Int’l confab on ‘Social Entrepreneurship’: Opportunity Identification and Value Creation for Emergin

Wednesday, 9 November 2016 00:02 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Colombo School of Business and Management (CSBM) which was established with the patronage of prominent corporate leaders and institutions in Sri Lanka to promote a novelty in the higher education, professional and executive training, career development, business research and consultancy with the aim of creating a varied and inspiring learning environment that influences new ways of thinking to face today’s global business challenges partners with the Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies of the University of Kelaniya, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, CINEC Maritime Campus Malabe, British Council Sri Lanka, Epic Technologies group and The Academy for Global Business Advancement (AGBA), USA to organise the first ever international conference on ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ – Opportunity Identification and Value Creation for Emerging Economies (ICSE 2016) to be held on 1 and 2 December at CINEC Campus, Malabe. 

This conference aims at uniting all interested parties on the subject of ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ to build a stronger, collated network that can create a new culture of Social Entrepreneurship both locally and regionally. 

ICSE 2016 is a widely trending theme with little over a decade old it is a collective endeavour that brings together academia, scholars, policy makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the business community alike to discuss the impacts of social entrepreneurship on opportunity identification and value creation for emerging economies, involving various different stakeholders and their direct or indirect contribution towards value creation.

The international conference revolves around two key questions i.e. who is a Social Entrepreneur and what is Social Entrepreneurship?

The former being individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems they are people with ambition driven by perseverance.

The latter being Social Entrepreneurship (SE) is Social business with a primary aim of solving social problems, and this you couldnow say has become ubiquitous. Involving innovative approaches to address successful social business now demonstrating social impacts but is not restricted to education, environment, fair trade, health and human rights and is widely regarded as an important building block of sustainable development.

Some of the goals the conference tries to address is the valuation of social enterprise as an alternate capitalist. This conference is to provide a global platform for facilitating the exchange of ideas and discussions of concepts for effective advancement of knowledge in the field of business management and social entrepreneurship. Multi-disciplinary presentations, expert discussions and open exchange of current and future business goals and social entrepreneurship initiatives in emerging economies. 

ICSE 2016 brings together speakers and audience from diverse backgrounds interested in sharing their knowledge and contributing their ideas across the forum on a widely debatable topic termed ‘social entrepreneurship commonly known as social enterprise’.

This is a unique opportunity for all those interested in connecting with academics and practitioners and brainstorming initiatives related to the conference streams. Initiate a global network and learn from experts in the field; engage with practitioners by means of exchanging experiences from across the world. 

A kaleidoscope of ideas centred along the core theme of Social Entrepreneurship the conference will discuss the following sub themes:

 

  • Social Value Creation, Social Entrepreneurship and Social Business
  • Identify opportunities in Social Enterprise
  • Emerging Policy Space for sustainable and regional development
  • Social Enterprise is next generation of CSR
  • Effective strategies for sustainable business through Social enterprise
  • The role of educational institutions in fostering SE among youth
  • Innovation and technological drive towards social entrepreneurship
  • Opportunities for government in channelling social enterprise into GDP contributions
  • Green entrepreneurship
  • Sports Education as a viable Social Enterprise
  • Women in Social enterprise
  • Emerging Innovations of new social enterprise business development



Some of the contributors addressing the streams above range from entrepreneurs to policy makers, political activists to economists and international representatives just to name a few. Thus brands such as Dr. Faiz Sha, Center Director, Yunus Center at AIT, Bangkok, Dian Gomes, Chairman Hela Clothing, Samantha Kumarasinghe, Chairman, Nature’s Secret, Dulith Herath, CEO and Founder, Kapruka.com, Dr. Nayana Dehigama, Chairman Epic Technologies, Eranda Ginige, Co-Founder, Social Enterprise Lanka, Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake, Vice President, Greenbuilding Council, Tharuka Dissanaike, Policy Specialist UNDP, Environment Sustainability and Disaster Risk Unit, Dr. Janaki Kuruppu, Founder, Mother Sri Lanka Foundation, Prof.(Capt.) Nalaka Jayakody, Vice President, Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC), Prof. Ranjith Bandara, Professor of Economics from the University of Colombo and Head of Business School, Colombo School of Business and Management, Dr. W.M.C. Bandara Wanninayake, Head, Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya and Chandula Abeywickrama, Chairman, Lanka Impact Investing network will speak at the conference. 

This wide range of speakers will add differing perspectives on the theme of social entrepreneurship and will facilitate a wider platform for discussion, debate and knowledge sharing. 

At the theoretical level, most studies to this date have relied on an individual level of analysis, drawing on traditional entrepreneurship theories and overrating the role of heroic individuals as the new drivers of societal change. In practice the problem is more realistic revealing a theoretical and an empirical gap; therefore, the sub-themes aim at addressing this gap.

Further Colombo School of Business Management invites call for papers from interested parties on the theme of Social entrepreneurship to be published in selected international journals including Journal for Global Business Advancement (www.inderscience.com/jgba), Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development (www.inderscience.com/jibed) and International Journal for Social Business (IJSB). Interested parties are invited to visit www.csbm.edu.lk/conference for more information. 

ICSE 2016 will be organised as an annual event by the Colombo School of Business and Management with the participation and collation of the players, innovators and game changers from both locally and internationally to create, promote, uplift and enhance a culture of Social Entrepreneurship.  

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