Transforming Economies

Co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg founded Endeavor with the core belief that high-impact entrepreneurs are the key levers of sustainable economic growth. Today, Endeavor is a worldwide community of entrepreneurs, mentors, board members, partners, and team members who make up a global support network for innovation.

Since its establishment in 1997, Endeavor has built a network of over 1,600 entrepreneurs in 60 cities. With Endeavor’s support, the entrepreneurs in its network have created over 1.5 million jobs and generated 15 billion USD (1.6 trillion JPY) in 2017 alone.

No Word for Entrepreneur

For Linda, the light bulb moment for Endeavor came in the back of a taxi cab in Buenos Aires, where she was working at the Ashoka Foundation. She struck up a conversation with the driver and was shocked to learn he had a PhD in Engineering. She asked if he had considered becoming an entrepreneur instead of driving a taxi. “An empresario?” he said dismissively, using the Spanish word for a big businessman. It suddenly occurred to her that there was no Spanish word for “entrepreneur.”

It turned out that entrepreneurs in Argentina could only access $100 microcredit loans or $100 million dollar investments, there was no infrastructure to support entrepreneurs that had a good idea but no access to capital or connections. Linda realized that by supporting these entrepreneurs she could help create jobs and contribute to the development of the local economy.

After launching in Argentina, Endeavor continued to establish new offices across South America and other emerging markets. Around 2013, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Endeavor expanded its program to developed markets, launching offices in the United States and Europe. Today, Endeavor helps accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial ventures around the world.

A Global Network

Endeavor is comprised of a network of over 4,000 business leaders who provide mentorship, connections, and investment to high-impact entrepreneurs growing their companies. Endeavor mentors and board members are business leaders and successful founders with experience in a wide variety of industries. They have achieved success and want to pay it forward by passing their knowledge along to the next generation of founders.

Endeavor Japan launched in 2017 with the support of 14 founding board members, who represent the country's top CEOs and entrepreneurs.

Oki Matsumoto, CEO of Monex Group and Chairman of the Endeavor Japan Board, believes that “innovation has the power to change society for the better. Through Endeavor, I seek out and support talented entrepreneurs that I believe will positively contribute to Japan’s economic future.”