On the Social Edge

Not yet 40, eBay founding President Jeff Skoll is already making a difference

 by Sally Osberg

 
When other students at his high school in Canada were worrying about whether they were going to pass algebra or whom to ask to the prom, Jeff Skoll was pondering ways to solve problems that have plagued the world for decades.

“As a kid, I read – a lot – and it seemed to me that the world was not heading in a direction that boded well for me or for my children. Even then, I knew I wanted to make a difference,” he says, reflecting on long summers spent camping and reading (“way beyond my age!”) with his family in upstate New York.

Influenced by authors like Aldous Huxley and Ayn Rand, Jeff decided to become a writer whose motivational stories would inspire people to take up the myriad challenges of solving the world’s ills. Subsequently, realizing that self-sufficiency probably came before changing the world, he took an interim step, earning an engineering degree from the University of Toronto and founding two companies in his early 20s. While both ventures were successful, Jeff recognized he’d be bumping up against the limitations of his business knowledge and headed to California and Stanford University for his M.B.A.

In 1995, not long after completing his M.B.A., he was invited by Pierre Omidyar – a friend of a friend – to join him in building his then-fledgling online auction business. Armed with his newly acquired business acumen, Jeff was skeptical at first, but his entrepreneur’s instincts prevailed, and he agreed to come on board as the company’s first full-time employee and first president. The company, of course, became eBay, now a global corporation with more than 75 million buyers and sellers around the world who form the remarkable phenomenon known as the eBay community.

As an entrepreneur himself, Jeff draws his inspiration from individuals who attack social problems with the determination and savvy of dedicated business entrepreneurs. These extraordinary men and women dedicate their lives to bringing about lasting, positive social change; increasingly, they are becoming known as “social entrepreneurs.”

Among them are such historical figures as Jane Addams and Florence Nightingale, whose success in improving social conditions is well known. Social entrepreneurs currently at work include Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and inventor of micro-loan industry that has provided credit to more than 67 million poor people worldwide; Martin Fisher, who has developed an array of low-cost technologies enabling more than 33,000 local entrepreneurs in Kenya and Tanzania to start profitable small businesses; and Bill Strickland, whose world-renowned Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild has educated and inspired thousands of inner-city youths.

It is through the efforts of social entrepreneurs like these that Jeff believes his philanthropic philosophy can best be realized.

“The idea is that a little bit of good can turn into a whole lot of good when fueled by the commitment of a social entrepreneur,” explains Jeff. “We find the people with worldchanging ideas, and then we empower them to effect even greater impact. At the Skoll Foundation, we describe them as uncommon heroes dedicated to the common good.”

Founded in 1999, the Skoll Foundation advances systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs. “It seemed to us that the work of social entrepreneurs was exciting and far-reaching enough to warrant more than grants,” Jeff says. “By connecting them to other change agents working around the world and by making their stories better known, we’re participating in a global movement that shows enormous promise for the world.”

Connecting social entrepreneurs worldwide happens 24/7 through Social Edge, the foundation’s online community. Inspired by Jeff ’s experience with the extraordinary eBay community – where buyers and sellers exchange knowledge, rate one another, and interact in a host of predictable and unpredictable ways – Social Edge features discussion, events, and knowledge sections. More than one of these discussions has been sparked by Jeff ’s thoughts and questions; dozens took up his challenge, for example, to identify films like Gandhi or Schindler’s List that demonstrate how people make a difference – tackling inequality and injustice with courage and conviction.

In November 2003, Jeff traveled to the U.K. where he joined the dean of the Said Business School at Oxford University to announce the creation of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship with a grant of 4.5 million pounds sterling, which was valued at approximately $8.2 million U.S. at press time. Among its many programs, The Centre will host the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual event that will make its debut in March 2004, bringing together social visionaries from around the globe.

In addition, the Skoll Foundation is helping to build awareness for and celebrate the successes of social entrepreneurs. For example, the Foundation has committed $1.7 million for a
four-part television documentary series featuring the work of 12 social entrepreneurs working in eight countries. Produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting, the series is scheduled to premiere this fall.

All of these projects underscore Jeff Skoll’s belief that individuals can make a tremendous impact. Jeff says, “Social entrepreneurs come from all levels of society and from communities in nearly every country of the world. They all share the same underlying drive and passion to see their ideas through. Many of them have had a huge effect on the world, yet most people have not even heard of them – a trend we hope to change!”

If you apply his definition of social entrepreneurism to his own work, it isn’t far-fetched to call Jeff a social entrepreneur himself. Not yet 40, he’s already made a world of difference. For his vision and accomplishments, he has received a number of honors and distinctions, including the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Outstanding Philanthropist Award for 2003, as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater, the University of Toronto.

What’s next? With Jeff, it’s all about the alignment of his vision with his considerable talents and precious time. Currently, that vision incorporates film making, with his creation of a new company that will, in his words, "unleash the power of media to create and deliver material that will educate and empower people to eliminate the dangers of an imbalanced world of haves and have-nots.”

“Not everyone can be Gandhi,” Jeff says, “but each of us has the power to make sure our own lives count – and it’s those millions of lives that will ultimately build a better world.”