Education, Training and Development

The King’s E-Lab Social Venture Residential reinforces a fundamental insight: meaningful progress in entrepreneurship, particularly social entrepreneurship, rarely occurs in isolation. Rather, it emerges through deliberate engagement, critical exchange, and exposure to diverse ways of thinking. In this week’s blog, read this and other learnings from Mendos Fidelis’s as he reflects on the critical tools of entrepreneurial thinking and the ethical responsibility of entrepreneurs.

In the middle of January, the E-Lab hosted its 2026 Social Venture Residential Programme in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme and the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation. Designed to support students of all disciplines in developing sustainable and ethical projects with a positive social and environmental impact, the SVR aims to equip those with a passion for change with key entrepreneurial skills. In this week’s blog, read Mphil student Damilola Oyeyemi’s reflections on the residential and on the mindset shifts it created for her.

Each September, the E-Lab hosts a residential week as a part of its core residential programme. In 2025, we welcomed 62 students from across 12 Cambridge Colleges keen to learn how to take their innovative ideas forward. Through workshops, lectures and socials students learnt everything from the basics of finance, marketing and IP to how to creatively communicate their proposals and build meaningful stakeholder maps. In this week’s blog, read PhD student Maryam Bham’s reflections on the women who inspire her understanding of entrepreneurship and on how the week left her with a sharpened mindset and a renewed sense of purpose to build something meaningful.

This month the E-Lab hosted its Social Ventures Residential for the second year, bringing together 41 scholars from across the University of Cambridge to engage on the meaning and the purpose of social innovation and entrepreneurship. In collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme and the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation, the residential is an intensive three-day programme designed to equip students with a solid grounding and an array of tools with which to pursue their interest in social ventures. One of the scholars, Maureen Abel, reflects on her experience in this week’s blog.

In September 2024, the King’s E-Lab welcomed its fourth cohort for its yearly residential programme. The residential week, which included participation from 7 Cambridge Colleges, brought together undergraduates and graduates from a range of disciplines who are eager to explore the potential of entrepreneurship for their endeavours. Jin Chen, 3^rd year art historian from Murray Edwards College unpacks her experience of the week, from interdisciplinary insights to creative collaborations.

In September 2024, the King’s E-Lab welcomed its fourth cohort of residential students for the 2024/5 academic year. The cohort included a mix of graduates and undergraduates from a wide range of academic fields. Eva Lemmy, an English undergraduate, reflects on her experience during the residential week and the potential of programmes like it to bridge important gaps between the arts and business.

The Social Venture Residential was all about using business smarts to solve real-world problems. It opened my eyes to the potential to create a sustainable cycle of empowerment and health, all through a simple, yet innovative business model and it allowed me to develop my idea for tackling period poverty. For me, it’s more than just a business idea now; it's a mission.

In September 2023, Qinglan Du decided to participate in the E-lab because she’d always been passionate about entrepreneurship. Since elementary school, she had sold rainbow loom bracelets or Taylor Swift merch, and always looked for different ways to start businesses. For her, the residential turned out to be the perfect opportunity to learn about the fundamentals of business, strengthen the foundation she had already established and engage with a wide variety of passionate students, many of whom she now considers friends.