This summer, Miller Center celebrated the graduation of our 30th Accelerator cohort: nineteen entrepreneurs from twelve countries, reaching from Trinidad and Tobago to Egypt, India, Nigeria, and Ecuador, each paired with mentors who return year after year because they’re in it for the long run.
Jeff Miller often says that what makes social entrepreneurs so special is that they are brilliant people choosing to do the hard thing. When these exceptional minds come together, paired with mentors with decades of experience, real change happens.
This kind of connection doesn’t happen by accident. What makes these programs so effective is deep engagement that turns a working relationship into real trust. At Miller Center, we believe that lifelong accompaniment, in many forms, supports social entrepreneurs in making a sustainable impact in their communities.
Fortifying a Vision: A Mountain Mission Meets a Financial Model
Pavitra Joshi, CEO and co-founder of KumaonKhand, is building a hemp ecosystem in the Himalayas, creating a value chain of hemp foods and textiles to create economic opportunity and reduce outmigration in rural mountain communities. In these hill districts, 47.1% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Pavitra first joined Miller Center in 2025 when he participated in the Financial Model Intensive, and shortly after enrolled in the Accelerator program.
Reflecting on these programs, Pavitra said:
“What surprised me most was how personal the process became. As a founder, I’d been quietly carrying imposter syndrome for a while — the kind that makes even small decisions feel disproportionately heavy when you’re building something this unconventional from a small Himalayan town. Having mentors who were willing to sit with the uncertainty alongside me, and ask hard questions without dismissing the vision, made decision-making feel possible again. The most valuable aspect was the rigor applied to my business; I was forced to move beyond the poetic mission and ensure the numbers spoke clearly. I walked into this Intensive with a mountain vision and walked out with a financial model, a clearer strategic path, and a steadier head — and that combination doesn’t happen without the right people choosing to show up for you, week after week.”
Pavitra’s story doesn’t end with graduation. He’s now part of our Entrepreneur Network, made up of peers, mentors, leadership coaches, and the broader Santa Clara University community who will continue to show up.
From Chiapas to Campus: Capeltic’s Journey at Santa Clara University
The Capeltic Nuestro Café team is another example that true accompaniment is multifaceted and enduring. Alejandro Rodríguez Márquez, Eduardo Hernández, and Cristina Méndez Álvarez help uplift indigenous Tzeltal communities in Chiapas, Mexico by producing and processing coffee beans, all while protecting the sacred land. Capeltic sells their coffee at Jesuit universities, brought together by a shared commitment to justice, care for others, and care for our common home. Santa Clara University is the first U.S. university to carry Capeltic’s coffee. After students visited Capeltic during an Ignatian Center immersion trip, they championed bringing this coffee to campus. Alex shares that seeing someone enjoy a cup of Capeltic coffee outside of Mexico, and being able to learn about its origin, “is a dream come true.”
Through their partnership with Santa Clara, Capeltic joined our Accelerator program, a beautiful continuation of the foundation they’ve built here at SCU. Eduardo shared that their mentors, Julián Cuevas and Cris Bravo, have become more than advisors — they feel like family. Alex agrees, describing how “having mentors close to our Latin American context was a great asset. They understood where we come from as entrepreneurs and the international landscape we face as a growing social enterprise. The feedback sessions were decisive: they helped us bring the tools down to our reality, with empathy for our way of working, but also with the rigor needed to bring out the best in us.”
One of the most memorable parts of the program, the team says, was learning to distill everything they’d built into just a few words: “We especially remember the challenge of synthesizing the company’s mission in just a few words and preparing a final presentation within the allotted time. For us, accustomed to long, detailed talks, it was a challenge to learn how to communicate the essentials briefly and powerfully. That experience taught us to prioritize what matters most and to convey our proposal with greater clarity and effectiveness.”
On one of their visits to Santa Clara, we had the chance to sit down and share about our campus engagement opportunities. Now, the Capeltic team is working with Angelo Lopez, a bright Miller Center student intern, to continue to grow Capeltic’s U.S. presence. Angelo shares that working with an enterprise like Capeltic has shown him “what it looks like to be a part of building a business that puts people and community first.”
Closing the Loop: The Dream Team Behind ReciVeci’s Recycling
Lorena Gallardo, CTO and founder of ReciVeci, found a similar type of accompaniment during the Accelerator program. Her social enterprise connects brands with inclusive recycling solutions in Ecuador, empowering grassroots recyclers through technology, traceability, and measurable social impact. Paired with mentors Katie Povejsil and Suzanne El Naggar, the three became what felt like a dream team.
Lorena reflects that, “during these six months, Suzanne and Katie translated their deep corporate experience into exactly the context ReciVeci needed to grow stronger. Their feedback and validation of each deliverable filled us with strength to value what we do even more, and they challenged us to be better, to tell our story in a way that’s easy to understand, which may be the most challenging thing of all. Beyond their expertise, both Suzanne and Katie are wonderful human beings, and we loved that this journey was guided by a team of women.”
During our final gratitude ceremony as a cohort, Katie said something that stuck with me: “The people that apply themselves in the Miller Center program are just MAGIC.” I’d go further. All of it is magic. Nineteen entrepreneurs, thirty-eight mentors, and twenty-seven additional enterprise staff members, all showing up for each other, week after week for six months, to make meaningful change happen.
Social entrepreneurs are the changemakers who choose not to do the easy thing, but they can’t do it alone. Alex from Capeltic shared that his journey with Miller Center has meant ”the opportunity to grow in community” with committed mentors, fellow innovators, and people invested in their success. The old saying holds: it takes a village. I’m grateful to be part of this village, surrounded by entrepreneurs, mentors, students, and advisors who are in it for the long run.
__________
Photos:
KumaonKhand
Capeltic
Reciveci
