A Davos for Main Street (in Buffalo)

If SXSW is Davos for the Web set, next week’s Business Alliance for Local Living Economies’ conference is Davos for Main Street business owners—at least the stretch of Main Street interested in listening to an owner of ACE Hardware stores expound on the rise of cooperatives, Eileen Fisher find common cause with Bhutan, and solar startup Mosaic’s co-founder talk about economic justice.

BALLE (pronounced bawl-EE), is a progressive nonprofit organization based in Oakland, Calif., with the mission of strengthening local economies around the country by shifting money from Wall Street to Main Street. The group connects about 30,000 independent business owners in its network with investors and mentors. The annual conference, which costs $595 for non-members, “is basically a counterpoint to what we’re taught in business school,” says Michelle Long, BALLE’s executive director. “It’s a shift from this competitive, I-must-crush-all [mentality]. The purpose of business is not just to make money, but to bring something of value to the world, to serve in some way.”