McKenna is CEO of Prosper Global, the humanitarian organisation that was Mercy Corps until its rebrand. Asked on Masters of Scale how she handles the sheer number of simultaneous crises — Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza — she argued that the money being cut is the preventive kind. Her example elsewhere in the episode: fuel and fertiliser costs during Sudan's short planting window, where missing one season crippled the next one's food supply.
…in its own economy. When we talk about Prosper Global and like helping people to not only survive the immediate, but to really build their future, that's exactly the kind of support. You know, a lot of people have lost farm equipment, like helping people to rebuild or figure out alternative paths.
I wanted to ask you about Gaza, but I'm also struck by like I'm just going from one crisis to another, which I know is your life. But for a lot of folks listening, like they might feel like, oh my gosh, that is overwhelming.
The number and the severity of crises, you've never had so many at one time. The need is relentless, and we have to be relentless in pursuing support. There's a current thing with the U.S. government to just do life-saving aid. That's actually the least effective thing to do. Working on prevention, trying to avoid these things is like seven times cheaper than coming in. After it's happened.
In your work, you're used to dealing with hostile political environments, but it is a little different when it happens in the U.S.
Yeah, like the pushback and just the misinformation about what aid is. You know, we were prepared to do this rebrand of Prosper Global before the beginning of the Trump administration. We put it on hold just to figure out where things were. In the midst of a crisis where there have been like, you…
Jada doesn't sugarcoat the challenges, but she's also optimistic that better outcomes are possible. So how will she use this year's UN General Assembly meeting to advance that goal? And could AI firms provide Prosper Global with a secret weapon? We'll talk about that and more after the break. Stay…