For many people, schooling has been a one-size-fits-all expertise. You sit in a classroom (or today, generally, in entrance of a laptop computer or pill), a instructor lectures, you pay attention and take notes. There are labs the place you get your palms soiled, and lecturers name on college students to reply questions and take part, however for essentially the most half, everybody will get the identical classes, homework, and quizzes, then you definitely transfer on to a brand new subject. This uniform strategy doesn’t assist college students which are forward of schedule, and extra consequentially, it doesn’t serve college students that fall behind.
What about learners with out entry to formal education or educational supplies of their main language or dialect? Or college students with disabilities or studying variations who want individualized lodging and pacing? What about schooling that occurs exterior of the classroom, comparable to reproductive or psychological well being? These are all circumstances the place know-how is uniquely positioned to assist, particularly when put into the palms of the consultants who perceive the challenges that their communities face.
At the moment, I’m honored to introduce you to the most recent cohort of Now Go Construct CTO Fellows. People from world wide with numerous backgrounds (engineering, the humanities, enterprise, healthcare, entrepreneurship, regulation) which have discovered their calling on the intersection of know-how and schooling. They’re offering environments for refugees to reskill and discover careers in IT, utilizing generative AI to create textbooks and studying supplies for the following era of well being staff of their most well-liked languages quicker and at a fraction of the associated fee, and reimagining schooling in rural areas with restricted connectivity, energy, and entry to lecturers.
It was Malcolm X who stated, “Training is our passport to the longer term, for tomorrow belongs to the individuals who put together for it right now.” Every of those Fellows is dedicated to creating a greater world for learners and is keen to problem the established order. They don’t settle for “we will’t try this”, as a substitute they’re asking, “why haven’t we tried this?”
Their work, in their very own phrases. Now go construct.
Based mostly in: Nagpur, India
I’m a social entrepreneur from Nagpur, India, working on the intersection of know-how, coverage, and social impression. At present, I function Digital Options Director at Catalyst Now, a world nonprofit community, the place I help the motion and its members to turn out to be tech enabled and scale impression.
My path began as a failed tutorial, main into entrepreneurship, however I discovered my calling constructing ecosystems the place first-generation entrepreneurs can thrive. I constructed two ed-tech corporations earlier than diving into the social impression sector as a Fellow with Clear India Mission and Tata Trusts. This led me to begin Vruksh Ecosystems, a nonprofit targeted on grassroots entrepreneurship schooling, supporting entrepreneurs throughout South Asia of their zero-to-one journey. I’ve been lucky to be acknowledged as a World Financial Discussion board Prime Innovator and Skilled Fellow beneath the US Division of State for this work. However what actually drives me is the ground-level work – By way of Vruksh and ekatra (our AI micro studying platform), we’ve reached over 1.7 million folks with platforms addressing actual neighborhood wants.
What retains me going is the assumption that know-how can create genuinely equitable alternatives. The CTO Fellows program represents an opportunity to strengthen the technical management wanted to scale these options throughout the area and encourage others to show their constraints into alternatives for optimistic change.
Based mostly in: Karachi, Pakistan
I’m Adnan Ahmed Qureshi, a passionate schooling changemaker with 14+ years of expertise in foundational literacy/non-formal instructional pathways, working in a number of the most difficult instructional environments on the planet.
As Vice-President of Know-how and Studying and a founding member at Educate the World Basis, I’ve performed a key function in growing an modern and pioneering digital studying mannequin referred to as the Digital MicroSchool. It’s a photo voltaic powered one-room faculty that makes use of adaptive game-based studying merchandise, gamification, low-cost digital units and analytics to ship foundational numeracy and literacy in a totally self-paced and pupil pushed surroundings to a number of the most marginalized and under-served college students world wide and has been deployed with glorious confirmed ends in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malawi and South Sudan with 15,000+ kids, in different difficult settings, from city slums to refugee camps and distant Himalayan villages.
The CTO Fellowship supplies an thrilling alternative to achieve international recognition to amplify the work we’re doing, invaluable connections with different organizations and people working on this house, in addition to additional equipping me with the management abilities, instruments and methods to leverage know-how sustainably for social impression.
Based mostly in: Berlin, Germany
My background in worldwide relations and kids’s rights gave me a transparent understanding of how troublesome it may be for younger folks to entry dependable info, care, and help, particularly round reproductive well being. For a number of years, I led engineering for a digital reproductive well being venture designed to offer reliable info and steerage in areas the place entry is commonly restricted or delicate. This expertise deepened my dedication to constructing know-how that’s sensible, respectful of privateness, and genuinely helpful in folks’s on a regular basis lives.
