This roundtable filled up rather quickly, with some attendees standing in the back for the duration of the session.  Andy Cutler from Cutler & Co. moderated the panel and made sure that introductions were kept short and that we got to the roundtable portion with plenty of time to have attendees ask questions.

The first of the two roundtables I attended was called “Using Social Ventures for Skills Training & Job Creation”.  While this could be seen as a very relevant and poignant topic, the floor was opened to the rest of the room early on in the session to ask questions, which I always find to be way more valuable of an experience for attendees.  The panel for this roundtable had a nice range of non-profit leaders in Rhode Island.  Tom Kane from Cranston Arc expressed that great success depends upon a fusion of both business models and that to be a successful social enterprise you must stray a bit from the non-profit mindset.  I was surprised the term “not-just-for-profit” hadn’t been used, as it bridges both models that clearly have a lot to learn from one another.

If you’re reading this blog then you most likely already know what social entrepreneurship is but in case you don’t know or are looking for a succinct way to explain it to others, I find that the definition “business for the greater good” is both concise and accurate.