For many of us, education was a universal experience. You sit in class (or nowadays sometimes in front of a laptop or tablet), the teacher lectures, you listen and take notes. There are labs where you get your hands dirty and teachers challenge students to answer questions and participate, but mostly everyone gets the same lessons, homework, and quizzes, then you move on to a new topic. This one-size-fits-all approach does not help students who are ahead and, as a result, does not serve students who are behind.
What about students without access to formal education or learning materials in their primary language or dialect? Or students with disabilities or learning differences who need individual adaptation and pacing? What about education that takes place outside the classroom, such as reproductive or mental health? These are all cases where technology is uniquely positioned to help, especially when placed in the hands of experts who understand the challenges their communities face.
Today I’m honored to introduce you to the newest cohort of CTO Fellows Now Go Build. Individuals from around the world with diverse backgrounds (engineering, humanities, business, healthcare, entrepreneurship, law) who have found their calling at the intersection of technology and education. They provide an environment for refugees to retrain and find careers in IT, use generative artificial intelligence to create textbooks and learning materials for the next generation of health professionals in their preferred languages faster and at a fraction of the cost, and transform education in rural areas with limited connectivity, power and access to teachers.
It was Malcolm X who said, “Education is our passport to the future because tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. Each of these members is committed to creating a better world for students and is willing to challenge the status quo. They don’t accept ‘we can’t do it’, instead they ask ‘why didn’t we try?’
Their work, in their own words. Now go build.
Based in: Nagpur, India
I am a social entrepreneur from Nagpur, India working at the intersection of technology, policy and social impact. I currently work as the Director of Digital Solutions at Catalyst Now, a global non-profit network where I support movements and their members to become technology-driven and achieve greater impact.
My journey began as a failed academic that led to entrepreneurship, but I have found my calling building ecosystems where first-generation entrepreneurs can thrive. I built two ed-tech companies before diving into the social impact sector as a Fellow with Clean India Mission and Tata Trusts. This led me to found Vruksh Ecosystems, a grassroots entrepreneurship education non-profit that supports entrepreneurs across South Asia on their zero-to-one journey. I was fortunate enough to be recognized for this work as a top innovator and expert by the World Economic Forum under the US State Department. But what really drives me is working at scale – Through Vruksh and ekatra (our AI microlearning platform), we’ve reached over 1.7 million people with platforms that address real community needs.
What keeps me going is the belief that technology can create truly equitable opportunities. The CTO Fellows program is a chance to strengthen the technical leadership needed to scale these solutions across the region and inspire others to turn their limitations into opportunities for positive change.
Based in: Karachi, Pakistan
I am Adnan Ahmed Qureshi, a passionate educational change maker with over 14 years of experience in basic literacy/non-formal learning pathways, working in some of the most challenging educational environments in the world.
As Vice President of Technology and Education and a founding member of the Teach the World Foundation, I played a key role in developing an innovative and pioneering digital learning model called the Digital MicroSchool. It is a solar-powered, one-room school that uses game-based adaptive learning products, gamification, low-cost digital devices and analytics to deliver basic numeracy and literacy in a fully self-contained and student-driven environment to some of the most marginalized and underserved students worldwide and has been deployed with excellent proven results in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malawi and South Sudan, from urban, urban slums000 refugee camps and remote Himalayan villages.
The CTO Fellowship provides an exciting opportunity to gain global recognition to expand the work we do, invaluable connections with other organizations and individuals working in this space, and further equips me with leadership skills, tools and strategies that sustainably use technology for social impact.
Based in: Berlin, Germany
My experience in international relations and children’s rights gave me a clear understanding of how difficult it can be for young people to access reliable information, care and support, especially in the area of reproductive health. For several years, I led the engineering of a digital reproductive health project aimed at providing trusted information and advice in regions where access is often limited or sensitive. This experience deepened my commitment to building technology that is practical, respects privacy, and truly useful in people’s everyday lives.
Based on these experiences, I founded Soma Rights, an organization focused on youth, bodily autonomy, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. My goal is to make high quality education and support available to those who need it most, using technology as a tool for empowerment and inclusion. Through the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship, I look forward to growing as a technical leader, connecting with colleagues who share these values, and finding new ways to make a positive impact.
