An Inaugural Social Enterprise Conference Launches in Miami

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2010-03-18 10:46:00 UTC
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Tomorrow I'll be at the inaugural Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise conference in Miami, Florida. The three-day event will bring together 600 folks from across the social enterprise space, and it's a great example of how coalescing regional communities are increasingly helping to shape how the social enterprise field is developed.

SVC/SE was originally imagined as having a particular focus on developing the social economic ecosystem of Latin America, the Caribbean and Florida. While the diversity of participants and speakers extends beyond that region, the event has clearly retained an interest in cultivating that particular community, as evidenced by panels such as "Social Enterprise As An Engine For Growing Mexico's Economy," and "Social Enterprise and 21st Century Socialism in Latin America."

What's more, in the aftermath of the devastating January earthquake in Haiti, the conference announced a "conference within a conference" called "Sustainable Haiti," The conference is focused on discussions of how to not only accelerate the rebuilding process, but how to do so in a way that recognizes a history of deep structural failure that the country's citizens have to move past.

The two sessions I'll be a part of are "20-Somethings Changing The World," and "Building Ecosystems And Forming Community Hubs." The "20-somethings changing the world" conversation should provide an good opportunity to bring up something I've been feeling more and more lately -- that is, the quickening disinterest among my peers about the debates and constraints of the field. We're inherently skeptical of closed networks, so to the extent that social entrepreneurship becomes about defining who does and doesn't count, we're going to quickly lose interest.

The second conversation about ecosystems and hubs has a great group of participants, including the founder of Gray Ghost Ventures and the founder of the global Hub network. I imagine we'll explore not only how physical spaces can anchor local innovation communities, but also how a global network of these spaces are quickly becoming the feeder for new startup funding.

You can follow the conversation on Twitter by searching for "#SVCSE10," the official hashtag of the event.

Photo Credit: joiseyshowaa

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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