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Business plans change the world

Marquette students who want to attack social problems at their root causes got a valuable lesson from Entrepreneur-in-Residence Jane Leu, founder of the immigrant career-placement organization Upwardly Global.

Students who were unfamiliar with social entrepreneurship received a two-week primer when Marquette’s first social entrepreneur-in-residence, Jane Leu, visited campus this fall. Leu introduced hundreds of students to the innovative way to be men and women for others.

Social entrepreneurship is the practice of applying business practices and scale to attack and solve social problems at their root causes.

Leu, who founded the immigrant career-placement organization Upwardly Global in San Francisco, visited with classes, community groups and alumni. She found students very receptive to the idea of social entrepreneurship, which is gaining steam in university and business settings.

“The mission of Marquette primed the students for this message,” Leu says. “Clearly the faculty and administration have been working for a very long time to cultivate a very mission-oriented student body. The Jesuit education experience and Marquette’s call to be the difference is well-suited to social entrepreneurship.”

Dr. Jeff Snell, special adviser to Marquette President Robert A. Wild, S.J., helped organize Leu’s visit. He says the biggest success was exposing students to social entrepreneurship concepts and language. “It’s been eye-opening for most and life-changing for some,” Snell says. “There are dozens who now self-identify as ‘aspiring social entrepreneur’ and a dozen more who took the time to tell us: ‘This has changed my life. This is what I want to do.’” — TC