Premal Shah
EducationStanford University
OccupationCo-founder Kiva
Board member ofCenter for Humane Technology, Change.org Foundation, Watsi.org, VolunteerMatch
WebsiteKiva.org

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]

Early life

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. 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

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

Personal life

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

  1. ↑ "Leadership | Kiva". Kiva. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Impact | Kiva". Kiva. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  3. ↑ 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
  4. ↑ "LinkedIn Profile".
  5. ↑ "p2p microfinance concept that I was working on before joining Kiva". www.slideshare.net. August 10, 2009. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  6. ↑ 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)
  7. ↑ Kiva (June 6, 2017). "$1 billion in change: How Kiva went from nonprofit startup to global force for good". Medium. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  8. ↑ "PayPal Mafia & Kiva President Premal Shah Joins Crowdfunding Platform Watsi's Board | Crowdfund Insider". Crowdfund Insider. January 23, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  9. ↑ "premal shah | Engaging Volunteers". blogs.volunteermatch.org. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  10. ↑ "The PayPal Mafia". Fortune. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  11. ↑ "renewables.org - About Us | Invest in Renewable Energy". renewables.org/our-team/. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  12. ↑ "40 under 40 - Premal Shah and Matthew Flannery (31) - FORTUNE".
  13. ↑ "Obama White House Champions of Change Archive".
  14. ↑ "Premal Shah, co-founder of Kiva, enables the poor". San Francisco Chronicle. January 18, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  15. ↑ "World Economic Forum Announces New Batch Of Young Global Leaders (Mark Zuckerberg, Chad Hurley, Kevin Rose And More)". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  16. ↑ "San Francisco Bay Area — News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate". Archived from the original on May 4, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Skoll | Kiva". skoll.org. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  18. ↑ Boorstin, Julia (October 24, 2012). "Goldman's Blankfein on Power of Entrepreneurs". CNBC. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Premal Shah, President of Kiva - 2010 Social Enterprise Conference". Vimeo. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  20. ↑ "The Power of Giving 2015". National Museum of American History. September 29, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
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