Matej Cepin (the Santa Clara awardee) has already completed his project in May 2014. This is what he wrote. “The aim of my study visit was to deepen my knowledge about Social Entrepreneurship and Business Incubators and to be able to transfer some of successful practices back to Slovenia in the future. The core activity was the Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) Conference. (Matej was later offered a mentorship at the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara and become a research fellow there.) Other events included 1-to-1 meetings, participation in smaller events and visiting institutions, including a fundraising dinner at SCU, presentation of innovations in Frugal Lab (SCU) and meeting the Slovenian Bay Area Community. The journey was a meaningful learning experience in the fields of social entrepreneurship, social impact measurement, fundraising nonprofits and social enterprises, marketing in social entrepreneurship, social media, managing coworking spaces and incubators of social enterprises. I saw several business models in action, expanded my social network and got an empowering experience of mentorship from Fr. Peter Rožič SJ.”
Get to know more about Matej’s impressions from Silicon Valley in this YouTube video.