‘Si, se puede,’ says Jeff Skoll

“Si, se puede”, says Jeff Skoll, determined to grow his social mission film company

By Astrid Zweynert

Thomson Reuters Foundation – April 10, 2014

Jeff Skoll doesn’t do things by halves. He made his billionaire fortune with eBay, he is the executive producer of Oscar-winning movies, he hosts one of the world’s largest gatherings of social entrepreneurs every year – to name just a few of his endeavors.

His latest plan: to make Participant Media, his film company with a social mission, the most important company in the world of its kind.

“We have big ambitions for Participant…our goal: nothing less than to be the most important media company in the world,” to rival the likes of Sky, Warner Brothers and Walt Disney, Skoll told delegates at the opening plenary of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England, on Wednesday evening.

Participant Media plans to expand into local language services with television shows around the world and to grow online so that it can reach more people with its social message.

Making your dreams come true and building a successful company is all about having a “si, se puede” (yes, it can be done) attitude, Skoll explained, evoking the iconic slogan coined by United Farm Workers trade union leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the United States.

“Cesar Chavez”, the movie released this month, is the latest of 52 films made by Participant Media in its 10-year history. “