Summary
Premal Shah is an Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded Kiva, a global poverty alleviation non-profit that has raised over $1 billion for low-income entrepreneurs in eighty countries.[1][2]
Premal Shah | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Education | Stanford University |
| Occupation | Co-founder Kiva |
| Board member of | Center for Humane Technology, Change.org Foundation, Watsi.org, VolunteerMatch |
| Website | Kiva.org |
Early life edit
Shah was born in Ahmedabad, India, and raised in Minnesota, graduating from Irondale High School. He attended Stanford University, where he pursued his interest in economic development, with a specific focus on microfinance.[citation needed] At the London School of Economics he received a research grant to study the microfinance work of the Self-Employed Women's Association.[3]
Career edit
Shah was an early employee of and principal product manager at PayPal.[4] Building on his college interest in microfinance, Shah took a sabbatical from PayPal in 2004 to prototype a concept of person-to-person microlending in India.[5][6]
Upon his return to Silicon Valley in 2005, Shah joined Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley in launching Kiva and scaling it into a global organization.[7] Kiva has since raised over one billion dollars in loans from over a million lenders in support of over two million entrepreneurs from eighty countries. Seventy-five percent of loans are disbursed to women, with a repayment rate of ninety-six percent.[2]
In addition to serving as president of Kiva, Shah sits on the boards of other non-profit of organizations, including Center for Humane Technology, Change.org Foundation, Watsi, and VolunteerMatch.[8][9] He is considered to be a part of the PayPal Mafia, a group of PayPal alumni who have gone on to found or co-found other successful companies, including YouTube, LinkedIn, Tesla Motors, and Yelp.[10]
Premal is currently listed as a co-founder at renewables.org - an investment platform for renewable energy in emerging markets.[11]
Awards and honors edit
- Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40 List.[12]
- Obama White House Champion of Change[13]
- Visionary of the Year Nominee, San Francisco Chronicle[14]
- World Economic Forum - Young Global Leader selection[15]
- Olympic Torch carrier for the 2008 Summer Games[16]
- Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship[17]
- Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs[18]
Personal life edit
Premal lives in San Francisco, California, with his wife and two children. He speaks widely about the potential for markets, technology & altruism to address some of society's toughest challenges.[19][20]
References edit
- ^ "Leadership | Kiva". Kiva. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
- ^ a b "Impact | Kiva". Kiva. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ UChi Pol (April 21, 2014), IOP- Premal Shah: Can Social Entrepreneurship End Global Poverty?, archived from the original on December 15, 2021, retrieved July 26, 2018
- ^ "LinkedIn Profile".
- ^ "p2p microfinance concept that I was working on before joining Kiva". www.slideshare.net. August 10, 2009. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ Talks at Google (June 20, 2012), Premal Shah: "Kiva's New Frontiers" | Talks at Google, retrieved July 26, 2018
{{citation}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Kiva (June 6, 2017). "$1 billion in change: How Kiva went from nonprofit startup to global force for good". Medium. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "PayPal Mafia & Kiva President Premal Shah Joins Crowdfunding Platform Watsi's Board | Crowdfund Insider". Crowdfund Insider. January 23, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "premal shah | Engaging Volunteers". blogs.volunteermatch.org. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "The PayPal Mafia". Fortune. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "renewables.org - About Us | Invest in Renewable Energy". renewables.org/our-team/. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
- ^ "40 under 40 - Premal Shah and Matthew Flannery (31) - FORTUNE".
- ^ "Obama White House Champions of Change Archive".
- ^ "Premal Shah, co-founder of Kiva, enables the poor". San Francisco Chronicle. January 18, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "World Economic Forum Announces New Batch Of Young Global Leaders (Mark Zuckerberg, Chad Hurley, Kevin Rose And More)". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "San Francisco Bay Area — News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate". Archived from the original on May 4, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ^ "Skoll | Kiva". skoll.org. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ Boorstin, Julia (October 24, 2012). "Goldman's Blankfein on Power of Entrepreneurs". CNBC. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "Premal Shah, President of Kiva - 2010 Social Enterprise Conference". Vimeo. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "The Power of Giving 2015". National Museum of American History. September 29, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2018.