Leila Chirayath Janah
Illustration by Esra Roise
"Work is at the core of human dignity," says Leila Chirayath Janah, founder of Samasource, a not-for-profit that connects people in developing countries with work via the Net. One example: Palo Alto-based Benetech has character-recognition text files that need to be checked against their sources. Samasource hires workers in Kenya to correct words the computer got wrong. "We're creating platforms for meritocracy in the world."
Meet a few Samasource trainees in this video, followed by a clip of Janah from the Clinton Global Initiative.
"Work is at the core of human dignity. It's how we define ourselves."
- Interests:
- Shovel Creative, GiveWell, JSM Casting, RootMusic, New Scholars Gala, Sarah Lacy, Shooting guns, Omar Little, Himalayan Wild Fibers, Mary Broh, West Africa Fistula Foundation, U.S. Department of State: Embassy Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Crunchyroll, 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting, THE RUSE, Regretsy, Philip Delves Broughton, CATFISH movie, TinTin, Mayor Jack Reynolds, Scarab Magazine, Desquval, Kalbass Kreyol, mygofer, D-Rev: Design for the Other 90%, Delysium Events, Sourcemap, Marisa Monte, The Dragonfly Effect, Khan Academy, Startup: Education, Kiva, Gray Area Foundation For The Arts, Outsourced, KitchenTimer.ORG, UNHCR, Nicholas Britell, Premier-Experts in Search and Placement, Spark, CrowdConf, Facebook Developer Garage Program, ChickRx, Nuru International, El Catango - Muebles Contemporáneos de la Patagonia, Tashi Dhargyal, Hidden Los Angeles, KAYAK.com - flight, hotel and car rental search, Flipboard, Donors choose, The Wire, Mary J. Blige, Oldboy, Scuba diving, Microtask, Ethicle, Wonderfest, Voices of Rwanda, Mbwana Photography, THE AFRICA BAZAAR magazine, TEDxLahore, GOOD, Craig Newmark, The 1010 Project, Paul Polak, New America Media, PBS FRONTLINE/World Global Storytellers, Nonprofit Organizations, The Girl Effect, Samasource, TajTunes, Amy Holmes, LittleSis, Miles Fisher, Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners, oDesk, AFS Intercultural Programs, Council on Foreign Relations, Wired Science, Ranger Rick, Indego Africa, iTEACH SA, Supermarché, RateItAll, Scobleizer, 1000 Jobs/Haiti, Inc., Dave Morin, Tim Ferriss, Migrant-Rights.org, envisionGood.tv, TEDx Silicon Valley, Jon Katzenbach, PeaceDOT, Sanjeev Sharma Photography, The Buckminster Fuller Institute, Flowtown, Mission Motors, fbFund, Do You Viv?, Non-Profits on Facebook, senegal, bunny1, Optify, Digital Summer, Lu Mieru, The Hookup, Blitz Bazaar, Maker Faire Africa, Hope Phones, YouNoodle, ANYA, Facebook for Influencers, Monocle, Caring.com, Rising Tide Capital, Better World Books, The Ridiculous Race, Gavin Newsom, Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, Appsorama, Barack Obama, Photojojo, Dreamfish, Partners In Health, The Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Global Deeds Foundation, Inc., Cory Booker, Dhoonya Dance LLC, Chris Kelly, KCRW, Point Reyes, chOpaal, smart-e-bear, Larry Leslie's Out West Gallery, La Roux, Phoenix, Vienna Teng, The Books, Amjad Ali Khan, Peace Innovation, Daddy Yankee, Roald Dahl's Short Stories, Heart of Darkness, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Glee, The Office, NY Export: Opus Jazz (The Film), Muhammad Ali the Greatest, Phantoms in the Brain, On Beauty, Los Hermanos, Stevie Wonder, Chase Community Giving, Philanthrocapitalism, CrowdFlower, Virtual Goods Summit, Quora, mission*social, Bara K. * Makeup artist *, CAMS Class of 2000, TaskRabbit, Baking for Good, Sifteo, Built On Respect, Roubini Global Economics, Netexplorateur, Axcient, We Are Scientists, Janelle Monae, Jumping Out of Boats, Vanessa da Mata, Planes, Los Campesinos!, Kings Of Leon
- Music:
- Charlotte Gainsbourg
- THE RUSE
- Kalbass Kreyol
- Marisa Monte
- Nicholas Britell
- Mary J. Blige
- The Books
- La Roux
- Phoenix
- Vienna Teng
- Amjad Ali Khan
- Daddy Yankee
- Los Hermanos
- Stevie Wonder
- Kings Of Leon
- Los Campesinos!
- Janelle Monae
- Vanessa da Mata
- We Are Scientists
- Groups:
- Faye's Cabby Cafe Culinary Haven (Hanover square Mayfair)
- S U N N Y Ezhumattoor (John Mathew Thekkel)
- D E E P A K D E V ..... Tunes
- Haiti Ventures
- Business Process Outsourcing For Kenya
Linked In
- Founder and CEO, Samasource | San Francisco Bay Area
- Summary:
- Leila Chirayath Janah is the founder of Samasource, a social business that connects women, youth, and refugees living in poverty to microwork — small, computer-based tasks that build skills and generate life-changing income. Janah is a frequent speaker on social entrepreneurship, technology, and international development at institutions including MIT, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, UC Berkeley, Columbia, and Harvard. Her work has been profiled by CBS, CNN, The New York Times, and The New Scientist. She serves on the board of TechSoup Global. Prior to Samasource, Janah was a founding Director of Incentives for Global Health, an organization formed by Professors Thomas Pogge and Aidan Hollis and advised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen to develop new financing mechanisms for pharmaceutical R&D on diseases of the poor. She has served as a Visiting Scholar with the Stanford Program on Global Justice and a Visiting Researcher at Australian National University’s Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. Leila received her BA from Harvard University in 2005, where she led the Harvard International Development Group and published work on the Rwandan genocide. Earlier in her career, Janah worked for Katzenbach Partners (now Booz & Company), the World Bank’s Development Research Group, and as a travel writer for Let’s Go guidebooks in Mozambique, Brazil, and Borneo.
- Specialties:
- International development, technology, social enterprise, outsourcing, crowdsourcing
- Connections:
- 500+
- Positions:
- Director at TechSoup Global
- Founder and CEO at Samasource
