Education is not one-size-fits-all for the latest CTO Fellows
For many of us, education has been a one-size-fits-all experience. You sit in a classroom (or these days, sometimes, in front of a laptop or tablet), a teacher lectures, you listen and take notes. There are labs where you get your hands dirty, and teachers call on students to answer questions and participate, but for the most part, everyone gets the same lessons, homework, and quizzes, then you move on to a new topic. This uniform approach doesn’t help students that are ahead of schedule, and more consequentially, it doesn’t serve students that fall behind.
What about learners without access to formal schooling or instructional materials in their primary language or dialect? Or students with disabilities or learning differences who need individualized accommodations and pacing? What about education that happens outside of the classroom, such as reproductive or mental health? These are all cases where technology is uniquely positioned to help, especially when put into the hands of the experts who understand the challenges that their communities face.
Today, I’m honored to introduce you to the latest cohort of Now Go Build CTO Fellows. Individuals from around the world with diverse backgrounds (engineering, the humanities, business, healthcare, entrepreneurship, law) that have found their calling at the intersection of technology and education. They’re providing environments for refugees to reskill and find careers in IT, using generative AI to create textbooks and learning materials for the next generation of health workers in their preferred languages faster and at a fraction of the cost, and reimagining 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, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” Each of these Fellows is committed to creating a better world for learners and is willing to challenge the status quo. They don’t accept “we can’t do that”, instead they’re asking, “why haven’t we tried this?”
Their work, in their own words. Now go build.
Abheejit Khandagale, Catalyst Now
Based in: Nagpur, India
I’m a social entrepreneur from Nagpur, India, working at the intersection of technology, policy, and social impact. Currently, I serve as Digital Solutions Director at Catalyst Now, a global nonprofit network, where I support the movement and its members to become tech enabled and scale impact.
My path started as a failed academic, leading into entrepreneurship, but I 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 start Vruksh Ecosystems, a nonprofit focused on grassroots entrepreneurship education, supporting entrepreneurs across South Asia in their zero-to-one journey. I’ve been fortunate to be recognized as a World Economic Forum Top Innovator and Professional Fellow under the US Department of State for this work. But what really drives me is the ground-level work - Through Vruksh and ekatra (our AI micro learning platform), we’ve reached over 1.7 million people with platforms addressing real community needs.
What keeps me going is the belief that technology can create genuinely equitable opportunities. The CTO Fellows program represents a chance to strengthen the technical leadership needed to scale these solutions across the region and inspire others to turn their constraints into opportunities for positive change.
Adnan Ahmed Qureshi, Teach the World Foundation
Based in: Karachi, Pakistan
I’m Adnan Ahmed Qureshi, a passionate education changemaker with 14+ years of experience in foundational literacy/non-formal educational pathways, working in some of the most challenging educational environments in the world.
As Vice-President of Technology and Learning and a founding member at Teach the World Foundation, I have 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 adaptive game-based learning products, gamification, low-cost digital devices and analytics to deliver foundational numeracy and literacy in a completely self-paced and student driven environment to some of the most marginalized and under-served students around the world and has been deployed with excellent proven results in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malawi and South Sudan with 15,000+ children, in varied challenging settings, from urban slums to refugee camps and remote Himalayan villages.
The CTO Fellowship provides an exciting opportunity to gain global recognition to amplify the work we are doing, invaluable connections with other organizations and individuals working in this space, as well as further equipping me with the leadership skills, tools and strategies to leverage technology sustainably for social impact.
Alexandra Kroenert, Soma Rights
Based in: Berlin, Germany
My background 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 around reproductive health. For several years, I led engineering for a digital reproductive health project designed to provide trustworthy information and guidance in regions where access is often limited or sensitive. This experience deepened my commitment to building technology that is practical, respectful of privacy, and genuinely useful in people’s everyday lives.
Building on these experiences, I founded Soma Rights, an organization focused on youth, bodily autonomy, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. My aim is to make high-quality education and support accessible 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 peers who share these values, and finding new ways to make a positive impact.
