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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

Pratham: San Francisco Bay Area Gala Raises $400K

by | Oct 5, 2012 | Community Development, Education, Pratham

Since its inception in 1994, 2010 Kravis Prize winner Pratham, the largest non-governmental organization working to arm India with quality education, has opened doors for millions of underprivileged children. Their immeasurable impact has been met with overwhelming support across the country, with $1.5 million in donations last year. The San Francisco Bay Area Gala kicked off Pratham’s event trail last month raising over $400,000. Pratham first orchestrated a system that provided pre-school education to children in the slums of Mumbai, but the organization’s scope has evolved remarkably as Madhav Chavan, president and CEO of Pratham shares: “Now, we not only focus on primary school education in the slums, but also provide vocational and aid-based training, so that students can apply their education in the real world.” The evening included a teleconference that allowed children from Pratham Pune to showcase their accomplishments and share their aspirations with the audience. Swarna Khedekar, a teacher at Pratham, expressed her pride in the program and her profound gratitude for their supporters: “Our library and English education programs have grown in popularity. We have reached over 127,000 children this year through our library program…until now, we had only heard of our donors in the USA. It’s a great opportunity to be able to meet them and thank them in person.” To learn more about the inspiring work of Pratham, visit our page. “PRATHAM SF Bay Area Gala Raises 400K for Nonprofit” [India West, September 27,...

A Conversation with BRAC Founder, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

by | Sep 28, 2012 | BRAC, Education, Fazle Abed, Poverty Reduction, Sustainable Development

Isn’t it remarkable how one individual can transform an entire country? Kravis Prize winner Sir Fazle Hasan Abed can most definitely be credited for Bangladesh’s tremendous progress over the last 40 years as the founder of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the largest nongovernmental development organization in the world. The Asia Foundation’s Alma Freeman — blogger for In Asia, a weekly insight and analysis from the foundation — had the privilege of sitting down with the 2007 Kravis Prize winner to discuss the changes he has witnessed in Bangladesh and his goals for the future. “The most dramatic change has been women’s role in society. Women’s literacy rate used to be almost 30 percent less than men, now it’s almost equal. It has been wonderful to see so many children being educated…I can see that BRAC has changed people’s lives dramatically, particularly for those children who have had the advantage of education.” Based on the prediction that Bangladesh will become a middle-income country by 2021, Abed remarks: “If a country attains middle-income status, and 10 percent of the population is still under extreme poverty, if they can’t feed themselves and their children, then it doesn’t mean much to me… Bangladesh has done well, but that doesn’t mean that we have attained all of the things that we still want to do with our country.” To learn more about the inspiring work of Sir Fazle Abed and BRAC, go to our page. “In Conversation with BRAC’s Sir Fazle Hassan Abed”[The Asia Foundation, September 19,...

Landesa: A Year’s Reflection on Women’s Land Rights

by | Sep 21, 2012 | Female Empowerment, Landesa, Roy Prosterman

In his fight to end global poverty, inaugural Kravis Prize winner Roy Prosterman has made a difference in over 105 million families. Through his founding of Landesa, Prosterman has linked land rights to economic prosperity, determined to arm the world’s poorest communities with rights to their most valuable resource. At the crux of these families are women, which led to the establishment of the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights (LCWLR). In a post on Reuters’ TrustLaw blog, Lian Carl shared his experience working with LCWLR over the past year, with chilling observations of life for women in sub-Saharan Africa. “How can property own property?” was the question continually posed to Carl and his colleagues. Carl discussed how the unequal status of women in the region is crippling to the community as a whole as it has proven to affect a number of developing needs. “Investing in women brings [our] impact to the household level where more of the investment will be made in children, which we know over the long run will improve the economic output of a country. By focusing on women’s land rights, we can significantly reduce poverty.” It is accounts like Carl’s that illustrate the struggle of global poverty, and it is his passion and dedication that drive Landesa’s success. “The Word on Women- A Year’s Reflection on Women’s Land Rights” [TrustLaw, September 17,...