Winter 2024
Final Fellow Presentations
Ciro Muiruri |
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Issue Area | Quality Education
Ciro Muiruri is the Founder and Executive Director of Pendo International Projects. She provides leadership to the organization’s Canadian and Kenyan teams, supports strategy realization, and engages with external stakeholders. She is a champion for the advancement of early childhood education and believes that more must be done to change the trajectory of 400 million children living in Africa right now through quality, affordable and equitable education. Among other things, Ciro is a social entrepreneur, early childhood educator, and community developer.
She began her career in affordable Education in 2006 while working for an international organization in Kenya, where she helped establish the first early childhood school exclusively serving deaf children in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. In 2009, she leveraged her experiences to transition to social entrepreneurship by establishing a private Montessori school outside of Nairobi. In 2019 Ciro established Pendo International Projects and launched the organization’s first initiative - Pendo School Kenya. Ciro is also a highly sought-after Speaker, human rights activist, and refugee advocate, and serves as a board member in different organizations in Kenya and Canada.
Venture | Pendo International Projects
Pendo establishes private early childhood education (ECE) schools, and equip existing ECE businesses in low income communities with the skills, support & resources they need to provide high-quality, affordable early childhood education.
Natasha Johnson |
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Issue Area | Gender Equality
Natasha Johnson (she/her/unicorn) is a proud Brooklynite who considers many spots across the globe her extended home. She is an activist, educator, lawyer, and artist motivated by creating innovative access methods for communities historically peripheral to justice. Natasha is a board member of the NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault and the NYC Cyber Abuse Task Force. Her passion for storytelling and human rights is evidenced in her TEDx Talk reframing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) as a human rights violation in the US and in her efforts co-drafting legislation creating a municipal FGM/C Advisory Committee, the first of its kind in the country. Before joining VOW, she worked as the executive director of a coalition against family violence, as an anti-trafficking legal specialist in the Solomon Islands, as a director of education supporting homeless LGBTQ youth, and as a professor at multiple universities. When not collaborating with the VOW team, Natasha is also a trauma-informed yoga teacher, the creator of dotzz, an app to support gender-based violence survivors, and the founder of PROFIT + JULY, an inclusive-sized yoga mat line.
Venture | dotzz
dotzz is more than just a platform, it's a lifeline. It's a safe and secure space for survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) to find the support they need, while empowering allies and providers to become active participants in their journey.
Patrick Burton |
Troutdale, Oregon, USA
Issue Area | Reduce Inequality
Patrick Burton, CEO and co-founder of Benvision, stands at the forefront of augmented reality technology for the visually impaired with BEN (the Binaural Experience Navigator). His commitment to innovation extends to his volunteer work with the Oral Hull Foundation for the Blind, where he enhances navigational experiences for the visually impaired.
Patrick is also an independent AR developer with a video and motion design background. He has worked with tech leaders Zapier, Salesforce, and Udemy on their marketing and internal campaigns and has joined forces with top minds around the globe on a mission to revolutionize accessibility for low-vision individuals through XR. Originally from Los Angeles, Patrick resides in Troutdale, Oregon, where he rollerskates with his wife Kristine and their dog Keith.
Venture | Benvision Inc
Benvision helps visually impaired people enhance their understanding and navigation of the world through musical perception of objects and landscapes.
Kaveto “Kv” Tjatjara |
Rundu, Namibia
Issue Area | Clean Water and Sanitation
Kaveto Tjatjara, the CEO and founder of Flushh, believes that business can be a force for good in society. In 2014, during a visit to his home village, he recognized the harsh realities of underserved communities as he watched his grandmother walk to find some privacy and a bush to defecate behind. This was a huge call to action for him. In 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, his social enterprise was awarded the most impactful startup by SEED SPOT Impact Accelerator. The same year, he was awarded a Global Good Fund fellowship for his leadership abilities. In 2018, he was selected for the prestigious Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.
Kaveto works hard to form cross-sector partnerships to challenge the status quo by using alternative technologies in the sanitation sector as suitable alternatives for building more resilient communities. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and auditing from the University of Namibia.
Venture | Flushh
Flushh is a social enterprise that builds innovative waterless toilets from locally sourced and recycled materials for people in underserved communities.
Gigi Aulsebrook | I
stanbul, Turkey
Issue Area | No Poverty
Gigi Aulsebrook has extensive experience in human rights advocacy, research, and monitoring in the realms of forced migration and displacement, as well as conflict, violence, and genocide. Her focus has predominantly been on the European Union and Turkey and further east in countries like Afghanistan and Syria. Gigi has run humanitarian relief projects, as well as projects and organizations focusing on the issues of homelessness, food insecurity, breast cancer awareness, health, and development. She has published an article on the European Union's externalization in Oxford University's Forced Migration Review, alongside contributions to other publications. Previous experience with institutions includes UNICEF, UN FAO, ACTED, NPA, the EU, and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
Gigi holds a BSc in Geography and an MSc in International Development. Her master's work focused on the mobilization of language and ideology in the Rohingya Crisis and the impacts of language and ideology in different narratives.
Venture | Aseel Technology Corporation
Aseel onboards underdeveloped and developing communities to the digital economy.
Mary Zhu |
San Francisco, California, USA
Issue Area | Decent Work and Economic Growth
Mary Zhu is the Founder and Executive Director of Develop for Good, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports teams of underserved, underrepresented, and diverse college students as they work on tech projects under professional mentors for other nonprofits.
While studying Computer Science as an undergrad at Stanford University during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary spotted two critical needs: first, tens of thousands of nonprofits were projected to shut down without technical support to digitize their services. At the same time, millions of college students were sent home, with internship plans and student activities canceled and few opportunities to gain professional experience. Mary saw an opportunity to address both problems with one solution. Uniting her technical skills and passion for supporting vulnerable communities, she founded the tech nonprofit Develop for Good.
In 2017, Mary began studying at Stanford University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) and a Master of Science in Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction) in 2021.
Venture | Develop For Good
Develop for Good designs and develops affordable websites, web and mobile apps, and data projects for nonprofits through teams of talented college tech students and industry professional mentors.
Delroy Waugh | Orlando, Florida, USA
Issue Area | Reduce Inequality
Delroy Waugh is a dedicated leader at the forefront of organizational development, specializing in guiding leaders and organizations committed to the vital work of fostering inclusion and delivering equity. His mission is to address and solve complex people-related challenges. His approach is deeply rooted in understanding the unique dynamics of each organization and its leaders, enabling him to tailor solutions that resolve immediate issues and lay the groundwork for long-term inclusive practices.
Delroy received his MBA at the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College.
Venture | ADIBE Collaborative
ADIBE helps leaders positively transform their organizational culture through a framework that connects the concepts of access, diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
Daryl Holman Jr. |
New York, New York, USA
Issue Area | No Poverty
Daryl Holman Jr. is, first and foremost, a fanatic older brother who always comes armed with a story about his latest adventure. Affectionately described by others as "someone you want on your team when sh** hits the fan," Daryl brings that same intensity to the strategy and vision of Revival as he is always insistent on putting deals in front of consumers that feel like a home run. Before his time in Student Debt advocacy, Daryl led design efforts for everything from small business support and Cannabis Legalization to grassroots efforts to stop broken windows policing.
Outside of work, Daryl is a marathoner and a novice sailor. Daryl received his Bachelor of Science in Communication and Media Studies and Nonprofit Administration and Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) in Nonprofit Organization Management and Urban Affairs from Eastern Michigan University.
Venture | Revival Inc.
Revival is an online platform that helps borrowers reduce or eliminate debt by packaging and selling their debt on the open market for pennies on the dollar.