Dr. Steven Funk: Philanthropist and Empowerment Pioneer

With Masters and Medical degrees, private pilot’s licence and a Safari Rally finish in his pocket, international entrepreneur and all-round do-gooder Steve Funk has come a long way from his Iowa farm boy roots.

Pursuing a career in oral surgery from medical school, a chance party conversation persuaded the college state athlete that his future lay elsewhere. Residency in one of Canada’s foremost teaching hospitals was traded for an apprenticeship with one of the country’s most successful property developers. The rest, as they say, is history.

Funk has since built five operating interests in three countries to market leadership in their field. Alongside a 100,000-acre rainforest eco-estate in Central America, Funk Partners’ property and fund management interests span the globe.

East Africa is the newest glint in Funk’s undoubted eye for opportunity. 2011 sees the second running of his Race4Change.org brainchild: a million-dollar dignity drive on the backbreaking East African Safari Rally.

Harnessing the power of four world-class microfinance organisations, Race4Change aims to empower the women of Kenya and Africa, bringing better lives to the benefactors and, by extension, the rest of us. With no personal slowdown on the horizon, Dr. Steven Funk embodies his Race4Change vision.

For more information on Dr. Steven Funk or Race4Change.org, please contact John Glynn at Mighty Motor Media in the UK.