Pivot to Entrepreneurship

On December 17, 2025, Colin Steele (Executive Director, Public Value Lab), Emily Owen (Program Manager, Halcyon), and Stefanie Falconi, PhD (AI Practice Lead, Fenix Digital LLC) spoke at length about their ventures into social impact entrepreneurship. Jackie Rojas moderated this event, and Steve Radelet provided additional commentary.

This session was the eleventh in our Pivot to New Career Paths seminar series, designed to offer attendees the opportunity to hear from colleagues who have already made these important career transitions and glean how to best embark on these changes themselves.

Driven by public service and advancing global and local issues, many job-seekers have pivoted to new careers in entrepreneurship to address the world’s most pressing challenges.

Similar to independent consulting, entrepreneurship offers a path for development professionals and public servants who have ideas for products or organizations that advance social good. This option may be particularly attractive to individuals who are innovative, creative, and willing to take a chance on their ideas!

Furthermore, since the international development sector has changed rapidly over the past year, entrepreneurship may be the best path forward to pursue your new ideas, or to help others pursue their own novel strategies.

As with our other “We’ve Pivoted!” sessions, our featured guest speakers offered their insights, lessons learned, and practical guidance on how and where to begin your own pivot into entrepreneurship. 

If you have wondered how you can continue to contribute to important causes in a meaningful way in today’s job climate, then entrepreneurship may be right for you!

Other Previous Sessions

Please feel free to browse our other previous sessions to access summaries, video content, and more information about our other events!