When Amir Hasson ’98 graduated from Wesleyan, he could not have predicted where his college education would take him. Following his intuitions and using the problem-solving tools he had acquired, his path led him to jumpstart his own company, United Villages, which seeks to empower people in rural areas of the world by delivering information and services.

While at Wesleyan, Hasson never predicted he would one day become a CEO. He took philosophy classes, DJ-ed at WESU and at parties around campus, and studied abroad in Florence. He graduated with a major in CSS before moving to New York with friends to take part in the dot-com boom.

“I learned at Wesleyan how to have creative thinking and an open mind,” Hasson said. “I started knocking on doors of Internet companies and talked my way into my first job,” he said.

Hasson found a job at Pseudo Programs, an online community focused on web-based shows.

“I knew the trickiest thing was to get started, so I needed to get my foot in the door somewhere,” he said.

While at Pseudo, Hasson became interested in holistic health and spirituality—ideas of the Dalai Lama and Dan Millman. He channeled these ideas into WeBreathe.com, a networking business that connects people with holistic doctors, services, and products.

“At 23 I had 22 people working under me,” he said. “It did not last as long as I had hoped, but it was a great opportunity to learn more about business and holistic health.”

With the collapse of the dot-com bubble in 2001, Hasson decided to continue his education and enrolled in MIT’s Sloan School of Management. This decision was partially stemmed from his belief that his entrepreneurship days were over.

“I thought I would never start another business on my own,” he said. “But I was inspired through a class project that taught us that the lowest ranks of the socioeconomic classes could be our biggest investment.”

Upon graduating from MIT, Hasson stayed in the area to pursue research. After living in India for a few months, his ideas came together and he started United Villages in 2003 in Cambridge, Mass.

United Villages attempts to bridge the social divide by bringing rural people into the technological era. It also gives venture capitalists an investment and disadvantaged areas new opportunities.

Hasson discovered that if he attached WiFi boxes to the regular modes of transportation between rural villages, he would be able to send and receive information via the Internet between these villages and the rest of the global community. Consequently, rural villages are less isolated from the technological world.

United Villages also established small kiosks in these villages so that residents could order medicines, toys, watches, and other items that previously were unavailable to them.

“Today the company has 77 employees who provide for over 20,000 villagers in India, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Paraguay,” he said. “[We] are looking to expand to China and Brazil.”