What do Diet Coke and Bananas Have to do with Social Entrepreneurship?

Last night, I was part of an overflow crowd squeezed into an overheated room, waiting 15, 30, 45 minutes to hear a speech on the future of social entrepreneurship. For whom do 200-plus people squeeze into a room set for 75 on a random Thursday night in the middle of June: Muhammad Yunus? Bill Drayton? Jeff Sachs? No, no and no again.

Not to say that Neil Blumenthal, Eni Bakallbashi, Lalita Advani and Bhakti Mirchandani aren’t worthy of the attention – they absolutely are. But when you get down to it, people came to last night’s event, “The Value Chain of Social Entrepreneurship: How Young Professionals Can Get Involved,” not to hear from a superstar speaker, but rather to get actionable, inspirational advice from their peers.

Bhakti, for instance, suggested that aspiring social entrepreneurs might be able to subsist on a daily breakfast of Diet Coke and bananas, as she did while starting the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards (between stints at Lehman). Lalita quoted Gandhi, suggesting that harmony in what you think, say and do will lead to happiness. (I took this to imply that just being interested in social entrepreneurship isn’t enough – you have to actually do something and spread the word.) Eni told the audience that your heart has to be in the right place, and that you can do something here and now – as she is doing with her health information startup in Albania. Finally, Neil laid it on the line, telling the audience to get out and work in the sector, even if it means taking risks – as he did when he hopped on a plane to El Salvador to work for Scojo Foundation (now VisionSpring) a few years back.

The event was more than just panelists doling out advice, of course. It was a networking event, a celebration even, where New York area social sector folks had the chance to reconnect and meet the newest members of our movement. I saw a number of old and new faces, including former NextBillion staff writer Lauren Abendschein; Samasource’s Leila Chirayath; StartingBloc’s Joanna Opot; and a number of passionate people I’d not had the chance to meet previously. A big kudos to the organizers – Erica Dhawan, Vivek Kumar, Andrea Arce – young professionals who really took the lead in making this event a reality, and SEO, StartingBloc and my Acumen colleagues for their help – as well as the host, NYU’s Wagner Student Association.

At the end of the day, events such as this are an important first step. Panel sessions don’t change anything on their own – but they are a forum for people to seed new ideas, learn from others’ mistakes, meet potential business partners and be inspired. There will be another young professionals meetup on July 10, organized by the same group. It remains to be seen how the energy from last night’s event will translate to action, especially over time. If we can keep the energy and enthusiasm up, then there’s no telling what this ad hoc group can accomplish.