Premal Shah

Shah was born in Ahmedabad, India, and raised in Minnesota, graduating from Irondale High School. He attended Stanford University, where he pursued his interest in economic development, with a specific focus on microfinance. At the London School of Economics he received a research grant to study the microfinance work of the Self-Employed Women's Association.[3]

Shah was an early employee of and principal product manager at PayPal.[4] Building off his college interest in microfinance, Shah took a sabbatical from PayPal in 2004 to prototype a concept of person-to-person microlending in India.[5][6]

Upon his return to Silicon Valley in 2005, Shah joined Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley in launching Kiva and scaling it into a global organization.[7] Kiva has since raised over one billion dollars in loans from over a million lenders in support of over two million entrepreneurs from eighty countries. Seventy-five percent of loans are disbursed to women, with a repayment rate of ninety-six percent.[2]

In addition to serving as president of Kiva, Shah sits on the boards of other non-profit of organizations, including Center for Humane Technology, Change.org Foundation, Watsi, and VolunteerMatch.[8][9] He is considered to be a part of the PayPal Mafia, a group of PayPal alumni who have gone on to found or co-found other successful companies, including YouTube, LinkedIn, Tesla Motors, and Yelp.[10]

• Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40 List.[11]
• Obama White House Champion of Change[12]
• Visionary of the Year Nominee, San Francisco Chronicle[13]
• World Economic Forum - Young Global Leader selection[14]
• Olympic Torch carrier for the 2008 Summer Games[15]
• Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship[16]
• Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs[17]

Premal lives in San Francisco, California, with his wife and two children. He speaks widely about the potential for technology, business and humanity to address some of society's toughest challenges.[18][19]