Oscar Ekponimo Email and Phone Number
Oscar is a young Software Design Engineer using technology to improve the lives and well-being of communities. He is a creative product innovation and entrepreneurial leader driving innovation and product market-fit, to achieve consumer engagement by spearheading product evolution through impactful releases. At 26 He founded Chowberry Inc – Africa’s first technology driven social business that improves access to food for persons facing hunger via an app that aggregates food waste data and connects families facing hunger to life saving nutrition. Over the past 6 years the technology service has facilitated the distribution of over 1.6 Million meals to food insecure persons through partnerships with Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) food brands. In recognition of his work, in utilizing technology to improve the well-being of lives and our planet, he was Named in Time Magazine’s list of 10 Next Generation Leaders, Rolex Award for Enterprise in Applied Technology by the Rolex Watch Company, Young Pioneer at Harvard Medical by World Frontiers Forum, Quartz Top 30 African Innovators of 2017, UN/ITU Young Innovators Award, BBC Top 10 Innovations of 2018 sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Top 10 list of 2022 for Creative Entrepreneurs by 50Next at the Basque Culinary Centre among other honors and awards.With his unique background in software engineering, product design innovation, and startups, Oscar is an embodiment of the spirit of enterprise, and thrives on creating innovative solutions and approaches to problem solving. A self-starter, he launched Africa's first multidisciplinary design lab that combines Science, Arts and Technology in partnership with Ars Electronica FutureLab Austria which has grown to a collaborative creative community of 500+ innovators, engineers, technologists and artists with multiple patent filings at the intersection of Arts and Technology.He is a member of the Advisory Board - Digital Communities to Ars Electronica GmBH Austria and served as a jury member at MIT Solve.An ardent speaker he has graced various forums such as the UN Social Good Summit in New York, Yale University African Development Conference and most recently Harvard Business School at the World Frontiers Forum Oscar is certified in Technology Entrepreneurship from the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and an alumnus of Enterprise Development Centre at the Lagos Business School. Entrepreneurship Management from Enterprise Development Centre, Lagos.
Chowberry Inc
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Chief Product OfficerChowberry Inc Nov 2019 - PresentPerformed in-depth user research to re-evaluate product market fit and defined a new vision for Chowberry 2.0 product that accomplished an independently validated revenue and viability model while retaining company mission of reducing food waste and addressing hunger using technology.Product Designer functions with oversight on defining product vision, strategy and implementation to deliver value to consumers and business while managing engineering team of Front-end, Back-end and DevOp with oversight on task management using YouTrack Kanban sprints.Based on product vision, developed the product blueprint using wireframing tools (Figma) and created clickable mock-ups and user journey workflows for Chowberry 2.0 App. Designed functional descriptive workflow documentation for development of end-points by back-end engineering team. Oversight on third-party integrations into Chowberry 2.0 for merchant payment processing, identity and authentication, storage (cloudinary), Google Cloud and other API integrations.
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Software Design EngineerChowberry Inc Mar 2018 - Oct 2019Software Engineer responsible for coding feature sets based on functional requirements. I managed software development lifecycle, of the improved Chowberry applicaton and succeffully implemented UI/UX design workflows for the entire product that improved user interactions and overall adoption of the app. - Improved the user workflows on the front-end and overall application performace on customer dashboard that reduced on-boarding acceptability and time by over 70% enabling faster uploads of food waste data by grocers and merchants.
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FounderChowberry Inc Oct 2017 - Feb 2018- Founded Chowberry from an idea I generated, tested the value proposition, raised initial angel investment of $5,000 from UN/IT and took the venture from idea to MVP. Led product strategy and research and engineering teams focused on developing product that aggregates food at risk of waste and mapping off-taking beneficiaries facing hunger in underserved communities and successfully facilitating distribution of over 1.6 million meals. - Designed and built version 1 of the Chowberry App, ran a pilot and built a team.- Recruited potential franchisees in 5 different countries including Brazil, Zambia, and United States.- Reworked business model that achieved break-even point and tipped over to profitability- Built multiple international partnerships and relationships with philanthropic organizations and food companies including Rolex Watch Company, Barilla and Nestle
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Project LeadHarvard University Sep 2018 - PresentCambridge, Massachusetts, UsThe "Chowberries" project is an R & D project leveraging new breakthrough discoveries in food technologies from Incredible Foods (Harvard) and CambridgeCrops(MIT) to improve micro-nutrient access in the developing world leveraging newly discovered low-pH sensitive delivery forms of iron and other micro-nutrients by Scientist Robert Langer (MIT) combined with an algae based edible packaging food technology developed by David Edwards (Harvard) into local food varieties to achieve high nutrition-dense food forms to eliminate micro-nutrient deficiencies.Through a collaborative effort with scientists at Langer Labs at MIT, Harvard Professor David Edwards and World Frontiers Forum we are building a core team of professionals and industry experts to implement a clinical study in Nigeria that demonstrably illustrates efficacy of iron-fortified snacks called "ChowBerry" in school age children to address iron deficiency. A successful efficacy study will see a scale up of production of iron fortified "ChowBerries" and its distribution to Iron deficient beneficiaries. -
Chief Innovation OfficerGallery Of Code Jun 2018 - PresentFormed a multi-disciplinary team of hardware, software and fashion-technologists to innovate an interactive sensor activated wearable jacket for use in industrial safety. Conceptualized, designed and engineered a computer vision innovation with gesture-recognition that gamifies brands to be applied in experiential marketing or advertising.Worked with R & D team to develop a battery powered rechargeable non-aerosolbug exterminator using ultrasonic sensors and LED light spectrums for attracting andzapping flying disease carrying vectors. Determined and designed research parameters and product direction for new innovation. -
FounderGallery Of Code Apr 2018 - Oct 2018Conceptualized the idea for Africa's first multi-disciplinary design and innovation lab incorporating Art Thinking to create solutions that impact industry and resolve social issues. Successfully secured start-up investment of €10,000 from Government of Austria, and a partnership with Europe's' largest media arts and technology institution Ars Electronica FutureLab GmBh Austria.Started from one technologist (me) and grew it to a community of over 500+ technologists, Software Engineers, Product Designers, Full Stack developers and artists forming multi-disciplinary teams for research, development and experimentation. Organized multiple international residencies such as the AI Africa 2018 and welcomed Prof Horst Hoertner, inventor of Drone 100 and Swarm OS.
