Michael Chertok
Michael Chertok joined Jeremy Hockenstein before Digital Divide Data even opened its offices, when he was working for Global Catalyst Foundation, which became DDD's first funder. Soon enough he lived at the Cambodia office. What transformed him was watching young people arrive with a fatalistic attitude—that whatever was meant for them was all they would experience—and learn that they could set a direction for their own lives. "I saw that they started to change their perception,” he says. “They could decide what they wanted for themselves." That psychological shift, combined with data showing sustainable livelihoods, made fundraising come naturally.
Over the past 25 years, he says, the starting point has shifted—where early DDD hires came from very poor rural families, many recruits now have already started their education. DDD recently hit the milestone of becoming profitable as a business. The goal is to grow from $10 million to $20 million in revenue, employing more young people while expanding impact programs like Career Connect. The central challenge remains balancing social impact with running a successful, profitable business, which plays out in every decision DDD makes about new locations, talent pools, and business opportunities. His advice for anyone starting similar work: spend time listening to local people about what they need and what success looks like, think carefully about capitalization and whether to structure as for-profit or nonprofit, and have a strong vision for what you want to accomplish. His favorite success story is watching Sopheap Im grow from a data entry associate in Battambang to manager of that office, then studying in the US, and eventually becoming Chief People Officer.
