Report from Harvard’s Social Enterprise Conference 2008

I attended the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference in Boston this past Sunday - very impressive. What struck me most was the diversity in the topics discussed and the participants. Topics included international development, microfinance, climate change, and social innovation, to name just a few of the panels. The variety - and quality - made it really hard to choose what to listen in on and even harder to decide where to participate (I was a panelist on the International Development & Venture Capital Panel). And of course, the energy level and excitement was very high, even for a Sunday afternoon!

The conference not only impressed me with its breadth and depth, but it also inspired me to think a little about Acumen Fund’s role at such events. Too often, it seems that Acumen Fund is pigeonholed into the “venture capital and development” panel, when we could also speak credibly about water, energy, housing, healthcare, “new philanthropy,” NGOs’ scaling issues, “base of the pyramid” strategy, and many more issues. Perhaps this is a good problem to have - expertise beyond a single niche - but I also hope that our conference participation will begin to reflect this growing knowledge base. Food for thought.

Last year, Yasmina Zaidman attended the same conference on Acumen Fund’s behalf, and she wrote about it on the blog as well: Signs of an exciting trend at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference. What’s more, new Acumen Fund staffer Rob Katz pointed me to two posts about last year’s event over on NextBillion.net, one by Nick Sullivan and the other by Miles Lasater. Be sure to check them out.

Were you at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference? If so, share your thoughts about the one-day conference by commenting below. What did you like about it? What could be done better?

Thanks to the organizers for the opportunity to attend such a well-done event.