Entrepreneurs running social organisations will lead the world out of the economic crisis, billionaire philanthropist Jeff Skoll has claimed.
Delivering the closing address at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford on Friday, the former president of eBay and now boss of the Skoll Foundation said the failure of the financial markets was leading to a greater concentration on an ethical and social approach to doing business.
Drawing parallels with the discovery of the double-helix DNA structure which in 1953 validated Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, Skoll said the credit crunch has provided "a new revolutionary, exogenous shot that may well propel social enterprise into the mainstream".
Addressing a packed lecture theatre at Oxford University's Said Business School, Skoll added: "While we don't know exactly how the economic meltdown is going to play out, it does seem clear that social entrepreneurs are positioned to emerge from the crisis not only as survivors but also as leaders."
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