In early 2006, Patel learned about the Kenyan government's decision to subdivide the land surrounding the Masai Mara Reserve into 50- to 150-acre plots for the Maasai. The tribes, who traditionally had grazed their cattle throughout vast tracts of land without regard for fences or borders, were suddenly confined. As a result, the land has become overgrazed, and the Maasai's attempts to diversify by growing corn or wheat has been a disaster for the migrating wildebeests.

Hearing the dilemma, Patel said "I left thinking: `Go collect money.'"

It's not the first time he's faced such an obstacle.

In 1972, strongman Idi Amin kicked the 18-year-old Patel and his family out of Uganda, where he had lived since he was 4. Although born in Dharmaj, India, his parents had emigrated to Uganda, where his father taught high school. Upon returning to India, Patel earned his college degree and married his wife, Hasmita.

In 1978, the young couple arrived in San Francisco with $6 in their pocket. For the next three years, Patel worked at a furniture store, for an accountant and an electronics company. In 1981, he went to work at a janitorial-supplies and packaging company in Milpitas. Eight years later, he bought the business, renaming it Odyssey Enterprises.

In 1992, after successfully growing the company, he decided it was time to help fellow entrepreneurs, and TiE was the result. Today, the organization, which has grown to 45 chapters in 10 countries, has helped to found companies that have more than $2 billion in capital worldwide.

"I could see the world economy was globalizing ... so I came up with The Indus Entrepreneur," Patel said. "I had the vision and the persistence to make it happen."

Now he's focused on Africa, where he's helping others with the same aim.

Last year, Kenyans Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of Kenya's Tourist Board, and Ron Beaton, who has worked in conservation efforts in Africa, formed the Olare Orok Conservancy to lease the land surrounding the Masai Mara Reserve from the Maasai, and open it to eco-tourism.

The plan developed by Grieves-Cook and Beaton calls for a foundation to lease the land from the Maasai and pay them a monthly income not to graze, farm or live on the land, and to manage tourism by limiting the numbers of visitors, vehicles and lodges. As the foundation becomes profitable, they plan to build schools and hospitals for the Maasai.

Grieves-Cook said the tourism industry is on the upswing in Kenya after years of decline. But little if any of the money spent by tourists to Kenya benefits the local Maasai population.

To give the Maasai a hand in their future, Beaton has formed a school to train members of the tribe to become tour guides and manage the tourism trade.

"Last year, we put through 26 students, 19 men and seven women. In a male-dominated society, this is quite a coup," Beaton said. And, for the first time, the Maasai have a guaranteed income that does not rely on cattle or rainfall.

James Sengeny, a guide and Maasai elder who last week traveled to the Bay Area where he attended TiE's annual conference in Santa Clara, told the audience Friday that he wholeheartedly supports the plan to lease the land for eco-tourism.

"I'm doing what I know how to do: meeting people from all over the world to protect my land," Sengeny told the Mercury News. "I want tourists to come visit, bring their money and go back without doing anything to the land or killing the animals."

Patel has named his organization the Hasla-Mara Wildlife Conservation Foundation, after a nickname for his wife, and the land he is trying to save.

"We will add more acreage as long as the acreage is there," Patel said. "If you really help me raise $10 million, we can take all the 400,000 acres and create heaven on earth."

For more information, go to www.oocmara.com or www.koiyaki.com.