Our board comprises a group of valuable experts from a wide range of fields offering strategic advice and experience on the operations of the organization and how it is managed for its sustainability. They bind current operations with future perspectives to ensure the impact of the technologies we develop reach the lowest common person of the pyramid. With this, they evaluate results and offer assessments on the way forward.
Advisory & Board Of Directors - Sodzo Foundation
Dawn Taylor
Dawn serves as Executive Director of American Institute of Architects in Kansas City, Missouri (USA). During Dawn’s 10 years with AIA Kansas City, the chapter has won two national AIA awards and become the 16th largest local AIA chapter in the world. Prior to AIA Kansas City, she spent 17 years in fund raising for distinguished Kansas City art museums. Dawn graduated with honors from Duke University and has served on two national alumni boards for Duke. She has traveled to Uganda five times since 2011 to volunteer for children and students.
Wasswa Nelson
Nelson has spent 7 years of his career developing technology conservation tools and technologies that use artificial intelligence technologies and principles to detect and report early warnings to stakeholders. Before starting Sodzo Foundation, Nelson was a SharePoint Business Analyst and Developer at Application Consulting Training Solutions in Florida, USA and a former research member of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Lab at Makerere University in Uganda. He holds a Bachelors degree of Science in Computer Science and he is a certified Technology Entrepreneur from Stanford NovoED. Nelson is a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and was selected to become a Green Ambassador For Climate In Africa by Climate Change Africa Opportunities in 2020.
Karien Bezuidenhout
Karien is an advocate for openness and supporter of social entrepreneurs. She is a native of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and the smell of rain after a dry spell still makes her think of home. She believes elephants have noble hearts and is passionate about their protection and conservation. It is rare for a meme to pass her by, she always knows what’s up in the collective mind of the Internet. Karien studied business and economics at the business schools of the University of Stellenbosch and University of Cape Town.
Ernest Mwebaze
Ernest has over 10 years of experience in academia where he was part of the faculty at the School of Computing and Informatics Technology of Makerere University in Uganda. At Makerere University he co-led the Makerere Artificial Intelligence research lab and headed several research projects. He has worked with the UN at the Pulse Lab Kampala. His current portfolio includes being the executive director at Sunbird AI, an NGO focused on the productization of AI for social good. He obtained his doctorate in machine learning from the University of Groningen.
Walusimbi Dennis
Dennis has over 10 years in public health and program management with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry. Dennis has a Master of Science – MS focused in Global Health and Infectious Diseases from The University of Edinburgh,
