SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Two Indian Americans have emerged as nominees in the annual San Francisco Chronicle Visionary of the Year award. Khan Academy founder Sal Khan joins Kiva co-founder Premal Shah among the 2018 Visionary of the Year award nominees. Khan started the Mountain View, California based Khan Academy in 2005 to help his cousins in math, and the concept expanded immensely to serve 15 million people a month.
The online venture has an oft-repeated origin story, according to the Chronicle. The 41-year-old Khan holds three degrees from MIT and an M.B.A. from Harvard.
In the past 10 years, the site has grown exponentially, with more than 62 million registered users as well as some who don’t register, and more than 1 billion video views, the Chronicle explained. The academy, which now covers the sciences, history, economics, finance, grammar, preschool learning, SAT prep and civics, among other subjects, is used in more than 190 countries and the content translated into 18 languages. Khan said in the report that he wants more, though.“Within my own lifetime I do want to see a billion kids, that Khan Academy is a significant resource for them,” he said. “This is something I want to devote my life to.” The Chronicle’s profile of Khan said the Academy could have netted him millions of dollars, if not more, much like many entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley where Khan resides. “But when he came up with the vision for Khan Academy, he wanted it to be free,” it said. “The mission — a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere.” Khan has expanded the nonprofit with the creation of the Khan Lab School, which teaches students for a tuition cost of $27,000 to $32,000 depending on the grade level.
Shah, is co-founder of Kiva, a platform designed to allow people to lend money in small increments to impoverished entrepreneurs. Shah earned his bachelor’s in economics from Stanford University. A former employee at PayPal, Shah, 42, in his profile report said that the idea of Kiva seemed simple and noble, enabling even the poorest of the poor to participate in the world economy. Kiva allows people to lend money in $25 increments. “We had tough traction early on,” Shah, who left PayPal for Kiva in 2005, said in the report. “Trust was the big issue. People never believed they were going to get repaid.” But one year later, the momentum began. Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work in microfinance, the idea of giving small loans to people in need, the report said.After Yunus’ award put a spotlight on microfinance, Kiva’s website suddenly got so much traffic that it crashed, it added. The way Kiva works is simple: People browse through profiles of borrowers around the world and choose who to lend to, the Vision SF report explained. For example, an undocumented woman in Oakland is looking for $775 to grow her pocket bag business. And in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, a group of women is looking for $1,225 to buy rice, oil and seasonings for a restaurant business, it said. Shah says that Kiva isn’t a bank — but instead a platform that runs off empathy.
The winner of the award will receive a $25,000 grant that can be applied to the cause of his or her choice.
In the past 10 years, the site has grown exponentially, with more than 62 million registered users as well as some who don’t register, and more than 1 billion video views, the Chronicle explained. The academy, which now covers the sciences, history, economics, finance, grammar, preschool learning, SAT prep and civics, among other subjects, is used in more than 190 countries and the content translated into 18 languages. Khan said in the report that he wants more, though.“Within my own lifetime I do want to see a billion kids, that Khan Academy is a significant resource for them,” he said. “This is something I want to devote my life to.” The Chronicle’s profile of Khan said the Academy could have netted him millions of dollars, if not more, much like many entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley where Khan resides. “But when he came up with the vision for Khan Academy, he wanted it to be free,” it said. “The mission — a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere.” Khan has expanded the nonprofit with the creation of the Khan Lab School, which teaches students for a tuition cost of $27,000 to $32,000 depending on the grade level.
Shah, is co-founder of Kiva, a platform designed to allow people to lend money in small increments to impoverished entrepreneurs. Shah earned his bachelor’s in economics from Stanford University. A former employee at PayPal, Shah, 42, in his profile report said that the idea of Kiva seemed simple and noble, enabling even the poorest of the poor to participate in the world economy. Kiva allows people to lend money in $25 increments. “We had tough traction early on,” Shah, who left PayPal for Kiva in 2005, said in the report. “Trust was the big issue. People never believed they were going to get repaid.” But one year later, the momentum began. Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work in microfinance, the idea of giving small loans to people in need, the report said.After Yunus’ award put a spotlight on microfinance, Kiva’s website suddenly got so much traffic that it crashed, it added. The way Kiva works is simple: People browse through profiles of borrowers around the world and choose who to lend to, the Vision SF report explained. For example, an undocumented woman in Oakland is looking for $775 to grow her pocket bag business. And in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, a group of women is looking for $1,225 to buy rice, oil and seasonings for a restaurant business, it said. Shah says that Kiva isn’t a bank — but instead a platform that runs off empathy.
The winner of the award will receive a $25,000 grant that can be applied to the cause of his or her choice.
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