Based in: Mali and Togo
I joined the first Kabakoo cohort looking for the skills that the university didn’t give me. Four years later, I lead a team of engineers and designers creating AI-based learning platforms rooted in our “Highdigenous” methodology: cutting-edge technology combined with indigenous knowledge systems. Our goal is to nurture youth value creators across West Africa, a region where traditional educational pathways often do not match the reality young people face. We use cloud infrastructure, DevOps practices, low-bandwidth optimization and content that speaks to how young West Africans really learn and work. The Now Go Build Fellowship is an opportunity to hone our technical leadership, connect with global peers who are solving similar problems, and ensure we can scale our models to one million students across West Africa by 2030.
Based in: Chennai, India
I started my journey in the social sector at 18, building my first organization from scratch and learning early on what it means to create change from the ground up. I have continued to build and innovate over the years and today lead the design and development of products at the Madhi Foundation that support millions of students, teachers and government officials. My work uses technology as an enabler to solve complex challenges in education and governance, focusing not only on tools but also on adoption, inclusion and long-term sustainability within public systems.
Through the Now Go Build Fellowship, I want to build a shared digital repository – a “digital garden” of non-profit technology solutions, including work-in-progress and learning – so that organizations can build on their efforts, rather than start from scratch, and accelerate collaboration across the social sector.
Based in: Berlin, Germany
I’m Jassen Stanchev, a lawyer turned head of IT at the ReDI School of Digital Integration – a coding academy for refugees and tech newbies. From mass hardware deployments to legal compliance and data protection, I’ve bridged legal and technical services each school year to serve a community of more than 30,000 alumni, 1,500 mentors, and 1,000 volunteers.
Now we want to scale to a million students without losing what works. We bring 10 years of structured, policy-driven student data to create a gamified and personalized learning platform with AI-powered career coaching and study tutoring. We aim to guide students towards realistic, high-potential roles in technology by recommending personalized learning pathways based on experience, career goals and local market demand.
I’m honored to join the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship to strengthen my technical leadership and AWS expertise with a focus on scaling, mitigating AI bias, and keeping people connected at scale.
Based in: Nancy, France
As a teenager, I had a desire to help people, even if I wasn’t always sure what that looked like for me. Meeting with my Executive Director at The Sapphires Development Initiative (TSDI) gave this desire clearer meaning and direction. I started my journey at TSDI as a volunteer and have since grown into my role as Head of Strategy, Innovation and Development, which has been a real privilege.
At TSDI, we are on a mission to empower individuals and communities through digital technologies, promote social inclusion and quality education for a brighter future, and my work allows me to bring this mission to life. One of the initiatives that is closest to my heart is the SustainHERbility Tech Academy (STA), where we engaged young girls from rural communities by first changing their perception of gender norms. We then equipped them with practical digital and technology skills to help them see technology as a tool to solve real problems in their own communities. Through STA, I was given the opportunity to work directly with these girls to build their confidence, change their mindset, and empower them to create solutions that can positively impact their world. One of them is the digital learning platform STEAMSpark, which is aimed at contributing to scalable learning solutions beyond traditional classrooms.
Through the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship, I aim to strengthen my technical leadership and deepen my expertise to expand educational technologies like STEAMspark across Africa and beyond. I also look forward to meaningful collaboration with peers and mentors in the community.
Based in: Douala, Cameroon
At Educloud Academy, we are on a mission to democratize technical education for students locally and globally. Our AWS-based platform provides hands-on cloud and AI mentorship to over 4,000 students, helping budding engineers overcome the barriers of slow internet, knowledge gaps and language barriers.
We deliver industry-level skills directly to students, ensuring that talent is not defined by geography or connectivity. We are now building an intelligent, offline-first architecture that uses AI to map adaptive, personalized learning paths and provide contextual support in multiple languages, all without the need for a constant internet connection.
I am grateful for the opportunity to join the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship and look forward to strengthening the technical leadership and AWS expertise needed to scale this innovation and open career paths for thousands more.