Babson First-Year Student Entrepreneurs Raise More Than $17,000 In Profits For Charity

WELLESLEY, Mass., Sept. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- First-year students from the Babson College class of 2017 raised more than $17,000 in profits for local social service agencies through the college's award-winning Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course. 

FME requires all first-year undergraduate students to start and run a business, and to donate profits to charity.

Classes of up to 40 students formed teams of 10, and Babson loaned up to $3,000 as startup money for each business. FME students were entirely responsible for coming up with the business ideas, the business plans, and were encouraged to think about how their businesses would meet a human need.

Student teams then partnered with local social service agencies to donate 80 hours of community service, while learning the value and importance of corporate social responsibility.

At the end of the academic year, the 28 FME businesses had combined to donate more than $17,000 in profits to charity.

Selected recipients included

• Cradles to Crayons,
• Special Olympics,
• Habitat for Humanity,
• World Vision,
• Boys and Girls Club,
• Greater Boston Food Bank,
• Community Servings, and
• Friends of the Homeless (South Shore).

Since the FME program began in 1999, more than $430,000 has been donated to local charities.

Babson's Undergraduate Dean Scott Moore said "the experience is more than just learning how to launch a startup. It's about exploring career options. It's about identifying and creating opportunities, understanding your goals, managing team dynamics, and communicating effectively. Above all, it's about turning ideas into action."

Learn about the Class of 2017's #BabsonFME businesses http://bit.ly/1kgjkVA

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds(tm). The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society--while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. www.babson.edu

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Contact: Michael Chmura, 781-239-4549, [email protected]

SOURCE Babson College