The McKenna Center for Human Development, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, received the 2023 Entrepreneurship Practice Award for its Urban Poverty and Business Initiative from the Academy of Management at its annual meeting on August 4-8 in Boston. The award recognizes contributions to scholarship practice, field experience, and the community directly relevant to the practice of entrepreneurship.
The program, overseen by Pulte Institute Professor of the Practice Michael Morris, helps low-income and disadvantaged entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses. Over the past four years, UPBI has supported the launch of 32 entrepreneurship and adversity programs in urban areas worldwide, from Ahmedabad, India, to San Diego.
“We are proud to receive this recognition from the Academy for a young and growing program,” Morris said. “UPBI is not just helping over 2,000 disadvantaged entrepreneurs a year; the program is transforming the classroom by teaching undergraduate students consulting as they solve poverty, all while producing a steady stream of scholarly research.”
UPBI addresses six critical components—training, one-on-one consulting, mentoring, resource connect, microcredit, and research and tracking—in weekly classes over 11 months. In addition to coordinating the work of the UPBI partners, the McKenna Center operates the South Bend UPBI affiliate, the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program, which helps 70 entrepreneurs a year to unlock their ambitions.
For more information on the Urban Poverty and Business Initiative, visit https://go.nd.edu/UPBI.