Jim Fruchterman attends World Economic Forum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Davos, Switzerland, January 28, 2004: Jim Fruchterman, founder of The Benetech Initiative, attended the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland from January 20-25, 2004, invited by the Forum as one of the world’s most outstanding social entrepreneurs.

The Davos annual event brings together heads of state and global corporations as well as leaders from civil society, the media, religious institutions and academia. Since 2002, the Forum has invited outstanding social entrepreneurs recognized by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship to share with world leaders their practical, innovative solutions that have dramatically improved people’s lives, in particular those of the poor and excluded.

Plenary presentations, panel discussions and workshops were organized around the theme of this year’s Annual Meeting, “Partnering for Security and Prosperity.” Jim Fruchterman had speaker roles in Setting the 2004 Agenda: Technology and Anarchy Gets Organized which allowed him to talk about how technology is helping empower those communities on the fringes of today’s information society.

Among the highlights at Davos this year was a private event organized by Hewlett Packard, Visa and the Schwab Foundation to celebrate Schwab social entrepreneurs. Carleton Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett Packard, and Malcolm Williamson, CEO of VISA International, relayed their companies’ respective efforts to work with social entrepreneurs as part of their corporate strategy rather than as part of corporate philanthropy. “It is in our enlightened self-interest to work with accomplished social entrepreneurs in emerging markets,” pointed out Ms. Fiorina. “We envision a different model from the old philanthropy,” added Mr. Williamson. “We can be more successful by embracing social entrepreneurs in our core business, striking partnerships for mutual benefit.” Other featured speakers included Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Zanele Mbeki, First Lady of South Africa and a member of the Board of the Schwab Foundation, and Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chair of the World Economic Forum as well as Co-founder and President of the Schwab Foundation.

Jim Fruchterman was selected as an outstanding social entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in 2002. Annually, from hundreds of nominations, the Schwab Foundation selects 10 to 15 of the most accomplished social entrepreneurs according to seven criteria. Every candidate in the group of finalists undergoes extensive due diligence, including site visits to determine the impact of their activities.

Once accepted into the network, the Schwab Foundation offers its social entrepreneurs unprecedented opportunities for further establishing their legitimacy and credibility with world leaders and for building partnerships with corporations, government agencies and social investors needed to achieve further scale.

The Schwab Foundation was founded by Klaus and Hilde Schwab in 1998 and now comprises 71 outstanding social entrepreneurs. For more information on the Foundation’s work and on the Schwab Social Entrepreneurs, visit www.schwabfound.org or call at + 41 22 869 1212.

About Benetech

The Benetech Initiative is a Silicon Valley nonprofit that develops sustainable, technology-based solutions to address pressing social challenges in areas such as disability, human rights, education and literacy. Many beneficial technologies have compelling social applications that are not developed because such efforts do not meet for-profit investors’ financial expectations. Benetech specifically pursues endeavors with a strong social, rather than financial, rate of return on investment, bringing commercial technology and private sector management techniques to bear in creating innovative, non-traditional solutions to challenging social issues. More information on Benetech and its projects can be found at www.benetech.org or by calling (650) 475-5440.

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