Press Kit
Company Descriptions:
Short description: SEVEN Fund is a virtual non–profit entity run by entrepreneurs whose strategy is to markedly increase the rate of innovation and diffusion of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty. (28 words)
Medium description: SEVEN Fund is a virtual non–profit entity run by entrepreneurs whose strategy is to markedly increase the rate of innovation and diffusion of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty. We do this by targeted investment that fosters thought leadership through books, films and websites; supporting role models – whether they are entrepreneurs or innovative firms – in developing nations; and shaping a new discourse in business, government, the press and the academy around private-sector innovation, prosperity and progressive human values. (77 words)
Long description: SEVEN Fund is a virtual non-profit entity run by entrepreneurs whose strategy is to markedly increase the rate of innovation and diffusion of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty. SEVEN’s approach challenges the classic pattern of funding top–down projects with government–led conceptual frameworks. Rather than simply throwing money at poverty (a short–term solution that is repeatedly proven ineffective), SEVEN believes in developing and encouraging intelligent entrepreneurialism in poverty affected areas to drive sustainable wealth creation and poverty reduction. Similar to traditional venture funds that seek high return on investment by investing in a number of high risk/reward companies, SEVEN seeks new ideas with high impact by investing in a number of high risk/reward research and thought leadership efforts. SEVEN awards financial grants to researchers who are seeking to unlock and further demonstrate the potential of enterprise–based solutions to poverty. SEVEN’s programs include support for books, films, websites, academic research, the Global Pioneers of Prosperity program, essay competitions, and more. SEVEN’s overarching objective is to ensure that Enterprise Solutions to Poverty are foundational to any development discussion. (163 words)
Logos
SEVEN Logo Small| SEVEN Logo Medium| SEVEN Logo Large
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Leadership Biographies
Recent news on SEVEN Fund and our portfolio of programs
- Rome Reports - Former Swiss Guard tells his story in "The Pope and the CEO"
- Andreas Widmer is interviewed about his new book, The Pope and The CEO, on This is The Day on CatholicTV
- Andreas Widmer discusses his new book, The Pope and the CEO, with The Wall Street Journal
- Zenit - Learning Business From a Pope
- Michael Fairbanks writes for BBC World Challenge initiative, What Kind of Company Eradicates Poverty?
- Andreas Widmer speaks at the Zermatt Summit on the Common Good to Serve the Person
- The Boston Globe - John Paul set to join the ‘blessed’
- Pilot Catholic News - Local Catholics reflect on Pope John Paul's legacy
- Andreas Widmer speaks with PovertyCure on the Traits of an Entrepreneur
- National Catholic Reporter: Vatican to craft 'Sullivan Principles'
- The SEVEN Fund announces the grand prize winner of the "I Am an Entrepreneur" photography competition
- Andreas Widmer speaks about Economic Development and Entrepreneurship in Africa
- Angus Loten, Wall Street Journal: Running a Business in a Disaster Zone
- Fox News Invites Michael Fairbanks to Comment on Anniversary of the Haiti Earthquake
- 2010 Templeton Foundation Report, including reflections of the Pioneers of Prosperity program
- Deroy Murdock writes for Scripps News, "America should follow free-market Rwanda"
- First Things, "I Row, God Steers," by Michael Novak and Elizabeth Shaw
- Entrepreneurship in Challenging Times, keynote address by Michael Fairbanks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Rwanda’s Business Strategy: Informed choice, timely action, accountability, by Michael Brennan and Michael Fairbanks
- The New Times: The New Rwanda Prosperity and the Public Good, by Gloria A. Iribagiza
- SEVEN grantee Bailey Klinger, Businessweek, A Test to Identify Entrepreneurs
- The Crisis in Haiti: Are We Moving Fast Enough? Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Michael Fairbanks, The Christian Science Monitor: A business solution to Haiti's poverty
- Andreas Widmer speaks with Al Cresta radio on Business, Development and Faith
- Michael Fairbanks, Washington Post's On Leadership: Luis Alberto Moreno: Business solutions to poverty
- Huffington Post: The Colombian Elections: Who Will Be the Next President of Macondo?
- Next Billion: Moving from Survival to Entrepreneurship in Haiti
- Huffington Post: Nothing Good Comes Out of Africa
- AlterPresse: Haiti-Reconstruction : Empathie versus sympathie!
