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Meg Garlinghouse - Niger
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Meg Garlinghouse, Peace Corps volunteer in Niger (1989-1992), ran an economic development project after interning at the U.S. State Department. She now runs Yahoo for Good, conceiving programs and campaigns that inspire and connect 550 million Yahoo users with causes that can change the world.
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Meg Garlinghouse served in the Peace Corps in Niger from 1989 to 1992, running economic development projects. She was assigned to a millet seed center, millet being the most popular staple in Niger.She was first inspired by her eight-grade teacher, a returned Peace Corps volunteer. Then while Meg was in college earning degree in international public policy she interned at the U.S. State Department and decided she wanted to continue with a career in international policy. Her colleagues there suggested that the Peace Corps was the best way to get experience to continue on in the international policy field. "They were right. The Peace Corps experience was the best experience in my life and I believe is responsible for my success in the private sector today," she now says
Meg now works at Yahoo, a global brand and a huge online community, where she runs Yahoo for Good, which seeks to connect Yahoo's tools and communities with causes to change the world for the better. She focuses on Yahoo's major asset, the 550 million people who visit it every month from around the world. She conceives programs and campaigns that inspire and connect those 550 million people with great causes.
Even though she does not have an MBA, she knows business; she learned it at home. Her parents were business people who ran their house like a business, producing reports and budgets and conducting weekly meetings - even making Meg and her five siblings submit a budget for their allowances.
Despite the fact that Meg has raised millions of dollars and created some very high revenue generating projects, she does not consider herself a social entrepreneur and doesn’t feel she is in the same league. She does have the stamina and courage – the rational risk-seeking spirit of social entrepreneurs.
Her advice to social entrepreneurs: “Take advantage of the power of the Internet to make connections with people who want to support you. Use the Internet the way organizations like Kiva and Global Giving do. Use the Internet to find those individuals who can support you with money, ideas and advice.”
CLICK on the player above to listen to her interview.
