SEED: Social Entrepreneurship Education Program
Want to change the world?
Good intentions aren’t enough: Sewanee’s SEED (Social Entrepreneurship Education) Program, launched in 2007, provides an introduction to the field of social entrepreneurship that can start you on your way to making a global difference.
The SEED program is an intensive 8-week social entrepreneurship immersion program that has three components:
- The summer study abroad program in Bangladesh and India for two course credits, one on Microfinance Institutions in South Asia and another from the fields of economics, political science, or anthropology
- A four-week internship at a finance/microfinance institution in the United States, Latin America, Asia, or Europe
- A week of intensive pre-business training at Sewanee in finance, accounting, and entrepreneurship.
The SEED program, open to all majors, provides knowledge, skills, experience, and professional networks to help build careers in community finance, microfinance, socially responsible businesses, or the private sector. Successful participants are awarded an M.A.E. (Microfinance and Entrepreneurship) certificate.
Twenty students participated in the SEED program in summer 2008. They engaged in internships at thirteen organizations in eight countries, including Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Spain, Germany, and the United States. One of the students was offered a job in Spain at the nonprofit where he completed his internship, and he is currently working there.
Sixteen students participated in the SEED program in summer 2009. They completed internships at six organizations in four countries, Bangladesh, India, the Dominican Republic, and the United States, including Puerto Rico. Six students completed finance, banking, and insurance risk internships in the United States. One of them was offered a job at one of the finance firms, which he accepted. Read about the experience of two 2009 interns in India.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of Grameen Bank, has visited Sewanee twice and recently met with Sewanee students and faculty in 2007. Dr. Yunus has long cooperated with the SEED program, and a visit to the bank’s headquarters in Bangladesh and an exclusive, extended meeting with Dr. Yunus are highlights of the summer study abroad component of the SEED program. Learn more about Sewanee’s ties to Grameen. By the way, Sewanee was way ahead of the Nobel committee. In 1998, the University awarded him an honorary doctorate for his pioneering work.
Dr. Yasmeen Mohiuddin is the Director of the Social Entrepreneurship Education (SEED) Program
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