San Carlos, Calif., June 10, 2025 — In partnership with the Board of Directors, CEO Dianne Calvi has announced her intention to step down at the end of 2025. Throughout her tenure, Village Enterprise has made tremendous progress in our mission to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action.
With our poverty graduation program now operating in seven countries and bold new partnerships with governments and global nonprofits, we are entering a new era of scale and impact. As Village Enterprise continues to grow, Dianne and the Board believe that the next chapter of Village Enterprise’s journey should be led by African leadership, based in Africa, to take our extraordinary team and work to even greater heights.
This transition reflects our deep belief in the power of locally driven solutions to address global poverty. Dianne will remain in her role to ensure a smooth and effective transition until the new CEO is in place.
Above: Dianne Calvi (center) with staff during a Village Enterprise team conference in Uganda.
Over the past 15 years, Dianne has led Village Enterprise’s transformation from a small grassroots nonprofit into a respected global leader in poverty alleviation. Under her leadership, Village Enterprise has transformed the lives of more than 2 million people, built a world-class team across East Africa, invested in innovations and evidence to drive impact and scale, led the way in pioneering results-based funding models like the Village Enterprise Development Impact Bond and award-winning, innovative programs like DREAMS, and expanded into five new countries.
During her tenure, annual revenue grew from $1 million to over $20 million by expanding our donor base to include leading foundations, multi-lateral government funding, new individual donors, and significant commitments from African governments to fund and implement our poverty graduation model as part of their own social protection programs.
Her leadership has laid the foundation for the next phase of growth, including a transition to African leadership in the CEO role.
“I am stepping down with deep gratitude for the incredible team and Board I’ve had the privilege to work with, and immense confidence in the future of Village Enterprise,” said Dianne Calvi. “My decision is driven by my excitement for the next chapter of African leadership and my unwavering belief in the talent, passion, and potential of the communities we serve.”
Bruce Sewell, Board Chair at Village Enterprise, said: “The Board and I want to thank Dianne for her inspiring leadership over the past 15 years. Under her guidance, Village Enterprise set a bold and ambitious path towards achieving our goal of eliminating extreme poverty in rural Africa–supporting over 340,000 entrepreneurs to launch businesses and build sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families.
Dianne has been instrumental in spearheading the adoption of new funding models and championing our focus on a rigorous, evidence-based approach. It has long been Dianne’s goal for Village Enterprise to transition to being an organization led from Africa and it is fitting that she will oversee that transition before she steps down from her role as CEO.”
The Board of Directors is deeply committed to supporting the organization through this important transition. We are confident in the strength of the leadership team and the clarity of our strategy to carry Village Enterprise forward. A global search is now underway to identify the next CEO, and the Board has engaged Oxford HR to conduct a search that includes internal and external candidates. We look forward to sharing updates as the process unfolds.
About Village Enterprise
Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action. We work with vulnerable women, refugees, and youth who are most impacted by climate change, conflict, and displacement, and equip them with skills and resources to launch climate-smart businesses, build savings, and put themselves and their families onto a sustainable path out of extreme poverty. Village Enterprise has trained over 342,000 first-time entrepreneurs, started over 107,000 businesses, and positively transformed the lives of over 2,167,000 people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania.