- About
- Our Story
Our Story
We are driven by our economic and community development principles.
Sixty-seven million young women and men are unemployed*, and we are on a mission to change that.
The idea behind Entrepreneurs Across Borders (EAB) began percolating in 2004 when Martin Babinec made his first visit to Jamaica. Over the course of a one week vacation with his family, it was wandering off the all-inclusive resort into non tourist areas where they experienced both rampant poverty and limited pathways for economic opportunity.
Being an ardent believer that entrepreneurs can solve any problem, and a product of Silicon Valley's startup community, Martin began to explore the possibility that entrepreneurs who have achieved a level of success would be willing to "give first" to entrepreneurs in emerging economies without any expectation of receiving anything in return.
As is the case with many startups EAB was born out of a simple question:
What if we could identify seasoned entrepreneurs who want to give back and curate an experience for them that connects them to entrepreneurs in developing nations and provide opportunities otherwise unavailable to these emerging entrepreneurs?
The attributes of Jamaica made it the right country to test the idea, but it took another 14 years of visits to develop the necessary understanding of local culture, obstacles for entrepreneurs as well as personal relationships in country before formally launching EAB in 2019.
Welcome to Entrepreneurs Across Borders, a nonprofit organization based in the United States that is founded and operated by successful entrepreneurs who are committed to transforming lives in developing countries through economic self-sufficiency. With the help of other successful entrepreneurs and their contribution of time, talents, and treasures, we partner with emerging entrepreneurs in communities, and all over the world, to help them start and grow high impact organizations and companies that will create jobs, micro-enterprises, and develop talent to reach economic self-sufficiency.
EAB also identifies partners with programs that are effective at developing talent, then connects these partners to both emerging and experienced entrepreneurs as a catalyst to accelerate developing a supportive ecosystem.
At EAB we believe entrepreneurs play a critical role in contributing to strong and stable communities, which is why we identify, curate, and connect emerging entrepreneurs with the resources and seasoned entrepreneurs they need to create jobs, sustainable livelihoods, and equitable growth.
