A Social Entrepreneurship is a company that is directly addressing a social, cultural or environmental issue while still being a self sustaining business. the Social Entrepreneurship class was a seminar where teams of students from both the US and Colombia would spend the semester developing a business pitch for a social entrepreneurship that would address an issue of their choosing in Colombia. This seminar was unique because it was originally designed to be a study abroad where the students would travel to Bogota, Colombia at the end of the semester, but due to the pandemic it had to be adjusted. Instead this experience was a virtual study abroad. While those are 3 words I never thought I would put together, it provided an interesting opportunity for learning and engaging with people otherwise would not have been able to.
What is a Virtual Study Abroad?
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, travel was not really an option this year. However, that would not stop students from engaging in conversations and learning about other cultures and the issues they face. This class was virtual, like most classes held by UC this semester but the class was taught by a UC professor and a professor in Colombia. The students were also from a variety of disciplines both here and in Colombia. The class sessions were held at a time that students in both countries could attend so we could actively participate in class discussions and work as groups on projects. While we couldn't travel we still learned from each other and immersed ourselves in other cultures.
What did you Accomplish During the Semester?
Aside from the classwork itself, one of the things we did this semester was learn how to overcome cultural barriers. The professors and students worked cooperatively to adapt to different styles of work and communication. There was a bit of a learning curve to adjust to the culturally different approaches to situations. As a class and as individual groups we engaged in discussions about how best to communicate and get work done. For example, in a group the US students tended to dive right into work, while the Colombian students tended to take time for small talk. The US students also tended to be more outspoken about their ideas. We made a plan to actively adapt to these differences, we would take turns leading the discussions and make sure everyone's voice was heard. Increased awareness of people and how we interact with one another is a skill that I can apply to almost any situation and I will continue to do so in the future.
This class primarily consisted of business students, so over the course of the semester we created a pitch for a company to address the issue of poverty in Colombia. However, poverty is a large issue and has a vast number of causes, of which we knew we could not solve all of them. Instead we focused on unemployment as a cause of poverty. As a group we created Oppor2nity Hiring, a company that would provide training to and help those living under the poverty line find employment in the hospitality industry.
Below you can find our final project pitch for Oppor2nity Hiring.