Diyor Irismetov '21 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan Major | Sociology
Minor | Entrepreneurship & Marketing
Every day, LSV has completely blown my mind. My expectations for the program seem incomparable to the experience I have had with the program so far. Every day you meet an extraordinary entrepreneur that loved Lehigh so much that they took time out of their extremely busy schedule to come share their powerful stories with a group of 56 students eager to take away lessons they can apply to their own entrepreneurial career. Today was no exception.
Meet Ryan Oksenhorn, the founder and head of Zipline. Zipline is a US medical product delivery company that focuses on using drones to deliver health care products, like blood or vaccines, to developing nations like Rwanda and Ghana who desperately need them. What was unbelievable about Ryan’s company was that the medical supplies they sent over to the other side of the planet get delivered in a matter of minutes! Ryan, a previous employer at Facebook, learned that the impact every entrepreneur wants to have on the company is not always “positive”. He saw that you can be in charge of 10,000 users on Facebook or you can go out and find the solution to problems that can change the lives of more than 10,000 people forever.
Hearing Ryan’s journey to the successful company he built today really paved my goals and ambitions as an entrepreneur. Ryan made me realize that creating a positive change in the lives that desperately need it is what I want to accomplish as a rising entrepreneur. The fact that he went to visit the countries themselves to learn about the problems the citizens face instead of believing that he knows what they need proved to me that there are heroes in this world that genuinely want to help people instead of just fulfilling their own selfish desires. I loved what Ryan stood for and how he made sure everyone on his team believed in the core mission of the company’s desire to change the lives of the people they help for the better.
Even though it has only been 4 days since I’ve been apart of the LSV program, the stories, lessons, and conversations I had with some of the most inspiring leaders I have ever met was truly life-changing. From the raw emotions I felt with some of the hardships these incredible individuals faced to the huge positive impact they have all brought to their successful companies truly revealed what it was like to be an entrepreneur. These moments can never be replicated yet they have been engraved in my heart forever. I’m beyond grateful to Lehigh University and the Baker Institute for this once in a lifetime opportunity.