For 15 years, Dianne Calvi has been at the helm of Village Enterprise — a nonprofit focused on ending extreme poverty in Africa. During that time, she has helped the organization transform: by 2024, Village Enterprise’s $1 million budget had grown to $20 million, while its workforce had gone from 13 people to nearly 500.
But in 2025, Village Enterprise — like nearly every organization in the aid sector — faced a turning point. It had lost a quarter of its budget due to USAID cuts. It was forced to lay off 100 staff. And it launched a “strategic response fund” to help the organization fill the gaps.
Now more than ever, Calvi said, Village Enterprise needed to make a long-anticipated change: hiring an African chief executive officer to take the organization forward.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
