Please join us tomorrow for the Change seminar were we welcome Ted McCarthy back to UW to talk about his experiences volunteering for the startup accelerator Gaza Sky Geeks.

When: Nov 24 12pm
Where: CSE 203
What: Unlikely Acceleration: Gaza Sky Geeks, Gaza's Rising Entrepreneurs.

Abstract

Gaza today struggles to overcome immense development hurdles enforced by an extremely challenging political environment and frequent destruction in times of war. The region currently experiences 43% unemployment, 80% population dependent on foreign agencies for some kind of aid, extremely limited freedom of movement, frequent and extended power outages, and more. Despite these challenges, Gaza also has potential to benefit from tremendous human capital: the population of 1.8 million possesses a 97% literacy rate, a 20% bachelors-level degree completion rate (higher even than the West Bank), and relatively high educational freedoms for women. Aiming to harness some of this potential, Gaza Sky Geeks, Gaza's first tech accelerator, was formed as an initiative by MercyCorps in 2011 and continues to thrive and grow today under the leadership of Iliana Montauk and Mai Walaa. Gaza Sky Geeks helps provide aspiring Gazan entrepreneurs with mentorship, links to customers, funding, employees, and more, and access to Gaza's only co-ed co-working space where they can work with like-minded individuals in a productive, friendly environment. Several of Gaza Sky Geek's startups have recently received early-stage funding, and the accelerator has received, and continues to receive, significant enthusiastic press.

Bio

Ted McCarthy spent a week volunteering as a mentor in Gaza Sky Geeks in June 2015, and thinks you probably should, too. He is also a user researcher working with Google Access, helping to explore opportunities and assess projects to expand fast internet access in developing regions. Prior to Google, he consulted at ThoughtWorks (- which kindly helped support his trip to Gaza, for which he is eternally grateful), and before working in industry he spent several years conducting graduate research at the University of Washington's Biomedical Health Informatics program and the University of Michigan's School of Information. He currently lives in (mostly) sunny San Francisco, and can often be found gleefully running through the Marin Headlands, or even just the hills of SF.