Jason is an entrepreneur with twenty years of experience working across markets in the U.S., Middle East, Africa, and Asia. As of March 2023, Jason led Society Artisanal to become the first company in DRC to mine and export conflict-free, third-party validated artisanal gold. This historic gold export has proven the DRC and other frontier markets are capable of sustainable, international investment leading to internationally vetted and recognized clean gold and critical mineral exports.

When approached by Eva to develop an artisanal mining business in the DRC, Jason uniquely understood the kind of challenges that would lay ahead. With his experience of living and working in Asia and the Middle East and with a desire to create transformative partnerships, he gladly accepted the challenge. After successfully overcoming the myriad of challenges of working in DRC and other frontier markets, Jason is excited to expand their efforts to new markets and to develop a constellation of products around gold as a store of wealth and hedge against economic instability.

Jason earned a degree in Law and Society from the Pennsylvania State University and a Masters degree in International Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Above all, he is a firm believer that the future looks bright for the well prepared.

Born in South Kivu Province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Evariste (his friends call him Eva) spent his early years in the same struggle as his countrymen. After losing his parents at a very early age, he and his siblings were separated across the world as refugees.

Having spent his teen years in a refugee camp in Kenya, Eva was resettled to the United States just before his 20th birthday. It was shortly after this that he came into contact with a local non-profit led by his now business partner, Jason Clarke. Eva realized the vast opportunities in the US and worked hard to overcome every obstacle in his path.

Eva has started multiple businesses in the logistics, transportation and financial sectors. And after reconnecting with his homeland and many of his family members he saw an opportunity to partner with his people for a better future. After listening to the needs of his family and recognizing their strengths in the artisanal mining sector, a partnership was born. Eva and Jason formed Society Artisanal, partnered with a South Kivu Artisanal Mining Cooperative and went to work envisioning and developing a sustainable and responsible business model to transform the artisanal gold sector in DRC.