Rap about Cambridge Social Ventures Weekend

More than 700 social entrepreneurs have come to one of our Social Venture Weekends since 2014… but this is the first time anyone’s been inspired to rap about us!

On a sunny weekend this summer, 50 budding social entrepreneurs joined us for the 14th Social Venture Weekend, a three-day workshop at Cambridge Judge Business School for anyone with plans to start or grow a social venture, which is a business that makes a positive social or environmental impact.

Rap Therapy is a social venture which teaches young people to be creative and positively express themselves through rap. They have worked with over 1200 students across nine schools and establishments in South London.

Bhishma Asare, the founder of Rap Therapy, came along to our last weekend and captured its essence in a rap!

[soundcloud id=’472894035′ height=’false’ color=’#ff7700′]

We have shared the lyrics below and you can read more about Bhishma’s work for Rap Therapy on their website.

“Social venture weekend, it was a blast”

The training covers business essentials like finance, market research, business models, pitching and more, through a social lens, focused on making social impact through creating and scaling a sustainable business. It is designed to help emerging social entrepreneurs explore new ideas and supports established social ventures to refine their thinking.

“A network of people, and they’re all full of heart”

Over the years, we have learned that the training is only half of it. For many people, social entrepreneurship is a whole new world, so it is a chance to find a community of like minds, committed to doing good through business. Our research shows that even years later, this community-building aspect continues to have a deep impact on the ventures who spend time with us.

If you’ve got plans for a social venture, even if it is just an idea, come along to our next workshop: 16-18 November 2018 in Cambridge. Registration is open now, so find out more and get started on our website.

Tamzin Byrne, programme manager at Cambridge Social Ventures

---

Photos by Zoltan Harshegyi, founder of ECHO, another social venture which attended the workshop.

---

Social Venture Weekend: a rap!

This is a story…
Of Rap Therapy…
When we went to social venture weekend.
Let’s go!

Social venture weekend, it was a blast
Three solid days but it really went fast
Learnt more than I’ve learnt in the past
Network of people, and they’re all full of heart

My story begins in the hood
Kids killing kids, yep they’re up to no good
No outlet, no outlet get caught in the wrong crowd the young boys would

Day one was great there wasn’t any pressure
I heard that you can’t manage what you can’t measure
Belinda was great she really broke it down
Theory of change achieve what you build from the ground

Manage, improve, convince, reassure
Talking, networking building rapport
Personal journeys and stories for all
Entrepreneurs from the past that inspired us all

Networking got to talking with Neil
His experience was great and he feels how I feel
Help who you help but you got to pay the bills
And it’s not an easy path but the supports been real

Day two – Business models they were covered
Visual importance elements to discover
Great help from the mentors
Knowledgeable equipped us with all the essentials

Legal structures, there were countless but it helped
Rules and regulations, the law in itself
Met therapists that want to help the kids’ mental health
All for free, they didn’t care about wealth

Isla was great she was really funny
Market research, you can get cash money
But it has to be relevant
Because the numbers matter so act with intelligence

Turned up the final day without fail
Mark taught us all about sales
A good salesman listens
Two ears one mouth, but you got to sell your vision

Fundamentals of finance
Easily broken down I can do it on my iMac
Or even on my iPad
Change can be made if you can then I can

Rap by Bhishma Asara, a.k.a. Rapper Proph