This High Schooler Built A Global Nonprofit

TILE Talk in Yemen. Courtesy photo

57 CHAPTERS IN ONE YEAR

When the manual was complete, Ioffe took to social media, and word about TILE spread quickly. After launching the first ten chapters, he says they stopped actively marketing, because TILE was taking off on its own.

In a short amount of time, there were 57 chapters all over the world. Locations include UC Berkeley, Purdue University, London, Ethiopia, Slovakia, and Yemen. Notably, Ioffe adds that the majority of chapters are led by minority students.

“The most incredible experience I’ve had with TILE was setting up the chapter in Yemen,” he says. “It’s in a war zone, and our chapter leaders managed to put together a series of talks just two weeks after they first registered with TILE. And 150 students from around the area attended. It was one of our most successful talks. It brought me to tears, to see so many students in the room listening and learning.”

THE FUTURE OF TILE

TILE has played a significant part in Ioffe’s business education as well. He’s still pursuing finance, and will hopefully be heading to business school after he graduates this year. “Learning from business leaders is the best way to learn,” he says. “So that’s something I’m looking for in a business program. I think every student should have access to role models.”

But leaving Portland and his original speaker series doesn’t mean he’s going to leave TILE. “I’m really passionate about what we’re doing,” he says. “I hope to continue in college. It’s been a crazy year, and it all depends on how the next year goes. But if it goes the way it has been, then I’ll continue working on it as long as I can.”

His plans for TILE’s future are ambitious. Ioffe says he can see them expanding beyond business and entrepreneurship eventually, but that they’re tackling business first, because he thinks they have an opportunity to shape a generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs. The non-profit’s long-term mission is to bridge the resource gap and create a more equitable business environment.

In the immediate future, he’s developing a speaker bank, which will make finding speakers easier for the chapter leaders, and he hopes to have 100 chapters worldwide in the next two months.

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