MCN Update 31 August 2016

Please register today for MCN’s Annual Gathering, our favorite face-to-face gathering of the entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors from our Network. Join this community to engage in 2+ days of intimate conversations around topics such as:
Local Entrepreneurial Ecosystems – from both an entrepreneur and a company perspective
Off-Grid Technologies and how they can improve the lives of refugees
Rapid Prototyping – what it is and why you should do it

Announcing our Keynote Speaker: Andy Shallal
We’re pleased to announce that Anas “Andy” Shallal will be the keynote speaker for our Annual Gathering, speaking on Friday, September 30th.
Andy is an artist and social entrepreneur and the founder of Busboys and Poets, Share Space DC & Mulebone Restaurant. His concepts create an environment where racial and cultural connections are consciously uplifted. Spaces to feed the mind, body and soul and where art, culture and politics take center stage and collide. With 6 locations in the Washington Metropolitan Area, Busboys and Poets has become home for progressives, artists and intellectuals including such notables as Howard Zinn, Cornel West, Alice Walker and Nikki Giovanni to name a few.

Our agenda is designed to highlight our companies and members of our community. We specifically work in ample time for you to connect with your fellow entrepreneurs and mentors, recognizing that face-to-face interaction is what makes our community so special. 
On September 29th, we welcome event attendees to join us for a casual networking happy hour that evening in NW Washington, DC.
On September 30th, we welcome you to the Conference Center at FHI 360 to discuss local ecosystems and local economies, off-grid technologies, and to hear from our alumni entrepreneurs. We invite event attendees to join us that evening for a dinner garden party at a beautiful home in NW Washington, DC.
On October 1st, we welcome you to Impact Hub DC to hear our finalists pitch for cash and in-kind prizes, and explore the ins and outs of rapid prototyping with Tom Chi, one of the masterminds behind Google Glass. Following Saturday’s events, we invite attendees to join us for an evening reception at Impact Hub DC.

Dates: September 29 – October 1, 2016
Location: FHI Conference Center and Impact Hub DC, in Washington, DC
Cost: General Entry tickets are currently $320
Apply to Social Innovation Lab’s 2016-17 Cohort

The Social Innovation Lab (SIL) at Johns Hopkins University accelerates ventures that create change and opportunity in Baltimore and beyond. SIL does this by providing funding, mentorship, office space, and workshops, to help innovative non-profits, mission-driven companies, and disruptive technologies develop and grow into thriving, sustainable ventures that make a measurable impact.
SIL is seeking driven, altruistic applicants – people who see a problem, are thoughtful and deliberate at developing a potential solution rooted in extensive research or experience, and are willing to exert extraordinary dedication to make the potential solution a reality.

Applications will be evaluated based on leadership ability of the applicants, boldness and originality of the venture, traction/accomplishments to-date, financial feasibility and sustainability, and more.

Connect with MCN on the Road September 13-16 in San Francisco, CA: SOCAP
November 3-6 in Philadelphia, PA: SVN and Net Impact
(If you’re attending SOCAP or SVN, reach out to Ian at ian.fisk@mentorcapitalnet.org to connect.) 
Can’t make the Annual Gathering but want to support other entrepreneurs? Please donate today!  
Together we make the Mentor Capital Network, and we depend on you. 
What makes you awesome is your passion and your desire to actively support entrepreneurs as they strive to find environmentally friendly and socially impactful ways to address the world’s biggest problems.
All we can offer you is each other.  To that end, we strive to develop meaningful ways to build connections with, to learn from, and to inspire each other. 
The Mentor Capital Network is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and depends entirely on the support of donors like you. If you like the work that we do to support start-up and growing social enterprises around the globe, please contribute today. 
PLEASE DONATE TODAY!