Kiva Founder to Speak at Georgia Southern University
Georgia Southern University and the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement will host Jessica Jackely and Reza Aslan and as they present their lecture “The Promise and Peril of Social Media.”
Jessica Jackley, is the Co-Founder of Kiva.org, the Revolutionary Microlending Website. Also a non-profit organization, Kiva uses the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions to create opportunities for aspiring business men and women around the world. An online community, Kiva helps individuals lend small amounts of money to entrepreneurs. Since being founded in 2005, Kiva has worked to create $200 million in loans to over 700,000 entrepreneurs in 216 countries. This success of the nonprofit has been due in large part to the relentlessly dedicated volunteers and their widespread strategic use of social media.
Jackley is also the cofounder and CEO of Profounder, a platform to fund and grow a business through community involvement and crowdfunding. Profounder offers free tools and innovative ways to cultivate a business.
Jackley’s husband, Dr. Reza Aslan, is the author of the international bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. Not only has this work been translated into thirteen languages, but it also has been named one of the most 100 important books of the last decade.
Aslan is also the founder of Aslan Media Initiatives, an unincorporated nonprofit in the state of California. Aslan Media Initiatives is made up of a team of U.S. and international volunteers. Using new media and social media outlets, the Aslan Media Initiatives team works to gather, produce, and disseminate news and information. Their mission is to inform, educate and engage the public on political, social, religious and cultural issues related to the Greater Middle East and its Diaspora Communities worldwide.
The couple plans to discuss social media and the international impact it has on politics, activism and philanthropy. The lecture will be held Monday, Jan. 30, at 7:00p.m. in the Russell Union Ballroom. Attendance verification will be given for all students who attend.
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