Getting Here

Iyinoluwa “E” Aboyeji is a Nigerian entrepreneur who has built two of Africa’s fastest-growing tech startups and took early retirement leave by age 28. E co-founded Andela, now a leader connecting Africa’s top software developers with tech companies from the U.S. and around the world, having originally secured $24 million in funding from Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation. After three years, E left Andela to co-found Flutterwave, an online payment solution connecting Africans to the global economy, securing $20 Million, processing 100 million transactions worth $2.6 Billion since inception. These experiences, plus a valuable lesson learned at 14 – which he mentions in his TEDx talk “When will Africa’s Elite Grow Up?” – brought him a new perspective in life and in business. Tune in to learn what he believes is the future and possibilities within Nigeria and Africa and what businesses should aim to deliver in order to become truly successful.

Captivated by social poverty and inequality, Soledad Nuñez forged a path from an early age that would eventually land her the role of Minister of Housing and Habitat in her native Paraguay, at just 31 years of age. A civil engineer with a passion for building and housing, she led a team of 15,000 youth to build over 35,000 houses for her country’s most vulnerable families. Fueled by a desire to make a difference despite challenges or lack of resources, this World Economic Forum Young Global Leader shares her journey in a male-dominated society and how breaking down barriers and cultural beliefs is, in fact, possible.

Forsan Hussein is a social entrepreneur who has been on a mission to bring peace and unity between the Jewish and Arab communities ever since he was 10 years old. Today, Forsan is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Kauffman Fellow and the co-founder and managing partner of Zaitoun Ventures; a venture capital fund investing and creating valuable tech companies that place emphasis on having Jewish and Arab entrepreneurs working together.

Discovering the underwater world through drones Christine Spiten is a 29-year-old Norwegian sailing champion, engineer, and Co-founder of Blueye Robotics, an underwater drone startup revolutionizing the way people interact with the ocean. Christine and her team have raised over $6 million to date.

Kriti Sharma is an Artificial Intelligence specialist and a leading global voice on ethical technology and its impact on society. She built her first robot at the age of 15 in India and has been building innovative AI technologies to solve global issues, from productivity to inequality to domestic abuse, ever since. Founder of AI for Good, an organization creating the next generation technology for a better, fairer world. Kriti also leads AI and Ethics at Sage. In this episode we cover the day-to-day fear most women in Kriti’s hometown experience, her first robot creation, meeting President Obama and leading mobile products for United Kingdom's largest software group company while she was in her mid 20s.

Anu came from a small town in India and working in a call center in Mumbai, to become the CEO at Rocket Internet Asia and co-founder of EFI Hub (acquired by Acorn Capital). Marked with extreme obstacles and gender discrimination both in her home and at work, Anu continues to break barriers one after another.

American technology executive, author and judoka. First American to win a gold medal at the World Judo Championships, CEO of 7 Generation games and the Julia Group. Forbes 40 women to watch over 40 and mother of Ronda Rousey, Olympic judo medallist and former MMA champion.

Richard Nares is a CNN Hero award recipient who is the Co-Founder of the Emilio Nares Foundation; a program dedicated to helping children diagnosed with cancer from low-income underserved families meet basic needs such as door to door transportation so patients can actually make it to their cancer treatments.

Nate Martin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Puzzle Break, the first American escape room company. Founded in 2013, Puzzle Break is headquartered in Seattle with locations in New York, Massachusetts and on Royal Caribbean ships. He is a Business Journal 40-Under-40 honoree. Martin is a frequent lecturer on the topics of escape rooms, interactive entertainment, design, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He maintains a blog where he discusses those subjects and more. His interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, MarketWatch, and countless other outlets. He was profiled by MSNBC’s Your Business where he was first dubbed the "Founding Father of Escape Rooms." A graduate of the DigiPen Institute of Technology, he was a senior executive at Microsoft and Electronic Arts prior to Puzzle Break. He has shipped software used by billions of users as well as some of the most beloved video games of a generation.

From educator at the world's most distinguished educational institutions to fashion model gracing the covers of GQ, Essence & Code Magazines. Rashid Silvera is an educator with an M.T.S. degree from Harvard Divinity School and an Ed. M. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In April of 1983, Silvera became the fourth black male model to appear on the cover of GQ magazine. His appearance would mark the last time an African American male model would appear on a GQ cover. Silvera also appeared on the covers of Essence magazine and *CODE* magazine, and was the first African American male to model for a Polo Ralph Lauren advertisement campaign.

Simona Miculescu is the first woman in Romania's diplomatic history to be granted the rank of Ambassador. She is currently serving as Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office in Belgrade since July 2015. Prior to this, she was the Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations in New York, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. She also served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Romania.

Dan Liburd is the Head coach of strengthening and conditioning for the Brooklyn Nets, a legendary football team with the most Super Bowl wins in history, there are only 32 head strengthening coaches in the NFL from a field that has 40.000 certified registered strengthening and conditioning coaches, so it’s a very coveted spot.

Alexander Torrenegra is an entrepreneur (investor on Shark Tank Colombia) who has founded multiple companies including Voice123, the largest marketplace of voice actors in the world. He was featured in MIT's TR35 Colombia's list of Top Innovators Under 35 in 2012.

**Ben Stillman** is an American film producer of [Black Bear Pictures](https://blackbearpictures.com/home/), a production company nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, nine Golden Globes, and ten BAFTAs. Ben assisted in the development of the Oscar-winning film The Imitation Game in 2014. He has produced four films including Broken City, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, and Gold (2016) starring Matthew McConaughey in 2016.

Ndbaba Mandela (Nelson Mandela's grandson) talks about his life as a child in Soweto, the first time he met his grandfather, his school days and how the African Rising foundation was born. A foundation committed to publicizing the positive image of Africa to the world. ###