Rick Little has 35+ years of experience as a social entrepreneur. He is the founder of a dozen organizations that together now operate in more than 110 countries impacting millions of young people each year where they live, learn, work and play. Currently, Little is co-founder and President of Opa Health – a new global health effort to end preventable diseases. (www.opahealth.org)
Rick is founder of the International Youth Foundation (IYF) which is based in Baltimore. IYF was launched with an initial contribution of $70 million by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the largest in Kellogg’s history. It’s work now spans more than 100 countries, including extensive work across Africa, improving the conditions and prospects for young people. (www.iyfnet.org)
In 2008 Rick was founding CEO and creator of Silatech – now the largest youth employment and entrepreneurship initiative working across the Middle East and North Africa. Since its establishment by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser (Chair of the Qatar Foundation), Silatech has created more than 1.3 million youth jobs, and raised over $650 million in co-financing to support youth enterprise and employment across the region.Rick chaired Silatech’s Executive Committee through 2016. (www.silatech.org)
Rick’s first venture was Quest International – which he started at age 19 – with initial support from the W.K. Kellogg and George Gund Foundations. Quest programs have now been implemented in more than 70,000 K-12 schools in 105 countries, impacting millions of young people each year – making it one of the most widely adopted life skills programs in the world. Nearly one million teachers, counselors and youth leaders have been trained in Quest’s programs. (www.lions-quest.org)
Little chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Empowering Youth and served as chair of the Second Annual Middle East Summit on Corporate Social Responsibility in Dubai. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Rick as co-chair of the UN’s High-Level Panel on Youth Employment, advising the SG, the ILO and the World Bank on global youth employment issues. He has served on numerous boards including Mercy Corps and Nike Foundation, among others. And Rick was the founding president of America’s Promise, founded and chaired by General Colin Powell.
Rick was an International Fellow in Applied Developmental Science at Michigan State University and subsequently at Tufts University. He is the recipient of the Nike Foundation Hero Award, the Robert Scrivner Award from the Council on Foundations, and the World Economic Forum named him one of the world’s 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow.