WiserEarth Key Students

Social Entrepreneur with a Passion for Sustainable Rural Development. 

Jeff Stein is a sustainability consultant and entrepreneur with 12 years experience in environmental advocacy, organic agriculture, international development and management consulting.  In 2007, he founded two organizations, both with the purpose of extending the benefits of global trade to the rural poor in developing countries.


Founder and CEO, Karma Technologies

Karma Technologies is developing an IT-based solution for food safety and the authenticity of green and ethical product claims.  Our transparency technologies provide large retailers and their consumers more and better quality information on the people, places and processes behind how consumer products were produced. 

By making transparent how corporate sourcing and individual purchasing decisions have a direct impact on rural poverty half a world away, Karma empowers Western companies and individuals to form fairer trading relationships that return a greater portion of the value of consumer products to the smallholder farmers who contributed so much blood, sweat and tears to make these products possible.


Founder and Chairman, African Organic Food & Fiber Initiative

The African Organic Food & Fiber Initiative (AOFFI) promotes organic agriculture as a means for sustainable rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Organic food is now a $40 billion industry worldwide, but certain common ingredients are in short supply because the U.S. and EU agricultural sectors have so heavily relied upon agro-chemicals and intensive mono-cropping that it is uneconomical to convert to organic production in many areas.  At the same time an estimated 90% of African smallholder farmers are already farming oranically, because they cannot afford or do not have access to agro-chemicals.  But they have yet to be able to capture a share of the price premiums Western consumers have shown they are willing to pay because they are often not organized and certified. 

AOFFI provides technical assitance to qualifying African co-operatives, for-profit contract growing companies and factories, civil society organizations, and other institutions to help them overcome supply side constraints that restrict them from being able to take advantage of the great opportunities presented by Western demand for organic food.

Background

Stein started his career in Washington, DC as Senior Policy Analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, one of the leading NGOs over the past decade advocating for greater transparency and accountability in federal government spending.  At TCS, Stein led a national campaign to reform U.S. water resources policies, developing expertise on flood control, navigation, ports and harbors, beach nourishment, environmental restoration, water supply and wastewater treatment issues. 

Stein holds a B.A. in Environment, Economics and Politics from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business with an emphasis on supply chain management and entrepreneurship.