Araweelo News Network
By Emilie Munson

GREENWICH — After four years running his own $170 million hedge fund, Jonathan Starr decided it was time for a change of career — and continent.

The highly competitive business man jetted to Somaliland, a poor region in Northern Somalia, where, appalled by the state of local education, he proceeded to found an intensive boarding school that would set Somalian students on the path to becoming the next leaders and innovators of their country.

Starr shared his story at The Nantucket Project Library in Greenwich on Tuesday evening. Through its yearly ideas festival on Nantucket, workshops around the country and short documentary films, The Nantucket Project gives spirited thinkers a platform to present their work.

“Here’s a hedge fund guy who found a higher purpose,” said Scott Williams, president of The Nantucket Project.

The event, “It Takes a School: An American School in Somaliland,” was co-sponsored by the Global Citizens Initiative, an education nonprofit based in Greenwich that provides mentorship to talented high schoolers from around the world to turn their solutions to global problems into realities.