Bicycle Rental Business in Isolated Towns of Ghana, Africa2018-03-26Hit:1515
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"Even social enterprises that mainly pursue social welfare are required to earn a profit for the long-term sustainability of business."
Kang Do-Wook (37), the representative of Wheelephant who is a graduate of the KAIST Social Entrepreneurship MBA program, expressed his opinion about the essential requirements of social entrepreneurs. He started his business ‘Wheelephant in October 2016 when he was an MBA student at KAIST College of Business. The business makes a profit by lending bicycles in three remote towns of Ghana, where there is no systematically established transportation system. As a result of using bicycles for those who walked to work and school for hours every day, student grades increased by 59% and residents' income rose by 25%. Kang said, "All social enterprises need a verification process that can stabilize the project in the initial stage and a business sense to sustain it. I was able to learn that sense at the KAIST SE MBA program."
KAIST Social Entrepreneurship MBA, founded by SK and KAIST College of Business four years ago, turned out 17 graduates this year. According to the SK Happiness Foundation on March 26, this year’s 16 graduates have established social enterprises or expanded existing businesses, and one became a social economy specialist.
Some graduates already became well-known social entrepreneurs. Park Jung-Yul, head of the designer bag company CherryBag, is carrying out a project to donate a bottle bag to children in Uganda every time he sells one of his own design bags. In addition, Shin Jun-Young established CareYou, a social enterprise which creates silver contents using a combination of information technology (IT) and smart devices. The company’s top products including a mobile application called EnBrain or Mental Health Test helps elder users avoid Alzheimer's disease by playing a 5-minute game with their smartphones or PCs.
Moreover, ‘Moducampus (CEO: Noh Tae Jun)’, a college community platform which helps students reduce the cost of living, and ‘Man In Dream (CEO: Kim Dong Chan)’ which provides a dormitory and career development program for young people were successful in attracting investment before Noh and Kim graduated. Thus, they were recognized for their potential before graduation.
Nam Seok-Hyun, a representative of Korean Bros, a graduate of the 4th KAIST Social Entrepreneurship MBA program, said, "We will continue to operate the company without forgetting our philosophy as a social entrepreneur." in his graduation ceremony.
The KAIST Social Entrepreneurship MBA is the first specialized MBA in Social Entrepreneurship Specialization Management in Korea. It was established in order to foster competent talented individuals to solve social problems through the social enterprise method. A total of 66 entrepreneurs have graduated up to this year, and 85% of them have established 56 social enterprises.
Choi Kwang-Chul, who is the SK GROUP SUPEX Seeking Council Social Contribution Chairperson, attended the graduation ceremony on the 24th and said, "As social enterprise start-ups, we need to pursue both economic value and public value, so we need to innovate beyond general commercial companies. SK will be together with the students as a partner of cooperation and an investor who supports their businesses. "