LAST SPRING, ADJUNCT professor Suzanne Smith and a group of students from her “Social Entrepreneurship” class met for dinner at Café Momentum, a social enterprise restaurant in Dallas. In many ways, Café Momentum, which doubles as a culinary training facility that provides at-risk youth with life skills, education, and employment opportunities, embodies the spirit of every lesson Smith seeks to provide her students.
“Social entrepreneurship is rooted in the broader field of entrepreneurship, but social entrepreneurs have a primary goal of creating social value rather than personal or shareholder wealth,” she says. “Social entrepreneurs are relentless in fashioning bold and creative solutions to create social change.”
Her course combines interactive lectures, classroom discussions, and hands-on activities that expose students to concepts of social innovation and enterprise. Throughout, students are challenged with new ways of thinking to increase their self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, all serving to make them better leaders and managers in their pursuit of making a positive impact in their communities.
Julie Cook (’19 MPA; ’13 BA, Communication) took the course in spring 2019. She says it gave her a practical understanding of how theoretical concepts could work in the real world.
“This course gave me the tools and confidence to apply these social-change concepts to work I was already doing,” says Cook. “Now, I’m more creative in my pitches to partners because I’m a better researcher and can synthesize strategy and goals.”
Smith, who is also founder and CEO of Social Impact Architects, says that the work of social entrepreneurs is essential to creating a society in which everyone prospers.
“I hope for the day when social entrepreneurship is no longer discussed separately from other forms of business or entrepreneurship, because every business impacts and determines outcomes for people in our communities,” she says. “We just want that impact to lead to positive societal return. I love giving my students the tools and knowledge to take their ideas and business to scale—with a positive outcome for all.”
