Kennedy Odede worked ten-hour shifts in a factory in Kenya, earning about a dollar a day. Somehow, he managed to save twenty cents from that tiny wage. He used the money to buy a soccer ball. He took it back to Kibera, the neighborhood in Nairobi where he had grown up. Other young people came … Read more
In 1981, businessman Eugene Lang returned to the elementary school he had attended as a boy in East Harlem, New York. He had been invited to give a graduation speech to a class of sixth-grade students. He planned to offer the usual advice about working hard, staying in school and building a successful future. But … Read more
For nearly ten years, Scott Harrison made his living promoting New York City nightclubs. He knew how to throw a party, attract a crowd and convince people that they absolutely had to be somewhere on a Saturday night. It was a successful career filled with expensive drinks, exclusive guest lists and late nights. But eventually, … Read more
In 1994, Canadian businessman Lloyd Cenaiko traveled to Ukraine with his father to visit the places their family had come from. He wanted to meet relatives, learn about his family’s history and see a country he’d heard about for much of his life. At the time, Lloyd had a successful career in commercial real estate. … Read more
When Maggie Doyne finished high school in New Jersey, she decided to take a year off and travel. She was 18, had about $5,000 saved from babysitting, and wanted to see more of the world before deciding what to do next. During her travels, she reached Nepal, a country recovering from years of civil war. … Read more
In 1995, an 87-year-old woman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, sat down with a bank officer to decide what she wanted to do with her life savings. Her name was Oseola McCarty, and she had earned nearly every dollar washing and ironing other people’s clothes. She had never finished elementary school, never held a high-paying job, and … Read more
When Canadian entrepreneur Jody Steinhauer started volunteering with charitable organizations, she noticed something that bothered her. Shelters and community groups were spending precious donation money buying everyday necessities at retail prices. They needed socks, underwear, soap, blankets, and other basic supplies, but they were often paying far more than businesses would for the same products. … Read more
In 1998, Microsoft executive John Wood was hiking through Nepal when a local headmaster invited him to visit his school. Wood accepted, expecting a brief look around before continuing his trek through the Himalayas. What he found stayed with him long after the trip ended. The school had approximately 450 students, but its library was … Read more
Harmon Parker was working in rural Kenya when a community asked him to help build a footbridge. He had construction skills, but he had not arrived with plans to spend his life building crossings. The request put a practical problem in front of him. People needed to reach schools, clinics and markets on the other … Read more