Bevin Etienne
Bevin Etienne, Lecturer at the McIntire School and UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, led the first group of UVA students to the Caribbean country of Dominica in May as part of his course, “Social Entrepreneurship in Dominica.” The course, offered through the Batten School, allowed students to gain hands-on social entrepreneurship experience in a small, developing island-state where start-ups are crucial to the economy.
Etienne’s experience there and abroad—after earning his doctorate in mechanical engineering, he launched several successful renewable energy companies in the Caribbean and the United States—helped him develop the course, which exposed students to the most common risks and challenges that budding social entrepreneurs face in countries with limited resources and product and market diversification; a narrow economy base; low economies of scale; and a high dependency on international trade.
