The Next Billion

The great advances in the world have often aggravated the inequities in the world. The least needy see the most improvement, and the most needy see the least--in particular the billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and philanthropist

Among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, talk of the next billion often conjures up visions of creating the next “unicorn” company, with private valuation that tops $1 billion. Technology innovation and economic valuation often go hand in hand. But what of social impact?
A growing number of innovators and entrepreneurs are focused on the next billion people who are digitally excluded, many of whom live in extreme poverty, globally and locally. For example, since its first loan to a fishmonger in Uganda, Kiva, the world's largest crowdlending marketplace for underserved entrepreneurs, has allowed people to lend money via the Internet to underserved entrepreneurs. Kiva has crowdfunded more than one million loans to more than 2.1 million entrepreneurs in 82 countries, totaling nearly $1 billion dollars with a repayment rate over 97 percent.

How are entrepreneurs changing the lives of the next billion, one by one? How is technology being used as a force for democratization of access and opportunity? Where are hot spots around the world for entrepreneurship and what can Silicon Valley learn from them? What are some positive roles for government? Is there a way to dismantle the false choice between purpose and profit?

Join us for a fascinating fireside chat between Julie Hanna, Kiva executive chairman and Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, with Exponential’s Marguerite Gong Hancock.