Our Story
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” – Mohandas Gandhi

Social Entrepreneur Corps is a social enterprise that leads innovative and dynamic international internship programs in Guatemala, Ecuador, Nicaragua, South Africa, Peru and the Dominican Republic.  Social Entrepreneur Corps participants work with our sister organization Community Enterprise Solutions in the field supporting the creation, development, growth and impact of social innovations focused on intelligently and sustainably alleviating poverty. Social Entrepreneur Corps participants create sustainable impact in the field while gaining the perspectives, skills and knowledge to become the social entrepreneurs of the future.

Social Entrepreneur Corps co-founders Greg Van Kirk and George Bucky Glickley were Peace Corps Volunteers in Guatemala from 2001 to 2003. While in the Peace Corps, Greg recognized that tourists were regularly visiting the Guatemalan town of Nebaj where he was working but were leaving quickly without spending any money in the local economy due to a lack of infrastructure. In response, Greg contributed some of his own funds that he had saved working in investment banking to start several tourism businesses including a restaurant, a Spanish language school, a hiking and trekking service and an artisan store with local residents. This was the start of the Turismo Ixil (TIX) businesses. He also noted that even highschoolers were lacking many of the fundamental skills they would need to have an opportunity for future success. As a solution to this problem, with the help of other Peace Corps volunteers in the area and funding from the TIX businesses, Greg started the Centro Explorativo, a local library, computer literacy and after-school center accessible to all local residents at no cost.

In 2003 the TIX businesses donated money to a wood-burning stove project in the nearby village of La Pista. Greg saw the profound impact that a stove has on a family’s life and realized that merely donating stoves severely limited the capacity for distribution. As a response to this he created what would become the MicroConsignment Model (MCM), our signature innovation. Soon after this initial iteration of the model was launched, George joined Greg to further develop and expand this initiative among others. Upon finishing their Peace Corps responsibilities, Greg and George stayed in Guatemala and provided consulting services for USAID, Chemonics, Soros Foundation and other organizations.

In 2004 they formed the US non profit 501(c)(3) Community Enterprise Solutions (CE Solutions) to continue to support the tourism businesses and education initiatives and to serve as the engine to test, develop, implement and expand the MCM in Guatemala and other countries in the future.

The successful growth of the MCM in Guatemala through CE Solutions support led to a typical challenge associated with expansion: the need for additional passionate people to work in the field as social entrepreneurs. They solved this problem by establishing Social Entrepreneur Corps in 2005 as a sister organization to CE Solutions to offer opportunities for students and recent graduates to intern side-by-side with the CE Solutions professionals and local constituents. Together CE Solutions and Social Entrepreneur Corps expanded to Ecuador in 2009, Nicaragua in 2010 and South Africa in 2011. And we continue to scale our impact.  

Social Entrepreneur Corps has been fortunate to grow through success. Social Entrepreneur Corps participants now work on a variety of economic and educational development programs apart from the MCM. As well, although Social Entrepreneur Corps is open to all applicants, we  have established strategic relationships with the University of Notre Dame, Duke University, the University of Connecticut, Columbia University, The College of William and Mary, Miami University (Ohio), Franklin and Marshall College and Gonzaga University.