Watson - Protect Your Courage

The first incubator leading to a degree for the world’s most promising

next-generation changemakers and social entrepreneurs

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Incubator

The ideas of a hand-selected group of scholars are incubated through intensive mentorship, short workshops led by leading practitioners, award winning curriculum, and a powerful community of peers.

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Affordability

Through our scholarships, fellowships and an innovative income sharing platform, we ensure that selected students’ ability to pay upfront will never be a barrier to attending Watson.

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Degree

In a revolutionary new degree, students earn their Bachelor of Science in Social Entrepreneurship for building a social venture and unleashing a lifetime of impact.

Explore our Programs — Now in two Locations

Boulder

Boca

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Alumni Profiles

Jack Hisard

At the age of 19, Jack started a mobile clinic in his small town in western Kenya. Today, Mama Clinic has become a 30+ bed hospital, the main provider of healthcare in his community and served over 35,000 patients since its inception. At Watson, Jack built several key partnerships and received seed funding from the Red Empress Foundation to help Mama Clinic grow.

Kenya
Ashley Kulik

After being selected into Watson’s pioneer class, Ashley co-founded Dream Tank with a Watson mentor. Dream Tank is a social impact accelerator & think tank for Boulder's youngest entrepreneurs aged 8-14. The accelerator program & after school laboratory has launched 22 kid-led ventures and has educated over 600+ local Boulder/Denver area students about social entrepreneurship and how our dreams can influence the world.

USA
Ryan Singh

At Watson, Ryan started his journey of leading a “heart-led” life and left with the resolve to support ambitious entrepreneurs solving the world’s toughest challenges. After Watson, Ryan became the Associate Director at the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he spends his days creating + delivering programs and courses that help all students on campus apply their knowledge to solving meaningful challenges.

USA
Tessa Zimmerman

After a therapist told her she would never attend college because her anxiety was too severe, Tessa was determined to find a way to live beyond her anxiety. She developed the ASSET model of short anxiety-mitigation tools to make effective coping mechanisms accessible in schools. Tessa proved her therapist wrong when she was the first to graduate from Watson's degree track.

USA
Ian Oluoch

Ian co-founded GreenChar to provide an eco-friendly and affordable alternative source of cooking fuel made from agricultural waste to families and factories in his homeland of Kenya. While at Watson, Ian strengthened GreenChar’s business model and built connections with several potential investors to expand his environmental, economic and health impact across Kenya.

Kenya
Patrick Mateer

After wondering why it is not possible to purchase local, frozen foods, Patrick started Seal the Seasons, which partners with local farmers to produce and sell local, frozen fruits and vegetables. At Watson, Patrick built his first flash freezer, iterated his products and partnerships, and partnered with a local grocery store. Seal the Seasons now sells local, frozen produce in over 500 stores across North Carolina and has raised over $1 million in capital.

USA
Cicy Shengnan Zhang

Cicy was selected to Watson as our Enlight Women’s Fellowship sponsored by the Enlight Foundation. At Watson, Cicy continued to develop a venture she co-founded called YouthPower, a Chinese NGO that provides leadership education to high-schoolers through social change projects and experiential learning. Cicy is now developing an international arm of YouthPower to allow youth around the world to share their social projects with each other.

China
Justin Simpkins

At Watson, Justin stepped fully into his spiritual journey of finding the intersection of passion and purpose. He was able to apply his entrepreneurial training to building a foothold for his film company, Just.Studios. Since graduating from Watson’s degree track with a Bachelors of Science in Entrepreneurship, Justin has continued to grow Just.Studios which demonstrates how leading brands are enabling next generation changemakers.

USA

Some of our Past Teachers and Mentors

Khalida Brohi

Executive Director, Sughar Empowerment Society

She has been recognized by Oprah Winfrey, CNN, Bill Clinton, Cheryl Sandberg as a leading advocate for women in Pakistan.
Jan Piercy

Former US Executive Director, World Bank

In addition to being the former US Executive Director of the World Bank, she also served as the Senior Advisor at Enclude. Her master course is called "Leveraging Who You are to Become Who You Want to Be."
Teju Revilochan

CEO and Co-founder, Uncharted

Uncharted (formerly Unreasonable Institute) is on a mission to unite and resource the people most likely to put a dent in the world's biggest problems. His course is called "Return on Relationships."
Jerry White

CEO of Global Impact Strategies Inc

Jerry shares in the Nobel Prize for Peace awarded to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. His course title is: "Personal and Social Change: aligning our why, what and how."
Tom Chi

Cofounder, Google X

As the cofounder of Google X, Tom has pioneered a unique approach to rapid prototyping that has allowed him to move large organizations at unprecedented speeds. His course title is: "Rapid Prototyping: Clothes hanger to Google Glass."
Erin Schrode

Co-founder, Turning Green

Erin is a citizen activist, social entrepreneur and storyteller. She is the youngest person to have ever run for US congress at 25.
Jane Strode Miller

Founder & CEO, JaneKnows.com

Jane is a career expert, public speaker, author, and animal lover, and runs JaneKnows.com, a career website that provides support, resources and tools for those climbing the corporate ladder.
Jose Vieitez

Co-founder, Boomtown Accelerator

Jose is the Co-founder and co-director of Boomtown Accelerator in Boulder, helping early stage startups grow and get funded. He is a Stanford graduate with a background in user experience design.

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