Teju Ravilochan - Co-founder of Unreasonable Institute

From a young age, Teju Ravilochan wondered what we could do to tackle problems like global poverty. Frustrated that this BA in International Affairs wasn't preparing him to do so, he obtained a Grant from the University of Colorado at Boulder to conduct research about the effectiveness of non-profits in India. He learned that traditional charity-based models are not effectively combating poverty. Teju started the SHARED Element, aiming to connect India's rural poor with business via mobile phone. In a conversation with Paul Polak, whose entrepreneurial work has lifted over 24 million farmers out of poverty,Teju realized he still had a great deal to learn. He joined Paul and began working as his assistant at D-Rev: Design for the Other 90%, eventually leaving to co-found the Unreasonable Institute.

The Unreasonable Institute is a mentorship and training program for entrepreneurs tackling social and environmental problems. Each year, Unreasonable unites 25 entrepreneurs from around the world in one house for 6 weeks in Boulder. There, these entrepreneurs work with 50 mentors ranging from the co-founder of Google.org, to the CTO of HP, to an entrepreneur who's enabled over 24 million farmers out of poverty. It provides entrepreneurs free legal advice and design consulting, gives them the chance to pitch to hundreds of investors in 2 cities, and to form relationships with 25 global impact investment funds. The goal? To launch globally scalable ventures that will one day define progress in our time.

 

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