November 18, 2008 by Bob Monsour (permalink)
On November 18, John Danner, the Dean's Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship and a Fellow in the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS), presented a lecture on "Ventures to Address Global Challenges: Doing Well by Doing Good."
Despite decades of international aid, extensive philanthropic attention, emerging corporate social responsibility initiatives and local government programs, major global challenges persist - from widespread poverty and preventable disease to inadequate education and unsafe water. An emerging cadre of entrepreneurs around the world are exploring new ways to tackle these issues with innovative ventures and technologies that complement more traditional approaches. Some of these efforts focus on "bottom of the pyramid" customers living on less than $2/day, while others work in different arenas. This talk described some of these ventures in a variety of international settings, the challenges they themselves faced and the potential they represent.
About John Danner
John Danner is the Dean's Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship this semester from the University of California Berkeley and also serves as a fellow in the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS). He is Senior Fellow of The Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where he teaches the core MBA course on entrepreneurship, as well as other graduate courses on business model innovation and strategies for startups. He also launched UC's campus-wide undergraduate course on entrepreneurship and global poverty. He began his entrepreneurial career as an undergraduate at Harvard, and has since been involved in startups of various types as entrepreneur, advisor and investor. In addition, he has worked as a management consultant, lawyer or senior executive in the private, nonprofit and public sectors in fields from education and healthcare to telecommunications and energy. A frequent speaker at conferences and seminars around the world, he is also senior moderator with The Aspen Institute's executive and global leadership programs. He received his J.D., M.P.H. and M.A.Ed. degrees from UC Berkeley. During his visit to Princeton, he will be teaching a course titled "Special Topics in Entrepreneurship: Ventures to Address Global Challenges."