Ken Banks Mentor 2012

Describe yourself briefly.

Ken devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world, and has spent the last 19 years working on projects in Africa. His early research resulted in the development of FrontlineSMS, an award-winning text messaging-based field communication system aimed at grassroots non-profit organisations.

Ken graduated from Sussex University with honours in Social Anthropology with Development Studies, was awarded a Stanford University Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship in 2006, and named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow in 2008. In 2009 he was named a Laureate of the Tech Awards, an international awards program which honours innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity. He was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in May 2010 and an Ashoka Fellow in 2011, and is the recipient of the 2011 Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest. Ken was also a member of the UK Prime Minister's delegation to Africa in July 2011. His work was initially supported by the MacArthur Foundation.