Babson Partners With Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Wow Labs And The U.S. State Department To Establish Youth Social Innovation Incubator

WELLESLEY, Mass., Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Babson Global has partnered with Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Wow Labs and the U.S. State Department to establish a social innovation incubator serving the youth of Malaysia.

The incubator - Youth Beehive at UMK ("Beehive") - will focus on developing new social innovation ventures intended to increase economic empowerment and opportunities for marginalized youth populations in Malaysia.

The partnership was announced at the 4th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit, a platform to facilitate the exchange of views and ideas between global business leaders and entrepreneurs and strengthen alliances among entrepreneurs around the world.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, representing President Obama at the summit, said of the partnership, "I'm especially proud of a new program called Beehive Malaysia. Babson College - which is a school in my home state of Massachusetts - will partner with the U.S. Department of State and Malaysian universities and businesses to give social entrepreneurs a collaborative, shared workspace where they can solve some of the world's toughest challenges." View Secretary Kerry's remarks here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbN60TBTrqs

"Babson Global is pleased to work with our global partners and the State Department to support the development of entrepreneurship among the youth of Malaysia," said Shahid Ansari, CEO of Babson Global. "This is yet another example of the power of entrepreneurship to empower youth and promote prosperity while upholding SEERS (Social, Environmental, Economic Responsibility, and Sustainability) principles. In the coming years, we hope to expand our footprint to other countries in Asia and Africa that can benefit from similar programs."

Babson has participated in three of the four Global Entrepreneurship Summits. The GES is a follow-through on President Barack Obama's emphasis on entrepreneurship as a pillar of U.S. global engagement, underscoring the importance of entrepreneurship as one of the most powerful ways for individuals to improve their own economic circumstances, and in turn, their lives. The first GES was held in Washington D.C. in 2010 and has since been held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2011, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2012. The 4th Summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, the first time it was held in East Asia. In addition, Babson was also represented at the State Department Summit in Indonesia in 2011.

About Babson Global

Babson Global is a wholly owned subsidiary of Babson College designed to increase the college's global reach. The mission of Babson Global is "to put the power of entrepreneurship as the greatest force for social and economic value creation, in the hands of as many people in the world as we can." Babson Global delivers programs that extend Babson's unique pedagogy based on Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(r) to new populations beyond the audience for our current undergraduate, graduate and executive education programs.

Babson Global has created the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Educators (GCEE)--a group of like-minded schools across the world that share a common vision about entrepreneurship education. The GCEE members collectively fund and share the development of latest research and pedagogy in the area of entrepreneurship.

About Universiti Malaysia Kelantan

Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) is a public university located in Kelantan in Malaysia and is a member of Babson's Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Educators. UMK has established Malaysian Technopreneurship Institute by UMK (MTI) - Youth Technopreneurship to provide high quality technopreneurship education through academic and development programs, and stimulate economic growth through new venture formation, technology commercialization, and improved performance outcomes for entrepreneurial ventures. MTI plans to offer expanded youth entrepreneurship empowerment programs for at-risk youth populations in Malaysia with support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education, Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology and other organizations.

About Wow Labs

Wow Labs is a French non-profit organization having specialized knowledge of, and expertise and experience in the design and operation of a social innovation incubator. Wow Labs seeks to extend its knowledge to support the development of young men and women who seek to achieve financial independence through the establishment of commercially successful businesses, and promote collaborative problem-solving and new venture creation between and amongst students, marginalized populations, and experienced entrepreneurs.

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. For information, visit www.babson.edu.

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SOURCE Babson College