Melanie Akwule is Founder & CEO of MINWO Inc., an economic development tech company that works with innovation ecosystems to provide culturally informed business development support. Utilizing her background in product management and data science, her company’s platform uses Artificial Intelligence to create uniquely tailored entrepreneurial experiences for the businesses within customers’ ecosystems.Melanie Akwule has spent the majority of her career transforming data from underutilized assets to actionable insights for her customers. She spent over 5 years working for GE, most recently as a Technical Product Manager, in their Data Science Products division. She now, alongside running MINWO, works as a Business Strategy Consultant for startups. Melanie also has an MBA from Berkeley-Haas and graduated with a BS in Business Administration, and a minor in Engineering & Technology, from Georgia Tech.Melanie has a deep sense of responsibility to share with her community the resources and access to knowledge she's been afforded in life. She firmly believes in the African Proverb: if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. She holds herself accountable for the things that she knows she can, and should, do something about and has applied these philosophies throughout her journey as a tech founder. In a former life, she was a D1 athlete and the grit, determination, and resiliency that got her to the Olympic Trials in 2012 is the same energy she brings to MINWO and serving her community on a daily basis.My personal motto will always be: My business is to put Black businesses on. 🚀