Premal Shah (born 1975 or 1976[1]) is an Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded Kiva, a global poverty alleviation non-profit that has raised over $2 billion for low-income entrepreneurs in eighty countries.[2][3][4]
Premal Shah | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1975 or 1976 (age 48–49) Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India |
| 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
editShah was born in Ahmedabad, India, and raised in Minnesota,[5][6] graduating from Irondale High School. He attended Stanford University, where he pursued his interest in economic development, with a specific focus on microfinance.[7] At the London School of Economics he received a research grant to study the microfinance work of the Self-Employed Women's Association.[8]
Career
editShah was an early employee of and principal product manager at PayPal.[9] 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.[10][11]
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.[12] Kiva has since raised over two billion dollars in loans from over two million lenders in support of over five million entrepreneurs from 62 countries, with a 96% repayment rate. 81% of loans are disbursed to women, and 67% of loan recipients live in rural communities. [3][4]
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.[13][14] 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.[15]
Premal is currently listed as a co-founder at renewables.org - an investment platform for renewable energy in emerging markets.[16]
Awards and honors
edit- Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40 List.[17]
- Obama White House Champion of Change[18]
- Visionary of the Year Nominee, San Francisco Chronicle[1]
- World Economic Forum - Young Global Leader selection[19]
- Olympic Torch carrier for the 2008 Summer Games[20]
- Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship[21]
- Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs[22]
- In 2024 became an honoree of the Great Immigrants Award; the award was given by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.[23]
Personal life
editPremal 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.[24][25]
References
edit- ^ a b "Premal Shah, co-founder of Kiva, enables the poor". San Francisco Chronicle. January 18, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "Leadership | Kiva". Kiva. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
- ^ a b "Impact | Kiva". Kiva. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ a b "Kiva's Impact". Kiva. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
- ^ Walker, Peter (February 29, 2008). "The benevolent middlemen". CNN.
- ^ Duncan, Natricia (June 10, 2014). "Crowdfunding development: 'Kiva's aim is to make microfinance easy'". The Guardian.
- ^ Morrison, Patt (March 15, 2014). "Lender 2.0: Kiva's Premal Shah". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ 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".
- ^ "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.
- ^ Writer, a Staff (July 8, 2024). "Carnegie Corporation of NY honors Premal Shah, co-founder of global poverty alleviation non-profit Kiva | News India Times". www.newsindiatimes.com. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
- ^ "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.