As per usual for me, I typically take some time off after Miller Center’s annual In-Residence and SOCAP24 conference wraps up. A significant amount of time and energy, not just from myself but from our entire team, goes into hosting our flagship event, with planning for this starting early in the year. For my own mental health, I take time to pause, reflect, and process through writing. Full disclosure, at the time of writing this blog, it is November 6, 2024, the day after the US presidential election.
The Call to Action Has Never Been Stronger
Typically, when I write a recap, I summarize all that happened during In-Residence, and I will, but I also want to acknowledge that today is hitting a little harder than usual and the tenor of life feels heavier. This morning, a good friend sent me this quote: “After we lick our wounds, let’s raise hell again.” It gave me some peace as well as permission to feel it all. This also made me realize that now more than ever, the work that impact entrepreneurs and the accompaniment that Miller Center provides is more urgent than ever and that the call to action has never been stronger.
Right now I feel a mix of emotions. One Is gratitude — gratitude for all the amazing women and men I got to engage with during In-Residence. The second is melancholy. I liken it to how one feels after hosting a big party with friends or celebrating a large holiday with family. There’s a bit of a comedown of emotion that inevitably happens because I’ve just engaged in this big multi-day peak event with dozens of people, and during this time, connections and bonds are formed. So I always feel a little blue after everyone departs and returns to their home countries. However, I also feel a third emotion, and that is energized. Despite the physical and mental exhaustion of participating in such an event, I always feel completely inspired and refreshed by the work and impact each of these enterprises is accomplishing in their respective communities. And I’m so excited to watch what great things these changemakers continue to achieve.
About the 2024 In-Residence cohort
This year was Miller Center’s 21st In-Residence at Santa Clara University, and it is this event that fully captures the magic of what we do and how we do it. We invite top impact entrepreneurs from around the world to come to campus and attend the SOCAP conference.
The 2024 In-Residence entrepreneurs represent some of the most inspiring change makers who are transforming lives and creating resiliency in a variety of communities across the globe. This year we had 16 enterprises whose collective impact spanned several countries in Africa, including Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia; across Asia in countries like India, the Philippines, and Nepal; and in Latin America with impact in El Salvador, Mexico, and Nicaragua. They operate in sectors including safe water, economic growth, equitable healthcare, last-mile delivery, clean energy, education, ecotourism, sustainable agriculture, and the carbon market. The impact of this cohort is as diverse as it is global.
This group of entrepreneurs are all active members of Miller Center’s Enterprise Network since they have gone through a previous Miller Center accelerator program and are continuing to engage with us. Many of them are also directly involved with the Santa Clara University community through research and collaborative projects with our faculty and students.
Additionally, we have already invested in two participating enterprises through our Miller Center Capital fund — Be Girl and VItalite Malawi — with another in the pipeline.
Connection Driven Support
What was more apparent than ever during this year’s In-Residence was the sheer number of partners who came together, all with the shared goal of supporting the enterprises in this cohort. What continues to set Miller Center apart from other accelerator programs is that we truly take an entrepreneur-centric approach to supporting impact leaders as they continue to grow. Our core model is a trifecta approach in which we connect entrepreneurs with executive mentors and Santa Clara University students to create real-world impact.
A big part of In-Residence is the opportunity for entrepreneurs to engage in mock investor panels. This year, Miller Center was thrilled to have funding partners like Beneficial Returns, DRK, Lofty Inc Capital, F-Prime Capital, Diligence Africa, Beyond Capital Ventures, Zenani Capital, NexVentures, KSF Impact, Angels of Impact, and Untapped Global participate as panelists in these sessions.
What is also becoming more important is how we leverage peer entrepreneur learning. This year, we invited 11 Miller Center legacy entrepreneurs to attend In-Residence, serving either as mock investors or helping facilitate sessions on relevant topics such as market branding, leadership & HR, fundraising best practices, and AI. The Miller Center Enterprise Network has not just grown and scaled, but the entrepreneurs in this network choose to stay connected and support each other.
Additionally, this year, Miller Center awarded the 2024 Impact Excellence Award to Banka Bio, Fundación Paraguaya, and Warc Africa, three inspiring legacy enterprises who have scaled by orders of magnitude since their initial participation in a Miller Center program, stayed engaged with Miller Center, and demonstrated outstanding impact in their work.
The Power of the Network
There’s value and power in the Miller Center community! Miller Center’s strategic goal is that the entrepreneurs who came to In-Residence this year continue to be a part of this network for years to come as they continue to grow and develop as changemakers.
Now more than ever is the time for this mighty group of women and men, who could literally do anything with their lives yet chose to dedicate themselves to building sustainable and equitable solutions for global challenges, to RAISE HELL!
In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is the time for vigorous and positive action.” And Miller Center will be right there alongside these entrepreneurs’ bold journeys of action.
If you would like to learn more about each enterprise in this year’s In-Residence, we encourage you to watch their Welcome Reception presentations and their recorded pitches. You can also access the 2024 In-Residence Investor Guidebook.
