The William James Foundation is hosting our 9th annual Sustainable Business Plan Competition finalist presentations and gathering on Friday April 13^th and Saturday, April 14^th at the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC. We invite individuals interested in starting, managing, advising, or investing in multiple-bottom-line businesses to join us.

The event will feature presentations by more than two dozen sustainable entrepreneurs from around the world, including some who will have come from Mali, Mozambique, Kenya, and Cambodia to present in person.

Friday’s activities start at 5pm, and will feature a keynote from Kirsty Jenkinson, Director of the Markets and Enterprise Program at the World Resources Institute, followed by presentations from entrepreneurs from Day One Response, Malo Traders, Mozambikes.

Saturday’s activities start at 10am, and will feature discussions led on Community Development and Wealth Building by Wayne Curtis, Managing Partner at Curtis Concepts, who has worked on more than $1.5 billion in small business lending initiatives, and on building an environmental company by Aaron Lamstein, founder of WorldWise, which sold  over 100,000 environmentally responsible consumer products per day through 30,000 retail stores via most major retail channels. There will also be a workshop on pitching to investors and presentations by LuminAID Lab, Takamotobiogas, and Snack Packers. 

Together, the entrepreneurs presenting are competing to divide $20,000 in cash and more than $100,000 worth of professional services. These professional services come from noted sustainability professionals, including Worldways Social Marketing, Strategic Sustainability Consulting, CitySoft, CSRwire, Social Enterprise Associates, HIP Investor, Swakin & Turner, and many other firms.

A full agenda is available at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/gathering.

Ticket and RSVP information is available at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/gatheringrsvp.

Entrepreneurs from over two dozen countries entered this year's competition. Together they received more than 3,392 pages of detailed feedback from 337 reading judges. These readers included experts in social ventures and traditional business plans, Wall Street professionals, academics, and CEOs of national and international for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. A small sample of our judges is listed at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/judgelist.

The William James Foundation congratulates all of our entrants for their hard work throughout the competition process. As a 501c3 non-profit, we are grateful for the support of our donors and partners, who include Josh Mailman, The Stiefel Family Foundation, Chuck Dell, The Affinity Lab, The Foundation for a Sustainable Future, The Carbon War Room, The Acacia Fund, Enjuba, The LOHAS Forum, The Social Venture Network, and many others.

At the William James Foundation, we get to read the best new ideas for a more sustainable world, and then we get to read what extremely smart and experienced people have to say about those ideas. We are grateful for the opportunity to be of service.

Mentor Capital Network

Mentor Capital Network

Mentor Capital Network, a Washington-DC based 501(c)3, strives to advance the evolution towards a more socially responsible economy. We support new entrepreneurs who are committed to establishing socially responsible businesses and policies that will more equitably benefit all stakeholders -- consumers, employees and their families, and the public-at-large, in addition to investors.

Our main program is the Sustainable Business Plan Collaboration. Over the years, we’ve supported over 930 ventures with almost $6M worth of mentor capital, giving entrepreneurial teams customized feedback on their business plans and access to a network of over 1,000 of the world’s best industry and regional experts who have graciously given their time to support these startup teams. We seek to create and accelerate opportunities for these teams to make a serious, innovative, and scalable difference in the world.

Mentor Capital Network is the trade name of the William James Foundation.

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