Doing well by doing good

Benetech is no ordinary startup and its founder, Jim Fructerman, is no ordinary entrepreneur; he just may change the world.

For the past 20 years, Jim Fruchterman has been applying engineering talent directly to the cause of social good. When he first started pursuing the idea, it was pretty far out. Now it's common enough to have a name--social entrepreneurship--and Fruchterman himself has just been honored with a MacArthur "genius" award.

One of the mainstay products of his six-year-old organization, The Benetech Initiative, in Palo Alto, is Analyzer, a software tool for collecting and analyzing data on human rights abuses around the world. Benetech created an online repository of books for people whose disabilities prevent them from reading printed text. Up next: low-cost land-mine detectors for use by humanitarian organizations around the world.

It may be the start of a new entrepreneurial revolution in Silicon Valley, this one generating solutions to the problems of the world.

Greener News Room

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