Social Entrepreneurship (PG)

Each week we will focus on a specific theme with content shared online for self-scheduled engagement followed by in-person timetabled sessions. This module is organised as a combination of:

• bite-size theoretical content introduced/taught by academics, subject specialists, and guests, including social entrepreneurs, to provide context and to have a wider representation of disciplines, experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives;

• interdisciplinary analysis of real-world cases based on existing social enterprises in the UK and beyond to demonstrate social ventures in action in various contexts;
• consolidation sessions to enable co-construction of knowledge, interaction and collaboration with students from other disciplines;
• practical skills development workshops with step-by-step guidance for the development of enterprise proposals/business plans and pitches for proposed social ventures and for building a portfolio of transferable skills and enterprise competencies;
• opportunities for individual reflection and synthesis of multiple perspectives to facilitate action.

Subject specific:

• Holistic awareness of social entrepreneurship, sustainable development, social innovation, responsible innovation, entrepreneurial mindset and identity.
• Using a range of approaches and tools for developing social ventures (projects, enterprises, initiatives). For instance, stakeholder and market analysis, customer research, problem or opportunity framing, developing concept poster and business model canvas, determining indicators of success, prototyping.
• Team building, organisation set up, financial planning and forecasting, identifying funding sources, developing a case for investment, communicating value proposition.

Transferable skills:

• Systems thinking, future thinking, scenario planning, human-centred design, life-centred design.
• Enterprise competencies, attributes, behaviours, including creative confidence, curiosity, open-mindedness, self-awareness and self-efficacy, motivation and perseverance, flexibility, making things happen, reflecting, reflexivity, networking, influencing, reasoning, storytelling, persuasive communication and argumentation skills, coping with ambiguity, uncertainty and risk, pivoting and adapting, managed risk taking.
• Entrepreneurship competencies, including ability to spot opportunities, creative and innovative thinking, idea generation, creative problem solving, valuing ideas, developing a vision, ethical and sustainable thinking, taking the initiative, planning and management, working with others, mobilising others, mobilising resources, financial and economic literacy, learning through experience.
• Additional Warwick core employability skills – critical thinking and analysis, synthesis skills, intercultural awareness, organisational awareness, professionalism, effective teamwork.