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enough to be born smart, and I'd like to devote some of my time and abil- ity to helping others." These passionate students have helped set off the wave of social entrepreneurship programming that is sweeping across business schools worldwide. They're also taking the lessons they've learned in classes like Wharton's and launching their own businesses. However, it's not always appar- ent at the beginning of class that a successful idea will result from any of the plans. When students first propose their businesses, they're often clearly unworkable. For instance, students might decide they want to address the AIDS problem in Africa by encouraging condom use—even though, for thousands of years, most of the population of Africa hasn't even known what condoms are. I often have to bite my tongue to keep from saying something cynical. But these stu- dents bring a great deal of intellect, talent, and energy to class, and I don't want to discourage them. Once students start applying some of the business tools and planning methodologies they learn in class—once they start becoming more realistic—their ideas start to get redirected. Often what they end up with is fairly different from their original idea. They might find them- selves helping different people than they planned, and helping them in a different way. To be frank, I don't care who is helped and how, as long as help is delivered. Ian MacMillan is the Dhirubhai Ambani Professor of Innovation and director of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia. 34 May/June 2011 BizEd Rutgers Business School Social Entrepreneurship at Home and Abroad BY dt ogilvie R ecent surveys at Rutgers Business School have shown us that up to 80 percent of our students across all disciplines are interested in becoming entre- preneurs. Ten years ago, business students wanted to become the next Jack Welch; today their heroes are Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page. But a growing number of them want their new businesses to be socially minded enterprises that address pressing needs and turn a profit. All around them, they see examples of social entrepreneurs. For example, Greyston Bakery in Brooklyn, New York, hires local residents who are typically con- sidered "unemployable" to sell brownies and other baked goods. Another Brooklyn-based company, IceStone, addresses environmental ills by creating countertops from 100 percent recycled glass. We have developed a three- pronged approach to social en- trepreneurship that incorporates research, teaching, and community outreach. As part of our teaching ef- forts, for instance, we've developed an entrepreneurship minor open to any student at the university. But one of our most successful programs is a community outreach initiative— and we're so excited about it that we're looking for ways to take the program overseas. Serving the Community At Rutgers, we've become con- vinced that social reform is not being successfully addressed by the traditional methods of welfare, low-income housing, and job train- ing, so we've developed a program called the Entrepreneurship Pio- neers Initiatives (EPI). We believe that we can use our entrepreneurship expertise to help people establish and expand local businesses that will, in turn, create local jobs. EPI was created by The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED) at Rutgers Business School in partner- ship with The Institute for Entre- preneurial Leadership, the Greater Newark Business Development Con- sortium, and the Rutgers-Newark Small Business Development Center. To find participants, we adver- tise the program in various media and ask interested parties to apply. There are a number of criteria: The businesses must be at least three years old, owned by first-generation business owners, and located and operating in New Jersey. They also must have at least four employees and possess the potential to grow. Each EPI class is made up of about 35 participants, who pay $200 to enroll. The rest of the costs are funded by grants from PNC, our inaugural sponsor, and Prudential. Classes are taught by multidis- ciplinary faculty focused on urban entrepreneurship and economic devel- opment. Because we wanted to take a broad approach to dealing with the problems and opportunities small businesses face, we recruited faculty with expertise in law, supply chain