Foundation for Community Government & Entrepreneurship

The mission of the Foundation for Community Government and Entrepreneurship (FCGE) is to work within developing countries to create communities that can build sustainable subsistence economies to alleviate and ultimately eliminate poverty.

Unemployment, lack of economic opportunity and the inability to provide for one’s needs and those of one’s family lead to destructive consequences at the individual level, and can lead to crime and armed conflict at the social level. The key to avoiding these consequences is the development of subsistence economies that allow individuals and families to support themselves through their own work and initiative.

To create sustainable subsistence economies, FCGE will build the infrastructure necessary to support entrepreneurial initiatives by the citizens of a community. The successful entrepreneurial process requires both a supply side (created by the efforts of the entrepreneur) and a demand side (created by the community’s cultural support of these efforts). To create a sustainable economy, community policies must support both sides of this equation while taking into account all social rituals, common-sense values, educational levels and resources, and all other interactions that influence either side.

FCGE will build awareness of existing resources, and support their effective employment in order to increase entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The latest development theory recognizes the importance of entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise generation in combating poverty, providing employment, and increasing income. But in order to address poverty at the grass-roots level, FCGE will explore the intersection of traditional business concepts with social venturing. Our aim is to provide an understanding of communal entrepreneurship that will help communities bring both supply and demand sides of the entrepreneurial structure into practice in a meaningful way.

The main emphasis of FCGE will be the exploration of entrepreneurship, with an imperative to drive communal change and build sustainable ventures. We will participate in the unfolding dialogue about what constitutes a “social entrepreneur,” develop an understanding of the power of “disruptive innovation,” and study success stories from around the world, thereby gaining valuable insights into how to develop these entrepreneurial enterprises. We will share experiences, ideas, insights, and challenges, for the benefit of developing nations—and developing communities—around the globe.