Louis Pope

Louis M. Pope (born 1947) is an American businessman and has worked as a micro-credit and business organizer in Kenya.[1]

Biography

Pope was raised in Provo, Utah. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering (1974) and an MBA (1975) from Brigham Young University.[2]

In 1978 Pope formed US Synthetic, a company that manufactures diamond drill bits.[1] Pope has a patent relating to this company's main product.[3] The company was close to bankruptcy in 1985, but went on to become one of the fastest-growing companies in the US in the mid-90s.[4] He was CEO from 1992, and it was bought by Dover Corporation in 2004.[5] In January 2010, Pope retired from this position and moved close to Mombasa, Kenya to supervise his businesses there.[1]

In Kenya, Pope founded Yehu Microfinance in 1999, which focuses on giving small loans to women.[6] He also operates Coast Coconut Farms, a coconut oil business initiative largely involving local Kenyan women.[1] He has also served on the board of Deseret International and Choice Humanitarian. Pope has also been a donor to BYU and Utah Valley University. He was named 2009 Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum's Ron King Social Entrepreneur of the Year.[7]

Pope is a Latter-day Saint. He and his wife Christine have five children.[2] His father, Bill J Pope, was a chemist at BYU, founder of Megadiamond and president of US Synthetic.[8] His mother Margaret taught religion at BYU for 25 years.[9]

References
  1. Haddock, Marc (4 December 2009). "Utahn aiding poor - US synthetic founder's hobby is to create jobs, fight poverty". Deseret News. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  2. "Louis M. Pope". Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. Brigham Young University. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  3. Patent entry on Pope's invention
  4. "US Synthetic got rocky start". Deseret News. 21 June 1998. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  5. "Dover acquires US Synthetic Corporation". emsnow. 1 September 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  6. "About us". Yehu Microfinance. Archived from the original on 24 December 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  7. Leong, Grace (12 December 2009). "Honoring Innovation-Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum Awards". Daily Herald. Utah Valley. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  8. Haddock, Sharon M. (24 April 1997). "UVSC names science building for donor". Deseret News. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  9. "Gift will fund a new Y. professorship". Deseret News. 17 November 1997. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
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