KINGSTON, R.I. – April 1, 2024 – The University of Rhode Island College of Business welcomes Monica Colman, director of development for nonprofit social enterprise Edesia Nutrition. Tuesday, April 2, 2:00 p.m. Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road, Kingston.
Mr. Colman, who joined Edesia in 2023 with a background in strategy and partnership development in food manufacturing, will discuss the company’s mission to end malnutrition. Her lectures are open to the university community and the public.
Founded in 2010 by Naveen Salem, Edesia partners with humanitarian agencies working in emergency areas to produce lifesaving, nutrient-dense food to nourish malnourished children. The North Kingstown-based company has grown to approximately 150 employees worldwide and has helped millions of children in more than 65 countries.
Colman’s talk was organized by Dhvani Budwijk, assistant professor of innovation, entrepreneurship and strategy at URI, as part of a class on social entrepreneurship and innovation.
“This class focuses on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and I try to bring it up at a local level. These are issues that can be addressed globally, nationally, or regionally. ,” said Budwijk, who joined URI last fall. “Edesia is a great example because it is a Rhode Island company that was founded, grew and scaled by one person.
“Also, this is an example of someone starting out with no experience in making things, but still learning. I try to impress upon my students that it’s always good to embrace a growth mindset.” just because you don’t know how to do it just means you don’t know how to do it still”
INE304G Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation provides students with a basic understanding of social ventures from the ground up and includes several speakers invited by Budwijk each semester. This class gives students the opportunity to analyze a social issue or problem they are passionate about, develop a solution, and design a business plan based on their social venture idea. The course, split into four sections and attended by approximately 150 students this semester, is required for business students and offered as a general education elective to other students.
“For business students, this course further deepens their overall understanding of business,” says Budwijk, who teaches two of the sections. “You think about business in terms of opportunities that can be used to solve real social problems.”
Whether students plan to become entrepreneurs or not, Budwijk hopes they leave the class understanding how to analyze a problem, develop a business plan and pitch their ideas. It begins with students working in teams and choosing a social problem they would like to solve, which they can then translate into something they can highlight about themselves in a future job interview.
Teams analyze their chosen problem and answer questions such as its impact on society, why it persists, and what competing ventures are focused on. They evaluate the success of existing and past efforts in addressing challenges, develop their own solutions and create detailed business plans, and pass them on to other students as if they were aspiring investors. I’ll sell it.
“What I want more than anything is for students to see it as an opportunity to explore and test their ideas in a safe environment and pursue their entrepreneurial interests,” Budwijk said. Hustle if they want. ”
She said students chose to focus on covering the full range of issues. Business plans have addressed challenges such as coastal erosion and pollution, health and wellness issues among college students, mobile fraud impacting vulnerable communities, and access to technology in classrooms overseas. One student team found common ground when they discovered that each had collected used cell phones from friends and family in Rhode Island and distributed them to local residents during visits to families in Cape Verde and Armenia. They formalized their distribution strategy by devising an impressive business plan for a rental service that would provide devices to students in need.
“These are issues that you can’t necessarily explore in a traditional business class,” she said.
In the fall, Jack Duggan’s team proposed forming a nonprofit organization to raise awareness about pollution of local beaches and other waters in Rhode Island. The nonprofit organization plans to increase its income through fundraising, hosting sporting events, and selling jewelry made from discarded debris. The jewelry will be accompanied by a photo and information about where the contamination was found.
“My team decided to focus on pollution because plastics exist along with other pollution in sand and water,” said Duggan ’25, an innovation and entrepreneurship major from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Because I’m tired of seeing it.” “The profits the company generates will largely be spent on hiring employees to help clean beaches and spread awareness, as well as lobbying for laws and ordinances to prevent and treat pollution. .”
Last semester, the team of Leah Kagan and Haley Auslander focused on the lack of educational resources for children with behavioral issues. The team proposed an after-school tutoring and mentoring program that would pair children with local college students. Their business plan included a marketing plan, information about competing ventures, education statistics, as well as testimonials from elementary school teachers about how the program would benefit their students.
“I realized that some students needed extra attention and guidance in the classroom,” said Auslander ’25, a marketing major from Hopkinton, Massachusetts. “However, some schools do not have the funding or staff to address this need.”
“I learned a lot from this class and it made me want to start my own nonprofit in the future,” said Kagan ’25, an accounting major from Wilbraham, Massachusetts. “What I enjoyed about this class was learning that business can have a positive impact, and as a business major, it taught me how we can make an impact. I did.”
