History

The JRT was started by Jan Schouten (Netherlands) and Martin Jansen (Netherlands) in 1994.  Jan is a grand-son of Mr. Frits Philips of the Philips Corporation, who, having been inspired by the ideas of Initiatives of Change (formerly MRA), started the Caux Round Table (CRT).  Martin and Jan were present at the Caux Conference for Business and Industry (CCBI) in 1993 and listened to the CRT. They were inspired by the CRT and missed an equivalent platform for young business people. For this reason, Jan and Martin started a new forum at the CCBI for junior people in business and industry. The first JRT meeting was held in 1994 at the CCBI in Caux, Switzerland.