Jessica Jackley: The Mindset of a Social Entrepreneur

From jessicajackley.com

I had the privelige on listening to the beautiful and very intelligent cofounder of Kiva, Jessica Jackley, speak in an entrepreneurship elective class that I am taking this semester. Over the course of the semester, I've heard from several sharp, very successful, and for some reason, all male entrepreneurs. As incredible as their stories were, I couldn't help but feel a little disconnected from many of them. Don't get me wrong. There were some AMAZING stories of what perseverance, hard work, networking, and a little luck can do. The only thing was that (and really, who am I to fault them?) money was a major motivator in their beginnings.

From time to time, after a day's work as an administrative temp at Stanford's Center for Social Innovation, Jessica would take advantage of the various speaker events at the school. And you know, Stanford being Stanford, their speakers aren't just anybody. On one fateful evening, Jessica attended an event with microfinance master, Muhammad Yunus. No big deal, he only won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work. Listen to Jessica's account below but essentially she was profoundly moved at how all it took was for Yunus was to go across town from the university that he taught at and converse with the poor people and listen to their stories to decide to make a change.

Soon after, Jessica quit her job and flew to East Africa to interview poor people on behalf of Village Enterprise Fund. Jessica's subsequent time in Africa interviewing dozens of farmers, seamstresses, etc. changed her perception of "poor" people. For the first time, she began viewing them as entrepreneurs, for all they really needed was a loan - a small capital injection to get things going. As she filled in her friends and family about who she met each day, they too were captivated by entrepreneurs' stories and wanted to somehow help out. And thus the raw beginnings of Kiva. From Kiva's website,

We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

Toward the end of the event, my professor opened it up to the audience to ask questions. One person asked Jessica what gets her up in the morning, and her response is really what sets her apart from other entrepreneurs. Jessica responded that she's excited to get up in the morning (and sometimes she gets up multiple times to attend to her few-month-old twin boys) because she has such a "gratitude for life." She may not be financially wealthy (though I'm sure she lives comfortably) but she values a different currency. Jessica said she values the feeling of being involved and not to be cliched, she gets paid in happiness.

Its not very often you come across a spirit like Jessica's and there are so many things that I admire about her. I admire that she was able to take a risk and pursue creating something that meant a lot to her and that she was truly passionate about. I admire some of the decisions she made at Kiva such as turning down $10 million from one company because it felt more important to include as many people in the experience as possible. And perhaps what I admire most is the sincerity she exudes when she speaks about her passions, whether that be Kiva, empowering others, or even her twin baby boys. This sincerity and passion for others is truly what makes a social entrepreneur.

Watch more from Jessica Jackley's sitdown with my class here (Well this is actually from a previous year but its essentially the same stuff)