The Department of Management's Social Entrepreneurship course, developed and delivered in 2007, helps deepen business students' understanding of all aspects of business -- profit maximization and societal responsibility. Through the course, business students also gain exposure to microfinance, a field in which organizations make tiny business start-up loans (in the $50-100 range) to the poorest of the world's poor. In Fall 2007, undergraduate and graduate students in the Social Entrepreneurship class travelled with their professor to Guadalajara, Mexico for first-hand exposure to the day-to-day lives of the women-owned enterprises benefitting from the microloans. Opportunity International, one of the first and most respected organizations in the field of microfinance, administered the microloans. The NIU students, whose blogs of their travels are on the NIU Social Entrepreneurship website, provided in-the-field business training to the entrepreneurs in Mexico. In future semesters, the college's Social Entrepreneurship class may include visits to countries in Africa. More >>