About

Konuma was born in 1982. After graduating from Hitotsubashi University Faculty of Social Sciences, he joined the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and was sent to Syria for two years. There, he worked to spread and promote environmental education. He met low-income people who seemed to live happily. This made him question his ideas about happiness. He also started to understand how business can help to quickly solve social problems.

After returning home, he began to question how people in Japan work. He returned to Hitotsubashi University for a post-grad. After he got his master’s degree, he joined McKinsey & Company and honed his business skills. In May 2011, he founded the NPO Cross Fields together with Yuka Matsushima.