Constructing on these experiences, I based Soma Rights, a corporation targeted on youth, bodily autonomy, and sexual and reproductive well being and rights. My goal is to make high-quality schooling and help accessible to those that want it most, utilizing know-how as a software for empowerment and inclusion. By way of the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship, I stay up for rising as a technical chief, connecting with friends who share these values, and discovering new methods to make a optimistic impression.
Based mostly in: Mali and Togo
I joined Kabakoo’s first cohort searching for abilities college wasn’t giving me. 4 years later, I lead a workforce of engineers and designers creating AI-powered studying platforms rooted in our “Highdigenous” methodology: excessive know-how fused with indigenous information programs. We’re on a mission to upskill youth into worth creators throughout West Africa, a area the place conventional schooling pathways typically fail to satisfy the realities younger folks face. We leverage cloud infrastructure, DevOps practices, low-bandwidth optimization, and content material that speaks to how younger West Africans really be taught and work. The Now Go Construct Fellowship is a chance to sharpen my technical management, join with international friends fixing related challenges, and guarantee we will scale our fashions to at least one million learners throughout West Africa by 2030.
Based mostly in: Chennai, India
I began my journey within the social sector at 18, constructing my first group from scratch and studying early what it means to create change from the bottom up. Over time, I’ve continued to construct and innovate, and right now I lead the design and growth of merchandise at Madhi Basis that help thousands and thousands of scholars, lecturers, and authorities officers. My work makes use of know-how as an enabler to resolve advanced schooling and governance challenges, focusing not simply on instruments, however on adoption, inclusion, and long-term sustainability inside public programs.
By way of the Now Go Construct Fellowship, I need to construct a shared digital repository—a “digital backyard” of nonprofit tech options, together with works-in-progress and learnings—so organizations can construct on one another’s efforts as a substitute of ranging from zero and speed up collaboration throughout the social sector.
Based mostly in: Berlin, Germany
I’m Jassen Stanchev, a lawyer turned Head of IT at ReDI College of Digital Integration—a coding academy for refugees and newcomers to tech. From mass {hardware} deployments to authorized compliance and knowledge safety, I’ve been bridging authorized and tech to serve a neighborhood of over 30,000 alumni, 1,500 mentors, and 1,000 volunteers each faculty 12 months.
Now we need to scale to one million learners with out shedding what works. We deliver 10 years of structured, policy-compliant learner knowledge to construct a gamified and personalised studying platform with AI-powered profession teaching and examine tutoring. Our goal is to information learners to lifelike, high-potential roles in tech by recommending customized studying paths primarily based on expertise, profession objectives, and the native market demand.
I’m honored to hitch the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship to reinforce my technical management and AWS experience, specializing in scaling, mitigating AI bias, and preserving human connection at scale.
Based mostly in: Nancy, France
As a teen, I had a need to assist folks, although I wasn’t at all times certain what that regarded like for me. Assembly my Government Director at The Sapphires Growth Initiative (TSDI) gave that need a clearer sense of function and path. I started my journey at TSDI as a volunteer and have since grown into my function because the Technique, Innovation, and Growth Lead, which has been a real privilege.
At TSDI, we’re on a mission to empower people and communities by way of digital applied sciences, selling social inclusion and high quality schooling for a brighter future, and my work permits me to deliver this mission to life. One of many initiatives closest to my coronary heart is the SustainHERbility Tech Academy (STA), the place we engaged younger women from rural communities by first shifting their perceptions about gender norms. Then, we outfitted them with sensible digital and know-how abilities to assist them see know-how as a software for fixing actual issues in their very own communities. By way of STA, I acquired the chance to work instantly with these women to construct confidence, shift mindsets, and empower them to create options that may positively impression their world. One in every of which is the digital studying platform, STEAMSpark, which is geared towards contributing to scalable schooling options past conventional school rooms.
By way of the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship, I goal to strengthen my technical management and deepen my experience to scale instructional applied sciences like STEAMspark throughout Africa and past. I additionally stay up for significant collaboration with friends and mentors within the fellowship.
Based mostly in: Douala, Cameroon
At Educloud Academy, we lead a mission to democratize technical schooling for learners domestically and worldwide. Our AWS-powered platform delivers hands-on Cloud and AI mentorship to over 4,000 learners, serving to aspiring engineers overcome the boundaries of sluggish web, information gaps and language problem.
We offer industry-grade abilities on to college students, guaranteeing that expertise will not be outlined by geography or connectivity. Now, we’re constructing an clever, offline-first structure that makes use of AI to map adaptive, personalised studying paths and ship context-aware help in a number of languages, all with out requiring a continuing web connection.
I’m grateful for the chance to hitch the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship and desirous to strengthen the technical management and AWS experience wanted to scale this innovation and open profession pathways for hundreds extra.
