Podcasts about profounder

Jessica Jackley, co-founder of the game-changing microlending site Kiva, never played the typical role from entrepreneurial stories we're accustomed to hearing. She didn't start a business as a kid, and never dreamed of making millions. Jackley considered entrepreneurship a greedy venture, in fact, and she wanted to be one of the good guys. But things quickly shifted for Jackley while she was in East Africa doing survey work for a nonprofit. Inspired by her work there with microfinancing, Jackley thought up the idea for Kiva, and wanted to spread it to other countries. Kiva would be a business, but one seeking to make a social impact. In 2009, as an experiment, Kiva launched its first pilot round of loans. Fast forward 12 years later, and the company has issued more than $1 billion in microloans to 2.6 million borrowers in 84 countries. Jackley didn’t stop there. After Kiva, she went on to become an accomplished investor, entrepreneur, and the author of Clay Water Brick: Finding Inspiration from Entrepreneurs Who Do the Most with the Least. She currently teaches social entrepreneurship at USC. Throughout her experiences, Jackley discovered how entrepreneurship and social change could not only coexist, but come together to create a huge global impact. Inspired to follow in Jackley’s footsteps? Well, don’t be. Jackley doesn’t want you to replicate what she did. She urges entrepreneurs to play by their own rules, define business with their own ideas, and never ask for permission. She believes these principles have always been the key to her success, and she outlines them in detail in this inspiring interview. Key Takeaways How and why hesitant entrepreneurs often cripple themselves Why naiveté can be a strong entrepreneurial trait The strategies Kiva used to build early-stage momentum and achieve massive exposure in its first three months The reason Jackley decided to close her latest business venture, Profounder, and pursue a different path

Listeners to Word By Word: Conversations With Writers host Gil Mansergh wants listeners to know they have a great opportunity to hear two conversations with award-winning advocates for radical forms of entrepreneurism on July's show. “Find your voice,” says KIVA co-founder Jessica Jackley. “This means expressing something about you and what you believe. It is the first step toward doing valuable action in the world.” While her micro-lending organization continues to change the face of poverty across the globe, this social entrepreneur with a Stanford MBA has also started ProFounder to help U.S. startups through crowd funding, and is a venture partner at the Collaborative Fund. Her new book is Clay Water, Brick: Finding Inspiration From Entrepreneurs Who Do the Most With the Least. “Listen carefully and learn from what your customers tell you,” says Barefoot Wines co-founders Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey when they talk with many of the same audiences as Jessica Jackley to share the practical yet universal lessons they learned while developing America’s best-selling wine brand.Their books are The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand, and The Entreprenurial Culture: 23 Ways to Engage and Empower You People.

Co-Founder of Kiva.org and a college classmate of Scott at Bucknell University.,Jessica discusses her inspiration to think and act globally; as well as her interfaith marriage to religious scholar and best selling author Reza Aslan.