NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, August 18, 2017

Six social entrepreneurs who are addressing pressing poverty challenges through market-based approaches have been selected for this year’s MIT D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellowship, which is open to both MIT graduates and alumni of the D-Lab-affiliated International Development Design Summit (IDDS).

The 2017 fellows include Tunde Alawode PhD ’17, Honey Bajaj SM ’17, and Rebecca Hui MCP ’17, as well as three IDDS alumni: Abraham Salomon, Sebastian Rodriguez, and Chebet Lesan.

“I’m excited to be selected as a 2017 D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow,” says Lesan, the founder and CEO of BrightGreen Renewable Energy, Ltd. in Kenya. “This fellowship will provide a wonderful opportunity for me to pursue my vision to increase the engagement of women in Kenya’s green energy sector.”

Lesan joins a growing community of more than 30 current and former participants in the D-Lab Scale-Ups program, which offers one year of comprehensive support to social entrepreneurs.

“With MIT alumni fellows as well as fellows from our global network, the Scale-Ups Fellowship is a great example of the way D-Lab brings the MIT community together with innovators and entrepreneurs in the developing world,” says the D-Lab’s Jona Repishti, who manages the fellowship program.