PROGRAM:
2:30-3:00 Snacks and networking
3:00 Introductions and Earthenable overview
3:20 Panel discussion and audience Q&A
4:10 Design thinking in breakout groups
5:00 Program ends
PANELISTS:
Gayatri Datar, MBA '14, is a co-founder of EarthEnable, a social enterprise with a mission to improve the health of low-income communities by replacing dirt floors with affordable and sanitary floors. Gayatri was lucky to find her passion during college, when she had the opportunity to take several leaves of absence to volunteer with grassroots NGOs and nonprofits in India, Namibia, Nicaragua, and Albania, and the United States. Since then, she has continued to work in international development across several sectors, including with Dalberg Global Development Advisors, the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Liberia, and the World Bank. She was also a research consultant with the International Finance Corporation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is incredibly passionate about scaling simple technologies that can have a positive impact across the world. She holds a BA from Harvard College in Economics, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an MPA in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School. Learn more at http://www.earthenable.com
Daryn Dodson, MBA '07, advises companies, universities, and policy makers on social impact investments. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Daryn co-created The New Orleans Entrepreneur Week at The Idea Village, a platform engaging leading private equity firms, business schools, and Fortune 500 companies including Google and Cisco, to invest more than 30,000 hours and $1 million into New Orleans entrepreneurs. While earning his MBA from the Stanford GSB, Daryn helped to institutionalize the Service Learning Program, which sends hundreds of MBAs on global service trips each year. Stanford awarded Daryn the Matt Anderson Fellowship for leadership, stewardship and the sincere desire to help others. He received an A.B. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University.
Kirk Holmes MBA '87 is the founder and President of Holmes and Associates, which he founded in 1998 after a successful stint as the first General Manager of Comcast Online, the first Internet services offered by the country's largest broadband provider. During his 25+ year career, Mr. Holmes has helped public sector and private sector client organizations save millions of dollars and improve business results, service delivery, and IT operations through management consultation and best practices. Mr. Holmes holds an MBA from the Stanford GSB and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Amita Shukla, MBA '03, is an innovator and entrepreneur focused on discovering, developing, and scaling simple yet powerful ideas for human well-being. She is the founder and CEO of Vitamita and the author of Enduring Edge. Previously, she was a principal at New Enterprise Associates, one of the world’s largest and most active venture capital firms with over $13 billion in committed capital, where she evaluated medical innovations and invested in healthcare startups for close to nine years. Shukla regularly mentors startups, advises organizations, and speaks to audiences of innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders in industry, academia, government, and the military. Shukla has a BA in biochemistry from Harvard and an MBA from the Stanford GSB. She holds 10 patents. Learn more at http://www.vitamita.com
ABOUT EARTHENABLE:
EarthEnable's mission is to make healthy and affordable floors a possibility for the 80% of Rwandans who now live with dirt floors in their home and eventually make them a possibility for the billions of people in the world who face the same challenge. Concrete has been shown to reduce diarrhea by 49% and parasitic infections by 78%. A concrete floor costs $300-500 for a small Rwandan home while EarthEnable floors cost $30. Such ecofriendly floors are gaining popularity in the USA but have been too expensive for the developing world. EarthEnable's technology innovations enable more people to afford healthier homes. Additionally, EarthEnable’s business model turns newly skilled masons into EarthEnable micro-franchisees. The company now employs over 17 people and has installed over a hundred floors. EarthEnable received generous startup funding from the GSB Class of 1980 Project Redwood Fund, a Social Innovation Fellowship from the Stanford GSB, and the "Pitch for Change" competition at Harvard Business School. Learn more at http://www.earthenable.com