Who We Are
RPCV Ventures is managed by a team with extensive experience in social impact initiatives, private profit making ventures, and Public/Private/Partnership ("P3") projects, and is organized into a Board of Directors, Senior Management Team, RPCV Advisory Committees, and Strategic Partnerships.
Senior Management Team
RPCV Ventures’ senior managers have all served in the Peace Corps and the NPCA, have extensive connections to the RPCV community, and have strong backgrounds in business, economic development and social impact activities.
Glenn Blumhorst
CEO | Bio
Michael Caretnay Bailkin
President | Bio
Arianna Richard
Vice President for Operations | Bio
RPCV Committees
Much of the support and strategic incubation of existing and prospective RPCV businesses is through a series of committees composed mainly of RPCVs, but including others with specialized skillsets or outreach. Current committees:
Investment Committee
The Investment Committee includes both RPCVs and non-Peace Corps related private business principals, who have the capacity to provide or raise capital for RPCV businesses. This committee is the core of our proprietary Social Impact Funding Network (SIFN) including a range of outside funds and investors focused on social impact investments.
Mentoring Committee
This includes RPCVs who have themselves founded and operated businesses and who make themselves available to prospective RPCV entrepreneurs for advice and mentoring.
Communications Committee
This committee, which is led by CIVA, an RPCV Business that RPCV Ventures is assisting, will create, implement and enhance communications with the RPCV Community, Strategic Partners, RPCV Businesses, Investors and a broad range of stakeholders through virtual and in-person means, including periodic events.
Members of a micro-enterprise called Mujeres: Cambia partnered with a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador discuss their line of jewelry and accessories.
Strategic Partnerships
A unique component of the RPCV Ventures approach is our established relationships with a range of companies and institutions that significantly expand the delivery capacity of the team. This growing slate of Strategic Partners support our entrepreneurs in developing operating policies, generating resources, and otherwise assisting in implementing the RPCV Ventures mission. Categories of Strategic Partners include:
Economic Development Network
RPCV Ventures is organizing a network of economic development agencies and community development entities in both the U .S. and former Peace Corps host countries, to define business and project opportunities for RPCV businesses.
Academic Institutions
RPCV Ventures is working with various academic institutions to provide specialized consulting assistance, student and faculty pro bono assistance to RPCV businesses, and ongoing training for entrepreneurs. George Day, an RPCV Ventures board member who is a professor at Wharton and former head of its Mack Institute of Innovation, is leading that effort.
Proprietary Business Opportunities
RPCV Ventures is also creating and managing “proprietary” business opportunities, which it will structure and package, and then offer to RPCVs.
Franchises are an appropriate startup operation for RPCVs with limited capital, particularly for locations in impacted areas as they provide needed jobs and services for residents. RPCV Ventures has organized a relationship with Franchise 123, a private business firm connecting prospective franchisees with a range of franchisors. Franchise 123 has agreed to provide any prospective RPCV using its platform with reduced fees and costs, close consultation as to the best Franchises and locations, and assistance in obtaining investment capital.
RPCV Ventures has arranged with QCharge, a program to offer EV Charging operations in multiple areas of the U.S. on terms more favorable than those offered to other clients of QCharge.
QCharge assembles the hardware and software of EV Charging stations, and then provides training and management services to its clients. For RPCV Businesses, it can assist in identifying and gaining access to prime markets and providing or arranging financing.
