The TIE Social Enterprise special interest group held its 2012 Networking Kickoff meeting at MIT on Feb 13.  Seven emerging social entrepreneurs pitched their companies to the audience that provide valuable feedback to help address issues and challenges confronting the organizations.

The TIE Social Enterprise group has had success helping young social entrepreneurs refine their ideas and convert them into sustainable business models.

Present in the audience were TIE charter members, who generously give their time to support social entrepreneurs.

Dr. Pravin Chaturvedi, a leading entrepreneur in the health sector and a member of the board of TIE-Boston shared his experience mentoring a social entrepreneur.  "Last year at the pitch contest held at the TIE SE it was my pleasure to meet Megan Marcus who presented a pitch for her social enterprise, FuelEd. She did not win but she approached me later and asked for mentorship. I provided her with extensive I am proud to say that she incorporated the feedback and has won first prize at the second annual Education Innovation Pitch Competition (EIPC) held at Harvard University" said Dr. Chaturvedi.  Also present in the audience was Dr. Raj Melville the founder of TIE-SE who has mentor several successful startup social enterprises. He is currently the executive director of the Deshpande Foundation.

Nathan Bernard from AnagGenesis Impact 
(http://anagenesisimpact.org/)

William Dixon from Relief Labs
(http://relieflabs.org)

Greg McHale from good2together
(http://good2gether.com)

Antoinne Machal Cajigas from Altruhelp
(http://www.altruhelp.com)

Annemarie Ryu of Global Village Fruits
(http://globalvillagefruits.com)

Mark McCurdy of Scionnon Profit Staffing
(http://www.scionnonprofitstaffing.com)

and Ehren Foss from HelpAttack!  
(http://www.helpattack.com) 

presented their individual organizations.

Most presenters were early stage entrepreneurs still working on refining their business models.  The enterprises spanned a range from using social media to collect small donations efficiently to building a food business around Jackfruits to help the underprivileged in Kerala. Some were just starting their ventures while others like AltruHelp had a few clients that they were working with.  One of the co-founders of TIE- SE, Rakesh Pandey served as the moderator for the pitch session.

Co-Chairs Anu Yadav, Vithal Deshpande and Ranjani Saigal were delighted to see the strong response for the event. TIE-SE holds monthly meetings, the second Monday of each month. Please check the http://www.meetup.com/Social-Entrepreneurs-Group-Boston/ for more information.

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