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About Endeavor

Founded in 1997, Endeavor fosters economic growth in countries worldwide by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating high-impact entrepreneurs. Endeavor’s entrepreneurs lead fast-growing businesses that generate jobs in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Endeavor provides its entrepreneurs with a network of seasoned business leaders who provide key ingredients to entrepreneurial success: mentorship, networks, strategic advice, and inspiration. Over the past 17 years, Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created more than 400,000 high quality jobs, directly reaching more than two million people across the world. Endeavor has achieved tangible results, with individuals working for Endeavor companies doubling their income over baseline or previous jobs, and Endeavor companies growing revenue 2.4 times faster than comparable firms over three years.

Current Operations of Endeavor

Endeavor is dedicated to high-impact entrepreneurship. Its main operations focus on identifying and supporting the continued growth of a select group of entrepreneurs, creating jobs, and adding revenues to foster entrepreneurship in those societies. Endeavor currently works in 21 countries across the world. In recent years, Endeavor’s operations have expanded into several countries; Endeavor launched in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Greece in 2012, Miami (US), Malaysia, and Morocco in 2013, and Peru and Spain in 2014.In 2011, Endeavor launched Endeavor Catalyst, a passive co-investment pool that uses donated funds to support Endeavor Entrepreneurs’ professional funding rounds and to provide funding for Endeavor’s growth and financial sustainability. Endeavor Catalyst has raised approximately $15 million to date and has made its first nine investments.

Approach and Distinguishing Features

Endeavor is an organization of, by, and for entrepreneurs. Endeavor believes that entrepreneurship is vital to economic growth and job creation, and recognizes the reality that entrepreneurs in growth markets face obstacles that inhibit successful scaling of businesses, such as limited management expertise, lack of role models, contacts, investors, etc. To this end, Endeavor provides immense support to rising entrepreneurs and acts as a springboard to catalyze their success with business establishment and job creation. Over 80% of Endeavor’s entrepreneurs give back to their local affiliates and commit to mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Endeavor’s entrepreneurs lead fast-growing, typically for-profit businesses that generate jobs and create revenues in growth markets. Endeavor looks for businesses with the potential to scale and become world-class ventures and industry leaders. Endeavor is distinct from many other organizations in its focus on high-growth, high-impact, for-profit companies that can scale. Academic research demonstrates that high-impact entrepreneurs generate a disproportionate number of jobs over other entrepreneurs.

2015 Kravis Prize

Endeavor

Endeavor fosters economic advancement in growth markets by launching high-impact entrepreneurs.

FAST FACTS

400,000+

high-quality jobs created by Endeavor companies

2 million

people impacted directly by Endeavor companies

97%

of Endeavor companies are still in operation, compared to most entrepreneurial ventures in the same markets, which close within 42 months

The Power of Education: Sakena Yacoobi’s Hopes for the Women of Afghanistan

by | Dec 28, 2012 | Education, Female Empowerment, Health, Sakena Yacoobi

As the keynote speaker at Global Washington’s Redefining Development Conference, Kravis Prize winner Sakena Yacoobi inspired and challenged her audience to help educate the women and children of Afghanistan. Yacoobi was selected to deliver the event’s opening address in recognition for providing education and health services to more than 9 million Afghan women and children since the founding of her organization, the Afghan Institute of Learning. Global Washington published an article by contributor Nina Carduner, who detailed Yacoobi’s speech. Yacoobi began by describing her own “happy and secure” childhood in Afghanistan. Her family did not have much, but their needs were met. After travelling to the U.S. to complete her education, Afghanistan was invaded and Yacoobi and her family became refugees, unable to return to their home. But Yacoobi’s heart remained in Afghanistan, and so she pursued a career in public health in hopes of someday returning to provide medical resources to women and children. The turning point in her career, Yacoobi said, came during a visit to an Afghan refugee camp. Her shocking testimonial described how women “were like animals. … They felt less than human,” as their fathers, husbands, and brothers were taken away from them. Yacoobi rejected the idea that women were incapable of doing things for themselves, and dedicated her life to educating Afghan women and children. She began in Pakistan, where a majority of Afghan refugee camps were located. Met with criticism at first by religious leaders who believed that education was not appropriate for children, Yacoobi eventually convinced many of them to become teachers themselves. According to the article, she reached 27,000 children...

Pearson Education recognizes Vicky Colbert’s “Escuela Nueva”

by | Dec 14, 2012 | Community Development, Education, Escuela Nueva, Vicky Colbert

2011 Kravis Prize recipient, Vicky Colbert of Colombia, is a renowned innovator in the field of education. As the founder of Fundacion Escuela Nueva (FEN) and the co-author of the Escuela Nueva (or “new school”) model of education, Colbert has dedicated her life to improving the quality and relevance of basic education in schools that serve low- income students. Pearson Education, the world’s leading education company, recently launched a campaign to promote affordable learning, featuring Fundacion Escuela Nueva as a quality service provider in Colombia. In a case study on their website, Pearson Affordable Learning described the evolution of Escuela Nueva from a local initiative into a national policy in Colombia. According to Affordable Learning, this is “How it works”: In all programs, Fundación Escuela Nueva strives to improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of rural and urban basic education, formal and informal. It does this by implementing the New School learning model which is cost effective, replicable and scalable. They work with students, teachers, educational administrators and communities to transform conventional schooling and the learning process. This is achieved through enhancing curriculum and classroom strategies through renovated teaching practices and experiential teacher training. We applaud Vicky Colbert for her continued success with the Escuela Nueva education model, and the Kravis Prize is proud to congratulate Colbert on being recognized by Pearson Education. To visit the Affordable Learning page and learn more about the FEN case study please visit:...

m2m: Mentor Mothers

by | Dec 7, 2012 | Female Empowerment, Health, m2m

Since 2001, Mothers2Mothers has empowered women infected with HIV across the globe. In a recent interview with Voice of America contributor Joe DeCapua, m2m co-founder and international director Robin Smalley discussed ways the organization’s Mentor Mothers program is changing the lives of more than 1 million women in sub-Saharan Africa. Smalley said that Mentor Mothers was developed to address the lack of both access to healthcare and emotional support available for pregnant women living with HIV. She explained how difficult pregnancy can be for vulnerable women in the region: “A young woman would come in. She’d come in for her first pregnancy test. In Africa, that tends to be around five months. At that time she’s offered her first HIV test. She’s like young mothers everywhere. She’s excited. She’s full of joy. She never anticipates anything going wrong. So when that test comes back positive she thinks it’s a death sentence for herself and for her baby. And there’s nobody available to tell her that there is medical intervention available to help her prevent transmission to her child. And so she goes home. She never seeks medical care again because of the terrible stigmas in the community.” Smalley and Dr. Mitch Besser, m2m’s co-founder, determined that the women themselves may represent the best available resource for others facing the same situation. She recalled how they transformed that realization into action. “Let’s just take newly delivered moms, who are HIV positive, put them through a rigorous training, send them back into their own clinics as what we call Mentor Mothers. Pay them for their work, and let them address this...