Low unemployment has many start-ups hiring MBA students as soon as the schools can turn them loose. So much so, many students are dropping out of school before graduating. Most of them are looking for wealthy dot coms to make their dreams come true. However, not all MBA students put pursuit of the almighty dollar at the head of their concerns.

Across the country many young entrepreneurs are pitching their business plans and competing for venture capital money. However, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley decided to organize something different. The Haas School created "The Social Venture Contest", a competition where students create business plans that had to demonstrate both economic and social value to win. The contest held earlier this month, not only gave competing young entrepreneurs a chance to meet venture capitalists, but it produced discussion of developing businesses which combine profit and not-for-profit sectors.

"We got together and realized there are many business competitions in existence that focused on pure economic and financial returns, but there was nothing in existence that tried to blend together ideas of social responsibility and profitability," says Nik Haas-Dehejia, one of several committee organizer's of the contest.

Sixty-six teams from top business schools submitted business plans. Two UCLA students won the grand prize for an Internet-based diabetes management system they developed called Easy Diabetes.

XTRACYCLE GOES THE DISTANCE

Other winners include the University of Washington's RippleEffects (www.rippleEffects.com) which develops social learning tools. The company is based in San Francisco, although its business manager is pursuing an MBA at University of Washington.

Another winner was the University of California at Davis' Xtracycle (www.xtracycle.com). The Davis team's Xtracycle makes a retrofit attachment that transforms a regular bicycle into an all-purpose cargo carrier. The students travel around the world and teach communities to build their own Xtracycles. Their overall goal is to build a new kind of bicycle-based economy, and empower people to include themselves in this economy by making businesses building Xtracycles and using Xtracycles.

"This national competition legitimizes the interest among MBA students around the country to develop business ideas that address pressing social and environmental concerns," says Haas-Dehejia. He believes many students want to develop companies that address profitability and community, but are not encouraged to make social issues a main concern for work. The contest organizers acknowledge venture capitalists like business plans, which demonstrate large returns in a short time. But by having this contest, they hope to bring awareness that start-ups can be both profitable and charitable.

"People assume VCs are full of money, waiting to spend it on a great idea, but the reality is we have limited partners to answer to," says David Ezequelle, Entrepreneur in Residence at Palo Alto-based Alloy Ventures. "If there is an opportunity to create a business that can provide a rate of return to the limited partners and it benefits a group of people through technologywell that's great."

Contest organizers see the contest as way to inspire students and future company leaders to contribute something back. As another committee organizer Alison Lingane says: "This competition brings the increasing trend of responsible business practices to new business creation -- integrating social and environmental missions into business practices from Day 1."

Or as Nik Haas-Dehejia puts it: "These students are offering a new vision to the dot.com world."