Jessica Jackley

Jessica Jackley is a microfinance pioneer and the co-founder of Kiva, the world's first online micro-lending marketplace for the working poor.

Jessica first saw the power and beauty of microfinance while working in rural Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Moved to help the suffering she witnessed, Jessica and Matt Flannery created Kiva, which today generates over $100,000 in microloans every 24 hours. Jessica is the driving force and inspirational spirit of the organization and she speaks to audiences around the world on microfinance, social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. She serves on a number of non-profit boards, including Opportunity International.

Named as one of the top ideas in 2006 by the New York Times Magazine and called "revolutionary" by the BBC, Kiva lets internet users lend as little as $25 to specific small business entrepreneurs around the world, providing affordable capital to help them start or expand their businesses. Kiva has been one of the fastest-growing social benefit Web sites in history, with thousands of people lending millions of dollars to entrepreneurs in over 50 developing countries.

In the midst of these successes, Jessica remains focused on a very simple idea: bringing people closer to each other. Kiva's mission, "to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty," and the idea that relationships are a powerful force for positive change, remain foundational for the organization's strategy and for Jessica's life work. Jessica grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and graduated from North Allegheny Senior High School in 1996. She went on to graduate with a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from Bucknell University in 2000, where she served as student body president.

Jessica moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2001 and pursued her interests in the social sector with a project management role at Stanford's Center for Social Innovation by day and - during evenings and weekends - as a live-in "house mom" and manager of New Creation Ministries, a home for underprivileged teenage mothers and their children. One of Jessica's primary contributions at Stanford was the launch of the Global Philanthropy Forum, a gathering and ongoing community of international philanthropy leaders now in its 7th year. She graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with her MBA in 2007, including Certificates in Public Management and Global Management.

In 2004, Jessica pursued her interest in international development by working in East Africa with Village Enterprise Fund, a nonprofit focused on microenterprise development and business training. It was she witnessed microfinance operations up close, through the entrepreneurs with whom she had the privilege to work. Their success served as the inspiration for the creation of Kiva. In its beta round, Kiva raised $3,000 in funding for 7 individuals. In its first year, Kiva raised $500,000 in loans; in its second year nearly $17 mm had flowed through the site. Today, nearly US$40,000,000 is being loaned out through Kiva on an annual basis.

Jessica has spoken widely on microfinance and social entrepreneurship, and her work with Kiva has been featured in a wide array of media and press including Oprah, The Today Show, BBC, NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Economist amongst others. To date, Jessica has studied microfinance firsthand in more than 35 countries around the world.

Jessica is a trained yoga instructor, published poet, and mediocre (but dedicated!) surfer.