Joanna Rees

Common Ground Among Global Entrepreneurs

Joanna Rees, Armjad, Esteban Sosnick, Diego, Fedra Kousos, Jonathan Teo, Alfred Fuller, Adam Black, Javier Martinez

Endeavor, a global non-profit established fifteen years ago, connects high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets with capital and talent, exemplified by portfolio companies like Jordan's Pharmacy One and Chile's Atacama Labs that collectively generated $5.5 billion in revenue and 200,000 jobs last year. To address systemic barriers such as regulatory hurdles and capital scarcity, the organization launched Endeavor Catalyst, an impact investment fund modeled on top-quartile venture performance, while encouraging founders to adapt business models for local cultures and build domestic training infrastructure. As U.S. early-stage capital recedes, the organization predicts the next wave of global innovation will emerge from these regions, with its new fund aiming to recycle returns to accelerate further entrepreneurial ecosystem growth across expanding markets like Spain and Poland.