- Huffington Post: Haitians Don't Deserve Our Sympathy
- Jamaica Observer: Bev Manley and her seers - Jean Lowrie-Chin
- NPR: National Review: Celebrating El Salvador Prosperity, by Deroy Murdock
- NPR: Michael Fairbanks speaks at the United Nations about Haiti's reconstruction effort
- Scripps News: Murdock: Latins entrepreneurial spirit burns bright
- MIT Innovations: The Backbone of a New Rwanda
- Andreas Widmer speaks at Thomas More College on Catholicism and Chivalry
- Harvard Kennedy School Magazine: In the River They Swim: Essays from Around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty
- The Journey: In the River They Swim: Essays from around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty
- Huffington Post: Communists are Back in Africa
- Value News Network: Michael Fairbanks knows what he is talking about and blogs it on HuffPo
- Stanford Social Innovation Review: All Entrepreneurship is Social
- The New Times: Rwanda's president leads an inspiring turn-around
- Washington Post: Rwanda's president leads an inspiring turn-around
- SEVEN Fund Announces Winners of "New Models of Development" Competition
- Achieving Results: A Priority for Latin America and the Caribbean BoP Agenda
- January 2010 "I Am an Entrepreneur" Contest Winners
- Prospect Magazine: For Richer, for Poorer
- Rebuilding Haiti: A Call to the Private Sector
- Interview with Andreas Widmer in Slovakia
- Rockets to Markets: Iqbal Quadir on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty in Afghanistan
- Andreas Widmer speaks at international economic conference, Bratislava
- Andreas Widmer speaks at X PRIZE's 'incentive2innovate' Conference
- Forum One: The Faces of International Development
- Integration is the Path to Economic Development: The 8 Domains
- SEVEN Fund Awards $10,000 in “In the River They Swim” Essay Competition
- Kagame’s advisors propel the economy
- Andreas Widmer Speaks in Bratislava, Slovakia (Pri filantropii sa nevyhovárajme na krízu)
- SEVEN Fund Launches “I Am an Entrepreneur” Photography Competition
- Entrepreneurs Are the Key - Washington Times
- Global Entrepreneurship Policy Dialogues in Washington, DC
- Who Are You Looking At? The Jamaica Observer
- Los Ejes de la Prosperidad
- In the River They Swim enters its Second Edition
- Murdock: Entrepreneurial Spirit Lights Path to Recovery
- Pioneers of Prosperity Africa Winner Gahaya Links Featured in Oprah Magazine
- The Pioneers of Prosperity 2009 Selects Region’s Top Entrepreneurs; Final Award Ceremony Hosted by the Prime Minister of Jamaica
- Entrepreneurs are In the River
- Pioneers of Prosperity
- Haitian Companies Compete in 2009 Pioneers of Prosperity Contest
- The Man in the Mirror
- Innovative Business Contest Focuses on Caribbean
- Small Army, the firm who handled all of SEVEN's corporate identity design work, sponsors "Be Bold, Be Bald," in memoriam of Mike Connell. Mike was the senior creative partner on the SEVEN account, and lost his battle with cancer in 2007
- Andreas Widmer Reviews Forthcoming Book on Generosity
- SEVEN Fund Morality of Profit Project Now Accepting Submissions
- 'Do a Thing' or Do the Right Thing?
- Man Over Machine
- OTF Group's Ken Hynes writes about Success Begins at Home: thoughts on IMF assistance (Jamaica)
- SEVEN Fund Announces Second Annual Open Request for Proposals - LOIs due October 15, 2009
- Development Issues Addressed at I2I Conference
- Aid Watch Reviews In the River They Swim
- President Paul Kagame with winners of SEVEN Fund's Entrepreneurial President Essay Competition
- In the River They Swim launch event covered in the Boston Globe
- Michael Fairbanks Visits Campus As Guest Speaker for PA’s Africa Week
- SEVEN Fund Announces the VINE Competition Winners
- President Kagame of Rwanda Writes in Financial Times about Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, Mentions In the River They Swim
- SEVEN Fund Awards Student Research Grants Enterprise Solutions to Poverty Projects Conducted in Ten Countries
- 2009 - 10 "New Models of Development" Essay Competition
- Overlapping Fringes Creating Value Through Interdisciplinary Thinking
- Fast Company article "Rwanda Rising" Quotes Essay from In the River They Swim and mentions Michael Fairbanks
- Michael Fairbanks writes on How to Unlock Prosperity
- SEVEN Fund Featured in Templeton 2008 Capabilities Report
- SEVEN Fund VINE Finalists Selected
- Michael Fairbanks is interviewed on Rwanda by The Independent
- 2008 Africa Pioneers of Prosperity Awards Resounding Success
- Michael Fairbanks blogs about 2008 Legatum Africa Pioneers of Prosperity Awards
- Nov 15 – Nov 30th: Vote now in the Cinéma Prospérité Competition
- Does the free market corrode moral character?
- Tech and Emerging Countries Panelists Announced
- Integr8 IT stands on global stage
- SEVEN Fund contributes to new book, In the River They Swim: Essays from Around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty
- Improving Flows of Foreign Capital to the Microfinance Industry Request for Proposals (RFP) Prize to be Awarded – November 15, 2008
- CheckBook Development September 23, 2008
- Michael Fairbanks speaks on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty at Republican National Convention
- $1,000,000 Legatum FORTUNE Technology Prize
- Self reliance and the entrepreneur: Michael Fairbanks
- In Memoriam Sir John Templeton, 1912-2008
- The SEVEN Fund $50k VINE Project: Developing Investment Indicators for Emerging Market SMEs
- Telling Stories Over Stats: The SEVEN Film Competition
- Pioneers of Prosperity Documentary
- The SEVEN Fund announces Cinéma Prospérité
- Sisters make a difference, Times & Transcript (Brunswick, Newfoundland)
Press Contact Information
Elizabeth Hooper
1770 Massachusetts Avenue, 247
Cambridge, MA 02140
info(at)sevenfund.org
News Alerts
Entrepreneurs create products, services and jobs. They expand economies, improve people's lives, provide employment (high and rising wages) and bring about competition. A competitive environment, in turn, gives rise to efficiency, meritocracy and further innovations and entrepreneurial drive.
The potent combination of entrepreneurship and technological innovation can forge an environment that is conducive to further enterprise, involving even government policy in supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.