Djimé Sacko, Kobakoo Academies
Based in: Mali and Togo
I joined Kabakoo’s first cohort looking for skills university wasn’t giving me. Four years later, I lead a team of engineers and designers creating AI-powered learning platforms rooted in our “Highdigenous” methodology: high technology fused with indigenous knowledge systems. We are on a mission to upskill youth into value creators across West Africa, a region where traditional education pathways often fail to meet the realities young people face. We leverage cloud infrastructure, DevOps practices, low-bandwidth optimization, and content that speaks to how young West Africans actually learn and work. The Now Go Build Fellowship is an opportunity to sharpen my technical leadership, connect with global peers solving similar challenges, and ensure we can scale our models to one million learners across West Africa by 2030.
Gokul Kumar, Madhi Foundation
Based in: Chennai, India
I started my journey in the social sector at 18, building my first organization from scratch and learning early what it means to create change from the ground up. Over the years, I’ve continued to build and innovate, and today I lead the design and development of products at Madhi Foundation that support millions of students, teachers, and government officials. My work uses technology as an enabler to solve complex education and governance challenges, focusing not just on tools, but 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 nonprofit tech solutions, including works-in-progress and learnings—so organizations can build on each other’s efforts instead of starting from zero and accelerate collaboration across the social sector.
Jassen Stanchev, ReDI School of Digital Integration
Based in: Berlin, Germany
I’m Jassen Stanchev, a lawyer turned Head of IT at ReDI School of Digital Integration—a coding academy for refugees and newcomers to tech. From mass hardware deployments to legal compliance and data protection, I’ve been bridging legal and tech to serve a community of over 30,000 alumni, 1,500 mentors, and 1,000 volunteers every school year.
Now we want to scale to a million learners without losing what works. We bring 10 years of structured, policy-compliant learner data to build a gamified and personalized learning platform with AI-powered career coaching and study tutoring. Our aim is to guide learners to realistic, high-potential roles in tech by recommending custom learning paths based on experience, career goals, and the local market demand.
I’m honored to join the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship to enhance my technical leadership and AWS expertise, focusing on scaling, mitigating AI bias, and preserving human connection at scale.
Oluwafunmilayo Ajakaiye, The Sapphires Development Initiative (TSDI)
Based in: Nancy, France
As a teenager, I had a desire to help people, even though I wasn’t always sure what that looked like for me. Meeting my Executive Director at The Sapphires Development Initiative (TSDI) gave that desire a clearer sense of purpose and direction. I began my journey at TSDI as a volunteer and have since grown into my role as the Strategy, Innovation, and Development Lead, which has been a true privilege.
At TSDI, we are on a mission to empower individuals and communities through digital technologies, promoting social inclusion and quality education for a brighter future, and my work allows me to bring this mission to life. One of the initiatives closest to my heart is the SustainHERbility Tech Academy (STA), where we engaged young girls from rural communities by first shifting their perceptions about gender norms. Then, we equipped them with practical digital and technology skills to help them see technology as a tool for solving real problems in their own communities. Through STA, I got the opportunity to work directly with these girls to build confidence, shift mindsets, and empower them to create solutions that can positively impact their world. One of which is the digital learning platform, STEAMSpark, which is geared toward contributing to scalable education solutions beyond traditional classrooms.
Through the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship, I aim to strengthen my technical leadership and deepen my expertise to scale educational technologies like STEAMspark across Africa and beyond. I also look forward to meaningful collaboration with peers and mentors in the fellowship.
Rosius Ndimofor, Educloud Academy
Based in: Douala, Cameroon
At Educloud Academy, we lead a mission to democratize technical education for learners locally and worldwide. Our AWS-powered platform delivers hands-on Cloud and AI mentorship to over 4,000 learners, helping aspiring engineers overcome the barriers of slow internet, knowledge gaps and language difficulty.
We provide industry-grade skills directly to students, ensuring that talent is not defined by geography or connectivity. Now, we are building an intelligent, offline-first architecture that uses AI to map adaptive, personalized learning paths and deliver context-aware support in multiple languages, all without requiring a constant internet connection.
I am grateful for the opportunity to join the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship and eager to strengthen the technical leadership and AWS expertise needed to scale this innovation and open career pathways for thousands more.