Background

JumpStart International was founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the war in Iraq. It is the brain child of Sean O'Sullivan, an electrical engineer, software-industry entrepreneur, and documentary filmmaker who was on the ground during and after the bombing of Baghdad. As O'Sullivan traveled among the city's decimated landmarks, burned-out buildings, and looted warehouses, he became convinced that as long as the Iraqi people lived with such daily reminders of war and destruction they could never move into a positive future. He also saw that Iraq had both an enormous number of unemployed workers and an enormous amount of work to be done - and that if those workers were not tapped to do that work in very short order, it was only a matter of time before the Iraqis who were cheering Americans as liberators would be jeering them as invaders and occupiers.

< back