Students compete in first Social Venture Plan Competition

Undergraduate student teams from NNU’s School of Business competed this week by presenting social venture plans. The Social Venture Plan Competition included eight teams hoping to meet a social need using entrepreneurial business principles and practices.

Marketing and business administration major Lauren Hartford (Olympia, Wash.) and her team proposed a venture called “G’ru” that sells stylish and comfortable scarves designed to protect individuals in South Korea from harmful pollution and airborne diseases. Hartford states, “Through the G’ru back program, customers can choose one of three options to give back to their community with every purchase of a scarf-mask. These include donating a mask to the Korea Child Fund, donating funds to the Korean Environment Institute’s fund pollution research, or planting a tree through the Korean Forest Service.”

Projects were judged on the significance of the social need addressed; the on-going impact of the venture; the likelihood that the plan could be successfully implemented; and, the financial viability of the plan. The winning team won $1500, and the top two teams were invited to a regional social venture competition held in Seattle this April.

“It was amazing to see a complete business plan unfold that could be successful if put into a real world situation. I was truly able to see how much I had learned and how this project will help to prepare me for my future career,” Hartford continued.

Congratulations to G’ru for winning first place and Second Chance for taking second place!