One of the pleasures of running a program like JFDI.Asia is meeting others around the world who believe in the power of small teams of people to change things for the better. All it takes is a good idea, some contacts and shared experience to inspire a team with the right skills to change lives. So we’re delighted to take up an invitation from the Unreasonable Institute to create a ‘pipeline partnership’ that will offer a fast track for social entrepreneurs to get the support they need.
The Unreasonable Institute is a mentorship and training program for entrepreneurs tackling the world’s biggest social and environmental needs. Every year, it recruits 25 wannabe social entrepreneurs to live together for six weeks, share ideas and receive mentorship from the likes of Phil McKinney, CTO of HP; Hunter Lovins, a Time Magazine Hero of the Planet; and Paul Polak, who has enabled over 19 million farmers to move out of poverty.
Like the TechStars network of which JFDI.Asia is South East Asia’s first member, Unreasonable Institute is based in Boulder, Colorado. Also like TechStars, it uses an intense bootcamp format to help talented individuals make progress fast. What’s different is the balance of priorities: Unreasonable Institute puts social impact first and profit second.
“Our goal is to arm these entrepreneurs with mentorship, capital, and one hell of a network so their ventures can scale to improve at least one million lives…and do that while making a profit,” says Daniel Epstein, Founding President.
At JFDI.Asia we see that every successful business is driven by more than profit. Our view is that it’s always a combination of technical, social and commercial ambitions that brings success, even if commercially-focused growth is our core activity.
We’re sometimes asked if we can support ideas that are more about social enterprise than commercially-focused growth. Now we can – by referring them to our new partners at the Unreasonable Institute. Teams that we refer in this way will be accelerated through the normal application process.
Applications for the Unreasonable Institute are currently open, until November 10th.