| A Family Affair Thank YOU! Our 11th Annual Gathering which took place July 24 – 26 was a great success because of YOU – our strong network of supporters, mentors, entrepreneurs, and investors. Here are some of the highlights: We officially became Mentor Capital Network. Check out our new website! SMEFunds- GEBiofuels won the WJF Chuck Dell Prize Category for Sustainable Business, renamed in honor of our founder Chuck Dell. Winners from other prize categories: Teysha Social Enterprises – Next Generation Prize Gham Power – Richard Heinberg Environmental Sustainability Prize Also, if you’d like to see a new video of the 2014 Annual Gathering click here! Very special appreciations to all our generous conference sponsors, especially Arent Fox, World Resources Institute, and Eileen Fisher. Did you attend the conference and have feedback for what we did well or advice for next year? If so, please email us. Mentor Spotlight Mac McCabe joined our Annual Gathering as a senior mentor and entrepreneur. Since 1989, Mac has focused on small businesses that prioritize sustainability and social responsibility. Many of these businesses have been in the natural products industry as Mac is also the co-founder (with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm Yogurt) and CEO of O’Naturals, the first organic and natural quick service restaurant chain in the country. He specializes in broad-based, hands-on advising to early-stage entrepreneurs from coast to coast, almost all affiliated with Social Venture Network. As part of his work, Mac has served as the interim CEO of several well-known socially responsible companies, including Northeast Cooperatives (the original regional wholesale grocer in natural products); women’s clothing manufacturer Eileen Fisher; and the Greyston Bakery, the inner city company makes all the brownies for Ben and Jerry’s. Here’s what one MCN Entrepreneur had to say about Mac’s expertise: To me, one of the biggest pieces that has come out of this experience is our conversations with Mac McCabe – he has been a fantastic source of very frank, very helpful, very real information and advice. It has been great to pick the brain of someone who has been through the trenches of a lot of different small businesses and different stages of growth.– Sofia Redford, 2Armadillos Are you a mentor who would like to be considered in next month’s mentor spotlight? Or do you want to nominate a mentor? If so, please send suzannah@mentorcapitalnet.org an email. Overheard—————————— I talked to so many interesting people [at the Annual Gathering]. It’s a very good, if not the best, networking event I’ve attended in DC. – Shannon, Co-Founder of Sol Vista … I got matched up really well [during a breakout session at the Gathering] with people who were super knowledgeable and had been in the industry before. Within 40 minutes I was ready to go out and the issue was no longer a challenge. – Sophie Eckrich, Co-Founder of Teysha Social Enterprises Business Buzz —————————— MCN participant Kuli Kuli, was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe after winning a $25,000 grant from Ledbury. See the video. Mentor and entrepreneur Kalsoom Lankhani has launched the Hero Project. MCN finalist LuminAID was featured by the Discovery Channel as one of their “Tasty Tech Eye Candy of the Week” items. Non-profit? Apply by Aug.25th for free consulting from MCN supporter UMD’s Center for Social Value Creation’s nonprofit consulting program, ChangetheWorld On our reading list —————————– ” 5 Bad Reasons to Start a For-Profit Social Enterprise” from MCN friend Rich Liemsider of the Harvard Business Review “Yes, this problem actually exists.” – an article for businesses and entrepreneurs from mentor Christine LeViseur Mendonca |