Speakers at the conference included the philosopher Charles Handy, Harvard professor Rakesh Khurana, daughter of the late C.K. Prahalad and author Deepa Prahalad, director and founder of the Legatum Centre at MIT Iqbal Quadir, Adrian Wooldridge of The Economist.
C. K. Prahalad included a case study of Jaipur Rugs in his book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid citing it as an example of a social business which helps in tackling world poverty.
FES has also featured entrepreneurs and authors C.K. Prahalad, author of "Competing for the Future," Michael Treacy, author of "The Discipline of Market Leaders," and Rod Beckstrom, author of "The Starfish and the Spider”.
The concept of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid originally appeared as an article by C. K. Prahalad and Stuart L. Hart in the business journal Strategy+Business.
The book has been praised by some of the world’s leading business leaders including the late C.K. Prahalad, Tom Peters, Gary Hamel, Ram Charan, and Victor Fung.
With C.K.Prahalad, Prof. Hart also wrote the groundbreaking 2002 article "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid".