Denver event promotes social entrepreneurship.

• Author: Cote, Mike

The first step in spreading the word about social entrepreneurship--business helping to address global issues--is increasing the number of people who understand what it means and why it's important.

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Especially business leaders.

"When I approach people in academia about social entrepreneurship, they get excited. When I approach people in the nonprofit world, they're familiar with it and who the icons are," says Chris Pelley, managing partner of CIMCO, a Denver-based financial advisory firm. "But when I mention it to business people ... the vast majority get this far-away look."

For the past three years, Pelley has been organizing a two-day series of events designed to create awareness about social entrepreneurship in Colorado. The Third Annual Social Entrepreneurship Event, scheduled for this year on Dec. 1 and 2, has generated interest from government, colleges and universities, nonprofits and business.

Pelley serves as regional leader for the Ashoka Support Network, the largest association of social entrepreneurs in the world. He believes Colorado is primed to become a world leader in the movement, which promotes programs that can become self-sustaining.

"Whether I like it or not, I'm becoming a bridge between nonprofit Greek and business Latin," he says. "Because the business guys don't get this, but without business acumen, all these SE endeavors look an awful lot like just a creative form of a charity."

The program includes a keynote address 11:30 a.m. Dec. 1 at the Denver Athletic Club as part of the Association for Corporate Growth's monthly luncheon series. Peter Kellner, managing partner of...