Scheller MBA Students Act As Mentors for Ideas To Serve

MBA students at the Georgia Institute of Technology – Scheller College of Business recently served as mentors for participants in the Ideas to Serve (I2S) competition.

The Ideas to Serve competition was created by Georgia Tech and the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship to foster social innovation by providing students interested in the field with mentors, workshop opportunities and the chance to receive start-up funding.

Participants compete in separate tracks, Ideas and Advanced, and teams in both tracks were provided with mentors from Scheller’s MBA program, who helped the competitors prepare their pitches and shape their financial projections. The competition involved a wide variety of project focuses in the Ideas Track, from improving the efficiency of solar panels to adapting irrigation systems for farmers in rural Pakistan to work more efficiently. Lunula Health, winner of the advanced track, is developing a noninvasive method for measuring the hemoglobin levels of a patient’s blood by simply taking a picture.

The I2S competition gives students the chance to test their idea before trying to take it to market, with the chance to receive feedback from a panel of social entrepreneurs that can help improve their product. Many teams take their project on to the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), in which teams compete among nine global regions.

Dori Pap, director of IS2, commented on the vast resources available to students who choose social entrepreneurship at Scheller. “Students with a passion for social and environmental change have a great support system at Georgia Tech. They can find courses, workshops, mentors and funding to turn their passion for creating a better world into reality.”

regions: Atlanta

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