Wednesday's Business Success Strategies on Balancing Profit and Purpose, The Business of Social Entrepreneurship was phenomenal. With a packed house leaving standing room only, Mark Brewer was outstanding in leading the conversation and engaging the audience with the panel of two dynamic social entrepreneurs – Julie Colombino, CEO of REBUILD Globally and Shawn Seipler, CEO of Clean the World.

Mark launched the discussion by first clearly defining what social entrepreneurship "is not." While being careful to point out the differences between social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility, he introduced the panel and set the stage for each speaker to use a three minute video that pulled at the heart strings of each audience member by demonstrating the social purpose and overall need for their products and services on a global scale; and explain how they were able to meet the challenges of launching, sustaining, and growing their social entrepreneurship ventures.

Julie Colombino did an outstanding job helping the audience understand how her company, REBUILD Globally, is meeting the challenges of helping to generate income for those impacted by extreme poverty in Haiti, while also meeting the challenges of sustainability and growth.

Shawn Seipler engaged in a candid discussion with the audience on how his organization, Clean the World, tackled the operational and funding challenges in collecting, recycling, and distributing discarded soap from hundreds of hotels across the nation to prevent the spread of illness and disease worldwide.

Both speakers admitted that they did not set out to become social entrepreneurs. They identified a need, and set out to make a difference. Overall, attendees of this program walked away inspired and educated on what it means to be a social entrepreneur, and the ongoing commitment that it takes to "balance profit and purpose" to achieve success in social initiatives while ensuring organizational sustainability and growth.

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