This week, an interdisciplinary group of investors, social entrepreneurs, funders, innovators – including innovators in the ICT4D and mobiles for social impact space, have gathered at the sold-out conference, SOCAP 10 (Social Capital Markets).
Inspired by the first NYC and Washington, DC FailFaires, Catapult Design checked out our tips on “Rolling Your Own Failfaire” and decided that the SOCAP audience too would be ripe to openly and honestly discuss the challenges and failures within social enterprise. We hope participants will engage in a robust conversation and heed eachothers’ lessons and avoid reinventing the wheel and making the same mistakes as they embark on future projects and programs!
If you are at the event today, Tuesday Oct. 5th, check out the FailFaire session at 11am.
Here’s the original informational blogpost published over at Catapult Design’s blog:
Catapult hosts first SOCAP FAILFaire
Join Catapult Design on Day Two at SOCAP ’10 in San Francisco for the first west coast FAILFaire, a forum for open and honest discussion around failed initiatives within social enterprise. Moderated by Catapult, all SOCAP attendees are invited to participate by presenting their failures that led to greater understanding or later successes. Whether it be a failed initiative, a failed business relationship, or a failure in implementation, we will provide a safe venue for discussion, insight, and lessons learned. The objective of the 90-minute session: to learn from the mistakes of others, and perhaps contribute to someone else’s success in the process.
The first FAILFaire was organized by MobileActive, a non-profit connecting people, organizations, and resources using mobile technology for social change, in New York and followed by a DC FAILFaire hosted by the World Bank. Originally focused on fail stories from ICT and mobile development, the SOCAP FAILFaire opens up the topic to social enterprise and technology. As an organization focused on the development of transformational technologies for people living in disadvantaged communities, we’ve witnessed firsthand the profusion of abandoned and ignored technologies collecting dust in rural hospitals, schools, and homes. We’ve also witnessed organizations falling prey to the same mistakes made by previous organizations. Yet these stories are for the most part hidden, when they could directly benefit the community at large.
So if you’ve been part of a project that didn’t quite work out, join us on October 5th and tell your story! We want to hear and learn from you.
For those who can’t attend, check back on our blog for the major takeaways from the event!
