(CNN) Leila Janah, a social entrepreneur who poured her energy into creating job opportunities for the world's poorest communities, has died at 37, one of the companies she founded said.

Janah was born in upstate New York and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles by her Indian parents. In 2008, she founded Samasource in Kenya with the mission to improve the lives of those living below the poverty line.

The company employs more than 2,900 people in Kenya, Uganda and India, creating data for companies around the world that need to test numerous artificial intelligence products, including self-driving cars and smart hardware.

The company has helped more than 50,000 people lift themselves out of poverty and has become one of the largest employers in East Africa, according to Samasource's website.

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