NI 19 — Net Impact Annual Conference
Inspiration & Connections

One of the things I use Facebook for is coming across opportunities, such as competitions or grants, as well as winning tickets to various events or other prizes. In mid-October a Detroit area entity’s page (that supports entrepreneurial efforts) posted about a scholarship opportunity for an event being held in Detroit that I hadn’t recalled being aware of.
It was for Net Impact’s annual conference and I had liked their page and researched what they were about a number of years ago, so I was most intrigued. I looked over the speakers list and started filling out the application. I had a momentary hesitation as to whether I should finish the application when I had to check off “professional” as my attendee designation.
The reason for having a moment of doubt is because I’m an aspiring social entrepreneur with my concept struggling to get past the conceptual stage and I don’t have any previous professional experience or a degree. Plus over the past ten years I’ve had grant proposals rejected over & over, but I went ahead and completed it.
Two days later I received notice that I was awarded the scholarship, which I was most grateful for. For the header in response to what I hoped to get out of the conference, I had put “Inspiration & Making Connections,” so I looked over the various presentations looking for persons based in Detroit that I had seen on the speakers list.
I had to make a couple of tough choices as there were sessions happening at the same time. While there were ones that might have been helpful development-wise, I chose ones based on who the speakers were and that I found interesting subject-wise.
The first one I attended had a speaker billed as a “lecturer” at Wayne State University. I hadn’t clicked on her bio when I was browsing the session agendas, and was encouraged to hear that she was splitting her time between teaching Social Work and Social Entrepreneurship (which I hadn’t heard that the business school was now covering).
I spoke with her after the session and mentioned how I had this idea that I’ve pitched to various entities who weren’t interested, and inquired if maybe she might be interested in assisting with it. She invited me to follow-up with her by email, so that was the first connection I made.
The afternoon session I chose was on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and while it was a subject in my area of interests (with a connection to my social venture), one of the speakers, Donald Jones, is an Associate Director, with New Economy Initiative, which targets entrepreneurship as their primary area of support. After the session, I briefly chatted with Don to inquire if there was any talk at the NEI about support for social entrepreneurs. He said there hasn’t really been any, and I asked if he recalled two years ago an event in Detroit the was in conjunction with Detroit Demo Days (an annual startup competition), which was the WeWork Creators Award (midwest region).
I mentioned there was a certain aspect I had found encouraging that to one of the first category stage, which was labeled Incubate for startup ideas seeking support to develop & introduce the concept. I stated how rare it is to find such a funding opportunity since it was open to both for profit & nonprofit startups and finding support for a nonprofit venture that doesn’t yet have tax except status is extremely hard to find. I told him that while I didn’t win, I was inspired to write a commentary for a concept inspired by the Incubation category, and he welcomed me to send him a copy & gave me his card. That was my second connection made.
On Saturday for the first session, I again made a tough decision. The session I chose had Peter Lupoff on the panel, and a subject discussed touched on the significance of having a degree(s). I thought about making a comment and bringing up a quote that I have used in a published commentary (& various proposals), but not having it fully memorized, I didn’t want to butcher it in front of an audience. However, I did go over during the closing mix and mingle and I asked him if he knew of Paul Romer (the Stanford economist, whose quote I thought of sharing), and he replied he was actually good friends with Paul. I told him I planned to write a commentary on my experience, and he welcomed me to connect with him.
In a moment of serendipity, at lunch, I sat at a table that two woman were sitting at, one was present and surprisingly she was with the business school at Wane State University. I had mentioned I was at the session with her colleague and was glad to hear about the development of the social entrepreneurship courses. I then asked if she knew about a University of Michigan program I had read about a few days earlier, on business students assisting Detroit entrepreneurs. I didn’t recall the specific name for the program when she replied they had several ones she was aware of.
Her colleague came to the table and she mentioned something about finding a way to assist students who are interested social impact projects, but who might not have their own idea they want to develop. I commented “how about finding social entrepreneurs with startup ideas and connect them with students?” and they both replied “that’s a great idea.”
The senior member invited me to follow-up with her, so that was another connection made, and after thinking more about the initial idea I had suggested, I came up with what could be a supplemental addition to a competition the university has for social innovation concepts.
Despite struggling for three years to gain traction in garnering support for my social venture concept, I’ve remained confident that it’s a matter of making the right connections, and hopefully connections I made at NI 18, will result in something fruitful.
In a few chats I had with some younger attendees, I made the suggestion of writing commentaries when trying to get support for social venture ideas or starting a dialogue about social impact concepts.
I’m always keeping an eye out for quotes I might use in the future and I have some go-to quotes like the afore mentioned one from Paul Romer, which is fitting as a closing quote for this piece as well. It’s followed by a ‘companion’ quote (about me, but doesn’t identify me by name) I sometimes share when I reach-out to persons, and comes from a friend, who among other things, served as an adviser on Arts & Economic Development to (former) Governor Granholm.
“We need to judge people by the content & potential of their creativity,
and not by whether they have a degree or established reputation.”
— Paul Romer, Stanford Economist, pioneered the field of New Growth theory.
From a Metromode blog post by Ric Geyer, commenting on the situation in Detroit during the bankruptcy crisis:
“Because resistance to change is a big problem. And if we don’t figure out how to get over it, or around it, or through it, it will slowly kill us.
Here’s an example of what I mean. One of the smartest, most creative, purest intellectuals I know is exactly the kind of guy that needs to be sitting in a group that has been tasked with developing creative solutions to problems. But society looks at him and says, ‘He doesn’t quite fit the mold,’ so they discard him and his ideas — when those ideas are precisely what we need right now.
Being able to inspire and motivate people of different backgrounds is our greatest hope, I believe, at inventing our way out of this mess.”
