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The Palmer Center Presented "Revolution through Social Enterprise" Conference 

The Geoffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law presented a conference on "Revolution through Social Enterprise" on Friday, September 21, in the Graziadio Executive Center on the Pepperdine campus in Malibu. Jim Fruchterman, chair and founder of The Benetech Initiative, delivered the keynote address. Among numerous other achievements, Fruchterman is a 2006 MacArthur Fellow, recipient of the Schwab Foundation's Outstanding Social Entrepreneur award in 2003, and a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

Across sectors, generations, and disciplines, social entrepreneurs are identifying, addressing, and in some cases solving many of the major crises confronting society today through the creative application of entrepreneurial principles. Bringing together youth, academics, nonprofit and corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, and lawyers from around the world, this conference showcased how the social entrepreneurship movement is transforming business, education, community development, and philanthropy on a global scale.

The day long conference featured panel discussions on youth in social entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship in academia, legal issues in starting a social enterprise, international community development through social enterprise, corporate social responsibility, faith-based social enterprise, and investing in social enterprise. Distinguished panelists included Bill Burrus, president and CEO, ACCION USA; Terry Mollner, founder, Calvert Foundation; Anne Hastings, director, Fonkoze (Haiti); Nurjahan Begum, general manager, Grameen Bank (Bangladesh); and Monty Moran, president and COO, Chipotle.