Speaker Name(s): Millard Fuller
Description: Millard started his entrepreneurial career early – as a student at Auburn University – where he and a friend began a marketing firm while still in school. Their business prospered and not content to luxuriate in success, Millard and his wife set out on a mission to give back – which they did in a big way. They gave up all of their possessions and pursued several enterprises focused on building modest houses on a no-profit, no-interest basis for families with low incomes. In 1973, the Fullers moved to Africa to test their affordable housing model in Zaire –now the Democratic Republic of Congo. With that effort as a success, they moved back to the U.S. in 1976 and founded Habitat For Humanity – which may be the ultimate example of social entrepreneurship. For the next 29 years, they devoted their energies to expanding Habitat For Humanity worldwide with more than 200,000 homes built in 100 countries. In 2005, Millard and Linda Fuller founded the Fuller Center for Housing to raise money to further eliminate poverty housing and make decent shelter available to all. Millard Fuller is the recipient of many prestigious, international awards and has also received more than 50 honorary doctoral degrees from colleges and universities and he is the author of ten books. The Office of Entrepreneurship is very pleased that he has taken the time to come to Rensselaer to share his wonderful story of social entrepreneurship and his experiences with us.