases, teaching entrepreneurship involves a blend of theoretical concepts, processes, and practical experiences. Incorporating real-world problem-solving into the classroom is a powerful way to foster innovation and practical skills.

This fall, in BUS487: Social Entrepreneurship, practical application helped students understand the nuances of social entrepreneurship better than just theory. In addition to hearing directly from a variety of social entrepreneurs regarding their journey, students were provided with hands-on experience developing a social impact pop-up venture.

The purpose of the Pop-Up Venture Project was to help students understand, develop and practice innovation skills and the product development process as it relates to creating a venture to have social impact.

Five student teams selected a social problem/cause, conducted extensive secondary and primary research on the problem, set a social impact goal, designed a product (any item custom printed with no-minimum quantity order and quick time to delivery), developed a marketing and sales plan, conducted pre-sales, created a financial forecast and a final financial report.

The social problems identified were environmental impact of fast fashion and deforestation, mental illness, and clean water. Each team’s profits went to impact a non-profit organization of their choosing.

A total of $550.29 was distributed among the following organizations: cleanclothes.org, The JED Foundation, water.org, Friends of Trees, and the UP Wellness Center.

The students enjoyed the opportunity to use their existing skills, learn new skills, and see how their efforts could have an impact on a social issue they cared about.

Says Joe Pilawski ENG ’24, “Creating my own social venture for this class taught me a lot about combining business with making a positive impact. I learned to really understand the social issue I wanted to tackle, do proper research, and figure out a sustainable way to run the venture. Talking to people, forming partnerships, and dealing with the nitty-gritty of growing the project showed me the importance of working together and building a network. This experience improved my practical skills and made me more committed to using business for positive change.”