Empower Program History
Empower and the Clinton Global Initiative
The Empower Program for Social Entrepreneurship was launched in 2007 at the Clinton Global Initiative, to be funded by a five-year grant awarded to the IGL by Angelos Metaxa (A’91) and Javier Macaya (A’91). The two founders joined forces to establish a learning and practical experience platform to engage Tufts students in social entrepreneurship. As a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment, the IGL’s commitment entrusted $250,000 over five years to its new Empower program, providing students with an educational platform to understand and experience how social entrepreneurs are able to conceptualise and apply innovative management, organisational practices and financial tools to empower disadvantaged individuals and communities throughout the world. Due to the success of the program the founders have increased their grant to $540,000 and have also increased the length of their commitment, and as a result, Empower is now in its 8th year.
For more information about The Empower Program for Social Entrepreneurship as a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment click here
Founding Sponsors
Javier Macaya is the founder and CEO of the New York- and London-based investment bank Athelera, LLC, which he established in January 2000. Throughout his career Mr. Macaya has represented clients in transactions valued over $20 billion, acting as financial advisor to many leading companies, entrepreneurs and family groups throughout the Americas and Europe in the telecommunications, consumer products, media, retail and financial services industries. Mr. Macaya's career in investment banking goes back to 1991, when he joined JP Morgan's investment banking group in New York. Prior to founding Athelera, he had been a co-founder, partner and managing director of Violy, Byorum & Partners LLC, a Latin American-focused investment bank based in New York. Prior to VB&P, he worked at James D. Wolfensohn Incorporated, where he was a founding member of the team responsible for building the firm's Latin Amercian investment banking practice. Mr. Macaya received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University in 1991. He is a native of Spain and is married with three children. He is a director of Digitel S.A., Corporación GEO S.A. de C.V., MPG USA, MiCash Inc., and Fun & Basics S.A.
Angelos E. Metaxa (A' 91) is an entrepreneur who is currently involved in ventures in the field of Real Estate with a focus in Europe and the USA. Prior to this he was a Founding Partner of Capital Management Advisors Group ("CMA"), an alternative investments firm, specializing in multi-manager hedge fund portfolios. CMA was acquired in 2006 by EFG International ("EFGI"), a global private banking group with assets under management of over US$100 billion. Angelos is a Board Member of the Institute for Global Leadership (“IGL”) at Tufts, which is a cross-school program emphasizing rigorous academic preparation and experiential learning. Angelos is a co-Founding Sponsor of the Empower Program at IGL whose objective is to help educate, mentor, and motivate future social entrepreneurs, defining social entrepreneurship as activities that benefit humankind. Angelos is a Patron of Children Action, a Swiss Foundation that was created in February 1994 with the objective of helping children around the world without making any distinctions on nationality, race or religion. Children Action primarily focuses on medical operations and psychological issues. In the last 16 years Children Action has built a solid track record of helping children with projects that span from Argentina, France, Peru, Romania, Switzerland and Vietnam. Angelos is also a Patron and an active member of the team of The Watermen Project, a Swiss Non Profit Organization, dedicated to ocean conservation through education and research. Its primary focus is, but not limited to, shark conservation. Angelos and his wife and two children currently live in Geneva, Switzerland where he enjoys the most of the Alps as he is a passionate skier. Angelos holds a BA in Economics from Tufts University (A 91).