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Advisory Board Member (Digital Communities) & 2018 Prix Jury MemberArs Electronica Linz Gmbh Apr 2016 - PresentLinz, Oberösterreich, AtEvery year since 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica honors the best media art works in the world with its Golden Nicas. In addition, the winners receive prize money of up to € 10,000 per category and a prominent appearance at the Ars Electronica Festival 2018 in Linz. An international jury will meet in Linz for several days this April to jointly select the winners of the year 2018. -
Ecosystem Advisor - Food System Resilience Program (Fsrp)The World Bank May 2020 - Jul 2020Washington, Dc, UsThe FSRP is a regional flagship investment project led by ECOWAS, CILSS, CORAF, co-financed by theWorld Bank (WB) designed to improve resilience in the food system in West Africa while leveraging technology to achieve the objective. I provided technical advisory on technology driven advisory services and how they might be leveraged to promote adaptive and resilient food systems in West Africa. “Under the palaver tree: unpacking Food System Resilience in West Africa” took place from July 6-9, 2020 in the context of the project preparation of the upcoming Food System Resilience Program (FSRP). -
Jury Member - Mohammed Bin Rasheed Initiative For Global ProsperitySolve - Mit Jan 2020 - Jun 2020Cambridge, Massachusetts, UsInvited by MIT Solve to join the judging panel for the Global Maker Challenge on Sustainable and Healthy Food for All, which addresses the question "How can urban populations increase access to healthy and sustainable foods, despite rapid urbanization?"Participation in the Sustainable and Healthy Food for All judging panel is by invitation-only and is comprised of an interdisciplinary group of cross-sector leaders who support the promotion of the challenge, judge the solutions received on the Mohammed bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity’s open innovation platform, and help select the winners at the Global Maker Challenge Pitch event. -
Guest SpeakerBarilla Group Jun 2018 - Jun 2018Parma, ItBarilla Cenre for Food and Nutrition - International Forum on Food and Nutrition, Migration and Agri-Food Systems, Causes and Solutions -
Speaker At Un Social Good SummitSocial Good Summit Australia Sep 2017 - Sep 2017Sydney, Nsw, AuThe Social Good Summit was built on the premise that the discussions taking place in New York during the United Nations General Assembly should be accessible to all. Now in its eighth year, the Summit has continued its mission to involve everyone in the conversations that affect us all. Acquiring more than 2 billion social impressions within a span of 24 hours, the Summit continues fulfilling its mission of pushing the #2030NOW agenda, exploring how we can unlock technology's potential to make the world a better place by the year 2030. -
Fellow At International Telecommunications Union ItuInternational Telecommunication Union Nov 2013 - Dec 2014Geneva, ChSpeaker and Mentor at the International Telecoms Union - the UN agency for ICT. Mentored new cohort of ITU Young Innovators 2014 on Product Design, Technology Entrepreneurship. -
Software DeveloperItsi-Biosciences Oct 2010 - Nov 2012Johnstown, Pennsylvania, UsFunctioned as a Defense Contractor deployed to the National Intelligence Agency(NIA), National Security Advisers Office (NSA) Nigeria, and Defence headquarters (DHQ) to deploy mission critical military software and hardware together with foreign partners from U.S Department of Defense (DoD). I was responsible for the successful systems integration of a java based ERP Framework deployed at Defence Headquarters Nigeria, which enabled Defence Chiefs evaluate key performance indicators (KPI) for areas of interest and track the management of associated resources, military assets utilization and disease persistence on secure dashboards.Performed Software Development and back-end applications integration work of a database in PostgreSQL with 80,000 military personnel records, mapped to Genplates of DNA blood samples in the GenVault archive containing 80,000 + military DNA Bank.
Oscar Ekponimo Education Details
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University Of Calabar NigeriaComputer Science
Frequently Asked Questions about Oscar Ekponimo
What company does Oscar Ekponimo work for?
Oscar Ekponimo works for Chowberry Inc
What is Oscar Ekponimo's role at the current company?
Oscar Ekponimo's current role is Software Design Engineer | Product Designer | Speaker, Rolex Laureate / Founder @ Chowberry Inc & Gallery of Code.
What schools did Oscar Ekponimo attend?
Oscar Ekponimo attended University Of Calabar Nigeria.
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