Social Entrepreneurship Program

At Stanford GSB, you’ll find a rich array of academic and co-curricular opportunities to explore social entrepreneurship and build a social or environmental venture from the ground up.

The Center for Social Innovation can provide resources to help you immerse yourself and learn more about the problem, define the opportunities for impact, develop solution hypotheses, build a business model (nonprofit or for-profit), find advisors, and make a plan to raise the resources needed to turn your idea into reality.

Courses Taught by World-Class Faculty

Through your coursework, develop your entrepreneurial skills, learn how to integrate design thinking and social innovation, prepare to measure the impact of your venture model, and navigate the funding landscape.

Financial Support

Receive support for early-stage experimentation, summer immersion in the social entrepreneurship space, and launch your social or environmental venture after graduation.

Expert Guidance

Develop your idea through events and workshops:

  • One-on-one conversations with leading social entrepreneurs – including our Visiting Social Entrepreneurs – will provide external feedback to inform and anchor student planning and provide helpful advice for taking your venture to the next level
  • Workshops and peer activities will provide structured opportunities to build your idea, strengthen your theory of change, and implement next steps to better understand your problem area, develop a prototype, and clarify next steps for your venture
  • Coaching from CSI pulls it all together. You’ll find both the support and the rigor needed to keep you on track as you plan your academic experience and aim toward the launch of your social venture

CSI Visiting Social Entrepreneurs

Each year, CSI invites leading social entrepreneurs with diverse perspectives and lived experiences to mentor, guide, and inspire the next generation of changemakers at the GSB.

2025 CSI Visiting Social Entrepreneurs

Dara Cook
CEO and Founder, Expect Fitness

Dara Cook is the founder and CEO of Expect Fitness, a prenatal and postnatal streaming fitness platform approved by OB/GYNs, designed for safety and optimized for pregnancy to reduce maternal and child complications. Expect has achieved a clinical study with the University of Alabama at Birmingham's #5 OB/GYN department; trials with Penn Medicine's Helen O. Dickens Women's Health Center, NYC Department of Health's Brownsville Neighborhood Health Action Center, and various Healthy Start programs. Before launching Expect, Dara spent 22 years at MTV, most recently as senior vice president of MTV Entertainment, which encompassed MTV, Comedy Central, and MTV International, among others. She launched MTV’s touring and podcast businesses and was named one of the Most Influential Minorities in Cable.

Vanessa Castañeda Gill
CEO and Co-founder, Social Cipher

Vanessa Castañeda Gill is the cofounder and CEO of Social Cipher, a game-based social-emotional learning platform for neurodivergent youth and their advocates. Diagnosed with autism and ADHD as a teenager, she transformed her experiences into a mission to support others facing similar challenges. Under her leadership, Social Cipher launched Ava, a game featuring an autistic protagonist navigating social scenarios, now used in over 150 schools and therapy centers worldwide. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, she also serves on the boards of Madison House Autism Foundation and the Autism Society Inland Empire, advocating for neurodivergent communities.

Sonali Mehta-Rao
Founder, Ahaana Ventures

Sonali Mehta-Rao is the founder and CEO of Ahaana Ventures, which offers entrepreneur-centric investing, coaching, and capacity building to underrepresented social and eco-entrepreneurs (women, minorities, and indigenous founders) in South Asia. She was previously the cofounder and Chief Growth Officer of Awaaz.De, a fintech company with a B2B SaaS product for customer engagement enabling Microfinance Institutions to more effectively communicate with millions of rural women customers. Earlier in her career, Sonali co-founded and led Mela Artisans, a social enterprise focused on unlocking global markets for marginalized artisan communities in India.

Daniel Nivern
CEO and Co-founder, Virtual Internships

Daniel is the cofounder and CEO of Virtual Internships, an award-winning ed-tech company bridging the gap between education and industry through global online internship programs. Backed by Sequoia Capital and 500 Global, and one of Holon IQ’s Top 100 EdTech startups, Virtual Internships partners with over 200 institutions globally, supporting thousands of students annually. A graduate of Oxford University with a Master’s in International Management and Chinese, Daniel previously founded CRCC Asia, enabling 10,000+ students to intern in Asia. Featured on CNBC and Bloomberg, Daniel is a board member of multiple companies and a multilingual advocate for global employability initiatives.

Labib Tazwar Rahman
Founder, Huey and Neubility

Labib Tazwar Rahman is the founder of Huey, a virtual clinic for autism care, and Neubility, an AI robotics company specializing in delivery and security. He also founded InclusionX, one of the largest disability inclusion nonprofits in South Asia. Labib’s work has earned the prestigious CES Innovation Award and been featured in BBC and Forbes. He is the author of the Stanford Disability Language Guide, which is used worldwide, including by the UN and the US government.

Joel Scott
Co-founder & Board Member, SV Academy

Joel Scott is an accomplished entrepreneur and executive. As cofounder and former COO of SV Academy, Joel helped thousands of job seekers from nontraditional backgrounds launch careers in high-growth tech roles, driving $10M+ in revenue for this mission-driven enterprise. A Stanford Law graduate, Joel also held leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard, Autonomy, and Brocade Communications, where he drove strategic growth and operational excellence. Now a certified Co-Active coach, Joel empowers leaders to achieve their fullest potential.