Jay Baydala

We're very pleased to make our first speaker announcement for TEDxCalgary... Jay Baydala of UEnd!

If Jay and UEnd aren't immediately familiar, that's because he — and the wider UEnd team of staff,board, community partners and the growing base of volunteers — are out to do something extremely different to help end extreme poverty. How they go about it brings together some leading-edge examples of social entrepreneurship, technology, and mobilizing people from all levels of society. If the number of votes we received for Jay during our open speaker nominations say anything about the viral impact of UEnd, it's clear that they're destined for great things under Jay's mix of inspiration and hard work as Executive Director.

 We're not going to tell you about UEnd in detail, as it's best to go and experience it for yourself. It's radical enough that it might not make sense at first, which is part of what makes it such a fascinating and important idea worth spreading. Visit the UEnd.org website, and especially their projects page.

What difference can an online gift card of as little as $5 really make to help address extreme poverty? We had that question, too, and Jay's powerful story of what a new type of micro-level philanthropy can do, both for donor and recipient, is what we've asked him to talk about at TEDxCalgary.

Jay Baydala at TEDxCalgary 2010