An idea for socially responsible children’s books wins $10,000 from ideablob.com

Somerdale, NJ resident Suneet Bhatt is the October winner of ideablob.com’s monthly contest for the best small business idea, as voted on by the ideablob community.

Bhatt’s initiative, Dream Village, is a series of children’s books that describe the true stories of kids who have overcome environmental, economic or social challenges. Each story aims to raise awareness about under-privileged children around the world.

“Dream Village enables child readers to experience the fulfillment that comes from making a difference,” said Bhatt. “We encourage children to make the world a better place in our story telling. For example, the first book tells how the children in a small village in Mozambique helped the village overcome its need for a dependable water source.”

The concept was created by a close-knit group of friends with a very specific skill set. Co-founders Alexander Cohen and Xavier Thomas, along with project members Hina Sheth, Pinki Shah, Soniya Sheth and Trupti Patel, each contributed to the project with their varied backgrounds.

“Our group includes a photographer, teacher, nurse and artist, and I received my MBA in social entrepreneurship,” added Bhatt. “We wanted to find a project that would allow us all to leverage our professional skills while doing something new, innovative and different.”

According to Bhatt, the $10,000 prize money will produce real products with real impact. The team will invest part of the money into funding and launching their next two books. They also plan to use some of the prize to print and sell their first 1,000 books, which Bhatt says will generate at least $5,000 in charitable donations. A portion of the prize will also go towards developing a beta version of the Dream Village website.

“Most of our ideas are under the umbrella of social entrepreneurship, and this is yet another example of the growing trend on ideablob,” said Ami Kassar, Advanta’s Chief Innovation Officer. “We like to see ideas where doing good is good business for people.”

Ideablob.com is a vital online community where tens of thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs actively share business ideas, feedback, advice and support. In addition, experts from various industries take part in weekly ideablob discussions, offering their direct advice to site users for honing and implementing their business concepts.

Source: Advanta

Disclosure: Ideablob is a Max School Bus sponsor