BUSINESS
The Endeavor of Scale-Ups Endeavor’s Saudi Arabian chapter based in Riyadh is bringing the values of Endeavor in KSA. By Jou Pabalate
The Endeavor KSA entrepreneurs
Can you tell us about the story of Endeavor?
In 1997, Linda Rottenberg and Peter Kellner sat down and sketched their vision on the back of a napkin. Kellner had just returned from a Harvard Business School trip to China, where he had witnessed first-hand the boom in entrepreneurship that would transform that country. For Rottenberg, the light bulb moment for Endeavor came in the back of a taxi cab in Buenos Aires. She struck up a 22 DESTINATION RIYADH MAY 2016
conversation with the driver and was shocked to learn he had a PhD in engineering. She asked if he hadn’t considered becoming an entrepreneur instead of driving a taxi. “An empresario? (Spanish for big businessman),” he said dismissively. It suddenly occurred to her that there was no Spanish word for “entrepreneur.” The “business plan” that began on the back of a napkin has become a shared vision, cultivated and expanded by board members, staff and entrepreneurs around the globe.