MIT Scaling Development Ventures

Keynote speaker Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu of soleRebels.

Speakers

TUNDE ALAWODE

Co-Founder and COO, dot Learn
 

Tunde Alawode is co-founder and chief operating officer of dot Learn, Africa's MOOC platform. Leveraging their MIT-developed video-vectorization technology, which makes video learning as accessible and affordable as SMS, dot Learn offers online courses to help students in Sub-Saharan Africa study for exams and get into college. Tuned is currently a student at MIT pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. His specialty is in the material science of clean energy. His past work has focused on delivering sustainable energy to communities and helping to figure out operational strategies in the African energy sector. 

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FERNANDA DE VELASCO

Director of Finance & Special Projects, Play Business

 

Fernanda is a co-founder of Play Business, a unique equity crowd-funding model that incentivizes the growth of innovative enterprises. Fernanda’s ultimate objective is to create an ecosystem in which makers build businesses, players invest in new enterprises, co-founders form teams, and mentors advise entrepreneurs. The Play Business community is catalyzing the culture of entrepreneurship in Mexico and Latin America.

Having always lived In Mexico, Fernanda realizes that entrepreneurs with great ideas and investors need a platform to connect and share information. Before coming to MIT Sloan, she analyzed large companies in Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Chile as a Corporate Banking Associate at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and HSBC. She customized financing structures and products to suit clients’ needs. This experience has been key to advising entrepreneurs in planning and making decisions that promote sustainable growth and satisfy investors.

Fernanda holds a Bachelor’s in Financial Management from the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. Fernanda is an MBA candidate at the Sloan School of Management.

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KWAMI WILLIAMS

Co-Founder, MoringaConnect

 

Kwami was born and raised in Ghana and immigrated to the United States at the age of eight. His passion for science and innate curiosity led him to pursue a degree in Aerospace Engineering at MIT and to work with NASA. He first returned to Ghana with an MIT D-Lab course, and his encounter with rural poverty in the region led him to restructure his Aerospace Engineering degree and create the first Global Development concentration in the department. In 2012, he co-founded MoringaConnect with Emily Cunningham. MoringaConnect, for which he serves as CEO, is a vertically integrated supply chain, turning nutritious moringa leaves into moringa-powered superfood snacks under the Minga Foods brand, and Moringa oil seeds into clean beauty products under theTrue Moringa brand. MoringaConnect has provided over $400k of income to 2,300 farming families growing the Moringa tree across Ghana. Kwami studied Aerospace Engineering and Global Development at MIT. He is a D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow, Forbes 30 Under 30, Echoing Green Fellow, Harambe Entrepreneur Associate, MassChallenge Alumnus, and Black Engineer of the Year Awardee. 

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