I'm a 5x founder with 15+ years of leadership experience at the intersection of emerging tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship. I'm deeply committed to climate action, social justice, and systems change. In 2010, President Clinton recognized me for my pioneering work in Humanitarian Tech, which led me to Climate Tech.
I lead the Climate Robotics Network and serve as Entrepreneur in Residence at the Center for EssentialTech at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), where I advise Climate Tech startups, companies, investors, and international organizations.
Previously, I served as Strategy Lead for Robotics at EPFL and Innovation Booster Robotics, an accelerator funded by the Swiss Agency for Innovation. Before this, I served as Executive Director of WeRobotics, an international tech nonprofit I co-founded with labs in 40+ countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. In this capacity, and as a certified drone pilot, I spearheaded the deployment of drones for disaster response, climate action, and more.
I'm a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and UBS Global Visionary. I've also held fellowships at Harvard, MIT, Stanford,, and Climatebase,, where I learned from and collaborated with world-class experts, scientists, innovators, founders, and startups.
I've given over 200 talks/keynotes, including 5 TEDx talks. My work has appeared in the media, including the New York Times, CNN, BBC, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Wired, Nature, New Scientist, and elsewhere. In addition, I authored the first book on Humanitarian Tech & AI and have co-authored 80+ articles, reports, peer-reviewed papers, and book chapters.
I hold a Ph.D. from The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, a Pre-Doc from Stanford, and an MA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). I was also an exchange student at Berkeley.
More importantly, I was born and raised in Africa.
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