Bio

Spent my career at the intersection of tech, education, economic development, social impact, startups, sustainability. I've visited 60 countries, giving me direct exposure to local challenges & opportunities for achieving the SDGs. I've also done 2 stints on Wall Street at BlackRock & Goldman Sachs. Doctoral thesis: role digital inclusion plays to solve the SDGs. WIP books: (1) people of impact making the world a better place & (2) how-to guide for hackathons. I left big tech to focus on driving societal change & finally being a real entrepreneur! I was the first Entrepreneur in Residence in Cape Verde with the Ministry of Digital Economy focused on turning Cape Verde into THE Singapore of the Continent. *Launching 2023* CEO & Co-Founder, Skills Hustle: pre-seed edtech in build-mode. We solve the skills gap & turn learners into earners. Our platform is gamified, interactive & practical...NOT A BORING LMS. Modules for all needs & styles...NOT a bunch of talking heads & quizzes. Our community portal drives ongoing engagement, networking & access to thought leaders & opportunities. Learners access live sessions & lightening talks, mentors, innovation challenges & hackathons to solve real business challenges & learn real-world skills. Points, prizes, mini-grants & a job/opportunity portal! Insights dashboard to track progress & brand ROI. Core content includes (1) digital skills, (2) habits & attitudes, (3) entrepreneurship & (4) financial literacy. Founder & Global Head: IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator - led startup enablement in 50+ countries w/150 startups: fintech, healthtech, insurtech, edtech & musictech. My focus: increasing access to capital, customers, markets, partners, staff & mentorship. Sparkler: I worked with Timbaland's startup, Beatclub. Led IBM Z StudentX Experience globally: tech skill-building for youth, ran hackathons with big brands + public sector. Led content creation & telling stories of impact. 5 years at Microsoft: last role - impact investor focused on internet & energy access & teaching digital skills to the newly connected. Tons of policy advocacy too! Founded a youth-led nonprofit, MentorNations: taught tens of thousands of young changemakers to code in 12 countries & nominated for 3 UN awards. Chair - IEEE's Digital Skills & Readiness Working Group: created the world's 1st definition for digital literacy endorsed IEEE's Standard Board (largest engineering org in the world w/400K+ members). Led 400+ talks & workshops in the last 4 years: academia, UN, World Bank, WEF, Microsoft, IBM, Harvard +.