Priya Haji (Haas MBA 03)
Priya Haji (Haas MBA 03) was a stand-out social entrepreneur and leader. If you didn’t have the chance to meet her, get to know her in her own words with this 2011 Ted Talk and this interview with Forbes in 2011
I think the best ideas to solve the biggest problems are still out there to be done – and someone reading this article might have one. If that is you – trust yourself, and go for it! The worst thing that can happen is that it will not work, and who knows you might create something even better than you imagined. – Priya Haji, 2011
Creating a ‘World of Good’
In 2003, Haji and Haas classmates Siddharth Sanghvi and David Guendelman wrote a business plan for World of Good and entered it into the 2003 Global Social Ventures Competition (GSVC), one of the nation’s top funding contests for social entrepreneurs. They won the competition and launched World of Good, Inc., focused on getting ethically sourced, fair-trade products to larger markets and donating 10 percent of net profits from the sale of these items to its sister nonprofit, World of Good Development Organization. This made World of Good one of the first so-called “hybrid” for-profit/nonprofit social enterprises. World of Good fair trade products were distributed by over 2000 retailers in the US and the brand was eventually acquired by Ebay in 2010. Read more here.
Turning Words into Action
Priya was also someone who understood what it takes to turn words into action. It’s easy enough to say you’re going to save money, easy enough to say you’re going to pay down your debt. But turning talk into action – that’s where the challenge always lies. In 2013, Priya launched SaveUp, a free, competitive, fun-to-use program that served as an entertaining sort of personal financial education, where users were rewarded for saving and lessening debt. By offering prizes ($2 million jackpot!) and a framework for navigating American debt culture, SaveUp incentivized responsibility and aimed to remove the emotional contexts that make personal finance difficult. Read more here.
“My goal with SaveUp is to help millions of Americans out of the recession through playing a game” – Priya Haji, 2013
Honoring Priya
Priya Haji passed away unexpectedly in 2014, leaving behind two small children and countless colleagues, mentors, mentees, and friends. She was remembered through many tributes, including:
- July 16, 2014 – Vox – Priya Haji, CEO of Personal Finance Start-up SaveUp
- July 17, 2014 – Nonprofit Times – Memorials Established for Priya Haji
- July 18, 2014 – Haas News – Social Entrepreneur: Priya Haji, MBA 03, Passes Away
- July 29, 2014 – Fast Company – Remembering Priya Haji: “The Best Social Entrepreneur of our Generation“
- August 22, 2014 – IBSI Blog – Appreciation: Priya Haji, Champion of “Inspired Competition“
Priya Haji Fund
The Priya Haji Memorial Fund was created with gifts from Priya’s many friends, classmates, and colleagues. It is a quasi-endowment fund and supports awards, lectures or other activities to support students of the Haas School of Business involved in social entrepreneurship and innovation.
In 2016, Haas awarded the inaugural Priya Haji Award which recognized student social entrepreneurship and innovation at the Haas School of Business. Although the GSVC transitioned to the Sustainable & Impact Finance (SAIF) program, the Priya Haji Award remains at IBSI and has been awarded to outstanding Haas students focused on social entrepreneurship.
