Empowering Communities and Transforming Lives.
Since 2008, Yoni and I made a promise: we’d donate at least 10% of our profits to causes we truly believed in, with a special focus on education.
Even in those early days, when profits were modest and sometimes non-existent, we didn’t just give money.
We rolled up our sleeves, dedicating time and energy to help projects like the URDT school for girls in Uganda.
But when the success of our Business Bootcamp skyrocketed, so did our profits—and we knew it was time to step things up.
Enter The Open Circles Foundation—my “baby.” Along with our friend Femke, a director at Triodos Bank (and a legal wizard), we turned our donations into something more structured, more impactful.
Every year, we searched high and low for a project that met our strict criteria: education-based, transparent, and ensuring that at least 95% of donations reached the people who needed it most—no getting lost in bureaucracy!
It took months, but the search was always worth it.
One of our biggest goals was to work with large organizations to amplify our impact.
But let me tell you, working with these giants wasn’t easy.
Big organizations meant big bureaucracy and long wait times. Still, every year we found a way to create projects that mattered.
In 2014, we teamed up with WWF & Barefoot College to bring solar power to rural Madagascar.
This wasn’t just any project. Barefoot College has a groundbreaking education program where they take illiterate grandmothers (yes, grandmothers!) and turn them into solar engineers in just six months.
These incredible women learn how to install, maintain, and repair solar panels—skills they then bring back to their communities.
It’s not just about bringing light; it’s about empowerment.
Thanks to our $50,000 donation, three remote villages got electricity for the very first time.
Suddenly, children could study after dark, and mothers could earn extra income by crafting in the evenings.
It was a game-changer for these communities, proving that a self-sustaining, community-driven program could work miracles.
The real highlight for me was when I traveled with other donors to witness the magic firsthand.
Madagascar had been on my radar for years, but nothing could have prepared me for the level of poverty we saw in the remote areas we visited.
And Madagascar is huge—but when there are no real roads, it feels even bigger.
It took us 22 hours to reach the first village, just 200 km from the capital.
We traveled by minibus, a giant 4×4 truck, mountain bikes, and finally, on foot! Talk about an adventure.
When we finally arrived, the welcome party was unforgettable.
There was dancing, singing, and even speeches in French (which gave me the perfect excuse for a quick nap).
Despite having so little, they showered us with gifts. It was incredibly humbling.
Over the next few days, I watched in awe as these elderly women installed solar panels, recharged lamps, and even began teaching the younger generation how to do it. The resilience and resourcefulness of the human spirit was on full display, and it left a lasting impact on me.
It was a journey filled with challenges, inspiration, and the realization that even the smallest efforts can spark a light that shines for generations.
Open Circles Foundation other projects:
2016 – Save a Girl in Nepal
2015 – Schools For Laos
2013 – South Africa Entrepreneurs
2008 – 2012 – URDT Girls School Uganda
