Episode
Yordanos Eyoel of Keseb on Democracy Entrepreneurship
- Podcast
- The Art of Association
- Published
- Jul 22, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2837
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://the-art-of-association.captivate.fm
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-art-of-association-7719106/episodes/yordanos-eyoel-of-keseb-on-democracy-entrepreneurship/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-art-of-association-7719106/yordanos-eyoel-of-keseb-on-democracy-entrepreneurship.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Yordanos Eyoel is the Founder and CEO of Keseb , a nonprofit helping to build a transnational civil society ecosystem that advances inclusive and resilient democracies. She joins host Daniel Stid on The Art of Association podcast to talk about democracy entrepreneurship, the power of taking a transnational approach to democracy field-building, and the need to defend civil society while also reimagining it. Their conversation begins with Yordanos sharing how her experience growing up in Ethiopia amid civil war and ethnic strife, and then finding refuge with her family in the United States, shaped her commitment to renewing democracy in this country and around the world. Yordanos and Daniel also explore her experience as a venture philanthropist supporting democracy entrepreneurs at New Profit, what led her to become one herself and launch Keseb, the strategy and theory of change guiding the organization’s work, and what she and her colleagues have learned along the way about what it takes to strengthen democracy and civil society across borders. Chapters (1:17): Yordanos’s early life and how her migration story shaped her commitment to democracy (4:17): New Profit’s venture philanthropy approach and support for democracy entrepreneurship (9:58): What led Yordanos to launch Keseb and its global network of democracy entrepreneurs (15:54): Keseb’s transnational strategy and theory of change (23:30): Does scarce funding spur more creativity among democracy entrepreneurs? (27:32): Why do illiberal populists and nationalists seem better able to learn from and reinforce one another's efforts than democracy advocates advancing universal values? (32:24): What Keseb has been learning from its work to date (40:23): How Keseb navigates the tension of defending civil society while a…