Interview with David Kyle: Impact Business Leaders
Conducted by Ali Matalon
Could you tell us a bit about your corporate background and what event sparked your desire to enter the social impact industry?
My international experience began when I was 11 years old when my father moved our family from suburban New York to Latin America. In the following years I lived in Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Colombia and Mexico. After going to international high schools abroad I went to Trinity College and then Johns Hopkins School of International Studies (SAIS). After graduate school I worked at the World Bank and then joined Citibank in Brazil where I worked in the Corporate Bank and lived for five years. I was subsequently transferred to Citibank Hong Kong (three years), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (two years), Lisbon, Portugal (six years), London, England (two years) before returning to New York. I was in downtown New York on 9/11, just four blocks from the World Trade Center and witnessed the entire event. Shortly afterward, I left Citibank to start my non-banking career.
Having left the corporate world, where did you end up next and how did you become so successful?
I spent an initial two years working for Save the Children, setting up a new agency in Brazil. In early 2003, I met Jacqueline Novogratz and joined Acumen Fund as Chief Operating Officer. After helping Acumen build out its regional offices and staff I left the company in 2007 and moved to Hyderabad, India where I started a for-profit lender called the Indian School Finance Company (ISFC) which focused on making $12,000 infrastructure loans to private schools in slums. The ISFC is currently in 22 cities across India and has made more than 2,000 loans to schools. In 2010 I returned to the US and accepted a position working for the Calvert Foundation based in Bethesda, Maryland where I worked until mid-2013.
From the time I worked at Acumen I have been teaching part-time at a variety of graduate schools in business and international affairs, first Columbia University in New York followed by the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India; Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business in Atlanta; The Monterey Institute in California and American University in Washington DC.
How did Impact Business Leaders come to be?
In 2013 I obtained a grant from the Shell Foundation to establish Impact Business Leaders (IBL) which as of today has been operating for about 14 months. IBL’s business objective is to develop leaders in the social enterprise world while building strong management teams for growing social enterprise around the world but mostly located in East Africa and India. We recruit business professionals with 4+ years of experience and help them apply for job openings which we obtain from our network of social enterprises around the world. Our goal is to help stimulate the growth of social sector companies by providing them with experienced business talent. I started the company because it combined a long personal history of building teams across international markets and teaching people about social enterprise.
Given your international experience, where has been your favorite place to live and work?
I have been fortunate to have lived in 12 different countries and would say that each one of them was a great experience at that point in my life. I would not say that I have a favorite. Brazil will always be special because I lived there the longest and my eldest two daughters were born there.
What advice would you give students interested in engaging in the social enterprise space?
My guidance to students who are starting a career in social enterprise has two elements: first, it is important that at all times in every job the person has in their career that they are learning a lot. If you are not learning, no matter what your age, it is time to move to a new position. My second bit of advice is that it is important to diversify your experience. You are going to have a 40 year career and the more varied your skills and experiences the better able you will be to take on interesting jobs in a fast changing world. It is a mistake to think you are only qualified for jobs where you have prior, direct experience. People would only have one type of job in their lives if this were the case. It is good to be a generalist which enables you to take on a great variety of positions during your life IF you have one technical skill which you are very good at: writing, finance, technology, sales, etc. Finally, it is important to take chances on jobs and opportunities that may interest you. The more your experiences are different the more capable you will be at taking on new positions and the more fun you will have along the way.
