Prison Entrepreneurs
From September 2005
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Pros Work With Cons
By David M. Drucker
Former Northern California venture capitalist Catherine Rohr, on a mission to use her skills for the social good, has discovered a surprising pool of entrepreneurial talent in the last place most would ever think to look: prison.Not long after a chance tour of a Texas prison which she admits she approached as a “zoo tour,” Rohr chucked her job as a San Francisco VC to found the Prison Entrepreneurship Program.
The nonprofit corporation, using Fortune 500-type business executives as volunteer mentors, harnesses the entrepreneurial skills inmates had demonstrated while running the successful, albeit illegal, enterprises that landed them in prison and teaches them how to put those abilities to use running legitimate businesses.
The hope is to increase their chances of success once they get out of jail.
Street Smart for Good
“Prisoners usually don’t end up in prison because they’re lazy,” Rohr says. “They may not be the best educated; but talk about street smarts. They’re driven, passionate and very charming. All of these are traits they share with business executives.”
Continued...
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