Roberto Milk

Summary

Roberto is the CEO & Co-Founder of NOVICA.com, one of the world’s largest social impact marketplaces with over $100M in funds sent to artisans to date. Partnered with National Geographic, UNICEF and Kiva, the NOVICA team is on a mission to transform the lives of artisans and positively impact village economies worldwide. Prior to co-founding NOVICA, Roberto worked as an entertainment industry consultant and as an investment banker for Prudential Securities, where he helped raise over $1 billion in capital markets transactions, M&A transactions and venture capital financing. Roberto had long written about creating an economic development model for artisans in Peru and other developing nations. His vision for helping improve artisans’ lives is greatly inspired by his own family’s long history of beneficial work throughout the world. His paternal grandparents spent their lives living and working as Methodist missionaries in Vietnam, China, Cuba, and Mexico, pioneering agricultural development and working successfully to improve the quality and quantity of local food production. On his Peruvian side, his grandmother was one of NOVICA’s first artisans. He received his A.B. in International Relations with Honors from Stanford University and is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. He enjoys spending time with his four kids and is a competitive soccer player and active youth soccer coach. He also loves getting involved with his wife’s writing and acting work. Roberto was named an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation, a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum in Davos, and a YPO Impact Award Winner for the Pacific Region. He loves social entrepreneurship and working with founders. His blog “The Entrepreneur’s Covenant” aims to help founders find life balance in their aggressive pursuit of growth in order to realize their true potential and find happiness in the journey.