Creating a force for positive social change
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Camosun presents Kiva Co-founder Jessica Jackley, April 13
8th Annual Insight Speaker Series, McPherson Playhouse, 7:30pm, Tuesday, April 13.
March 23, 2010
Empowering others through social finance
Kiva.org is a unique concept that brings people from around the globe to a website where they can provide micro-loans to people in developing countries who have entrepreneurial ideas. Loans are made directly to specific developing world entrepreneurs, who then use the money to start or grow a small business, and begin to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. These micro-loans can be for as minimal an amount as $25.
Named one of the top ideas of 2006 by The New York Times Magazine, and praised by Oprah, Bill Clinton and countless others, Kiva is one of the fastest-growing social business websites in history.
“We are thrilled to have Jessica Jackley speak at our series,” says Camosun College Foundation Executive Director Susan Haddon. “The concept of enabling individuals in one country to empower others on the other side of the world is very intriguing and exemplifies much of what our Insight Series is about.”
Connecting people to alleviate poverty
Since 2005, Kiva has facilitated the movement of over $100 million from lenders to entrepreneurs across 182 countries. According to their website, by 2012, Kiva expects to have loaned over $1 billion to the world's working poor. For all its success, Kiva remains animated by a simple message ("to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty") and by the idea that relationships are a powerful force for positive change.
A finalist for Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2009, Jackley first saw the power and dignity of micro-finance while working in East Africa with a micro-enterprise non-profit. A social change advocate, Jackley has worked for public, non-profit, and private organizations including the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Amazon, and others.
In 2009, she began work on ProFounder, which provides new ways for small businesses in the US to access start-up funding through community involvement. She also teaches Global Entrepreneurship at the Marshall School of Business at USC. She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Philosophy and Political Science.
Jackley reminds us that, at the heart of social entrepreneurism, there will always remain the connection between two human beings.
Tickets and info
Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions during a half hour question and answer period. Tickets are $22.25 for adults and $14 for students (includes service fees) available through the McPherson Box Office, 250-386-6121.
Camosun College thanks the many sponsors who have made the Insight Speaker Series possible this year: presenting sponsor Coast Capital Savings—media sponsors Jack FM, the Times Colonist, ‘A’ Vancouver Island, 98.5 The Ocean; and reception sponsor Anne Wortmann of RBC Dominion Securities.
All funds raised by the Insight Speaker Series go to support the Camosun College Foundation.
Contact
Michelle Tinis
Marketing and Communications
Camosun College Foundation
250–370–4626
tinis@camosun.bc.ca
Last updated: August 18, 2010 9:12 am
