SEDPI founders Mariel Vincent Rapisura, Edwin Salonga, and Raquel Reyes led the delivery of a 3-day workshop on Social Entrepreneurship in Vietnam. Gladius Kulothungan of the University of East London served as co-facilitator in the event. The National Economics University (NEU) in partnership with the British Council Vietnam, organized the workshop. The workshop focused on the importance of integrating social entrepreneurship into the curricula of various universities in Vietnam.
Held from April 9 to 11, 2012 at the NEU Campus in Hanoi, 49 academicians and practitioners attended the workshop. The workshop aims to enrich the participants’ understanding of social entrepreneurship, gain support in its development, inspire university faculty to write and publish academic research work, and develop a curricula that will cater to students and practitioners alike.
The workshop discussed key concepts, models, and strategies of social entrepreneurship. It provided a venue to clarify the difference of social enterprises from traditional businesses and charitable work. The characteristics and motivations of social entrepreneurs were likewise tackled during the event. Stakeholder analysis, financial and social performance management, and social enterprise product development provided operational tools that participants could use in developing social enterprises.
The facilitators used several case studies to highlight key messages in the workshop. Among those discussed were Good Food Company (community shared agriculture) and Klinikalusugan (community health clinic) in the Philippines. The participants shared that these enterprises could be replicated in Vietnam given similar contexts between the two Southeast Asian countries.
A farewell dinner for the facilitators was organized by NEU. During the closing ceremony, the lead faculty of various universities as well as social entrepreneurs who attended the 3-day event gave overwhelming accolades for the design, content, and delivery of the workshop. Dr. Pham Quang Trung, Vice President of NEU, presented the facilitators with local Vietnamese products as token of the university’s sincere appreciation of the event’s success.