Catching up with Bryson Ishii from the D.K. Kim Foundation
DK Kim Foundation has been a fantastic partner with the IBD program as well as the broader UC Berkeley campus. The Foundation was set up by Mr Dong Koo Kim, who immigrated to the US from Korea. His goal is to equip global leaders with the tools and moral compass to drive social good. Partnering with UC Berkeley, his foundation has supported numerous programs, ranging from the Development Engineering Masters to various fellowships.
Within the IBD program, the Foundation has worked with us on two different development projects in Cambodia and Tanzania, analyzing how to build sustainable agriculture markets and ecosystems. I caught up with Bryson Ishii, Board Chair for the Foundation to learn more about what drives the Foundation and him personally.
How did you get involved with the DK Kim Foundation?
I was introduced to Mr Kim through a professor and mentor from LMU, my alma mater. I was in the process of leaving the venture capital world and wanted to transition to actively building things, versus simply investing. Mr Kim had a number of investments in addition to his foundation for which he was looking for help and I was intrigued by his portfolio of projects. My first day was the Monday before the Covid lockdown started. I (wrongly) assumed all Mr Kim’s work would be put on hold but instead I was put in charge of operations and new venture investments, and we were busier than ever!
What is in the Foundation’s portfolio of projects?
We have a number of education partners – Berkeley was the first, then USC, then LMU. Mr Kim wanted to offer support to foreign students who couldn’t access student loans, so we created a number of scholarships. This was the start, and then we branched into supporting specific degree programs as well as research initiatives.
What has the impact been of the two IBD projects?
The Cambodia project gave us a model for Tanzania based on key learnings and gaps in our previous model. Cambodia highlighted that we needed to actively work with the government and have a local presence to make real change. Based on this, we developed a ‘teach to fish’ model in Colombia, which we then recreated in Lushoto, Tanzania. The IBD team’s work in Tanzania has resulted in a formal agreement with the Tanzanian government, as well as launching our first cohort of farmers which we’ll support through capital investments. The team’s worked developed a blueprint for 6 others areas in Lushoto to implement our market-ecosystem strategy.
Thank you D.K. Kim, Bryson and everyone at the D.K. Kim Foundation, and we at IBD look forward to working with you on more impactful and engaging global projects in the future.
You can see more of the Lushoto market and the students at work here
