Los Zacateros
Eric White
Project Manger
A native of Annapolis, Maryland Eric White received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Virginia. Upon graduation he served for four years as an active duty US naval officer, spending his time mostly in East Asia and in California. While serving in the military abroad Eric found a passion for development. When his service commitment expired he entered the MPA in International Development program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. While his past work has focused largely on helping governments prioritize and evaluate development policy (including direct work with the government of Cape Verde, West Africa), he is excited to be a part of team zaca. He also hopes to gather enough data to help persuade governments that the mobile transmission of prices is solid development policy.
M. Ehsan Hoque
Systems Architecture
M. Ehsan Hoque is a graduate student at the Media Lab of MIT. His research interests revolve around using technology to build systems that understand and respond human emotions. His current efforts involve customizing this technology to help individuals with special needs, e.g., autism, down-syndrome. A native of Bangladesh, where most the people are farmers, Ehsan looks forward to spanning his efforts into other countries in the future. Apart from having degrees in Computer and Electrical Engineering, Ehsan also has experience working for Goldman Sachs as a technology analyst. Ehsan is accountable for the Systems Architecture of this project.
Scot Frank
Software Systems
Scot Frank has a background in engineering that is coupled with a love for learning, travel, and happiness. His goals are to utilize science and engineering skills and principals for Good; primarily he hopes this will be realized through addressing community-voiced problems with sustainable and clean solutions. His experiences living and working abroad in rural areas of China, India, Tibet, and Nepal will assist him in helping with this project in collaboration with the farmers in Zacatecas, Mexico. Similarly, Scot has been working with others toward these goals as part of an NGO he helped start, called One Earth Designs.
Chizoba Nnaemeka
Sustainability Officer
Chizoba Nnaemeka is a first year student MBA student at MIT Sloan and a member of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program. A graduate of the Lycée Français and of Wellesley College, where she studied Philosophy and Biology, she is fluent in three languages and has lived and worked in New York, Paris, and Rome. Immediately prior to Sloan, she was a Venture Capital Associate, focused on digital media and consumer technologies. Before then, she consulted Paris-based startups on issues of strategy and financing, and prior to that, started her career as a Financial Analyst in Goldman Sachs’ Equities division. Her interests are in emerging markets, innovation, West African politics (specifically Nigerian), and volunteering. While at Sloan she is a part-time foreign affairs commentator for French newspaper, Le Figaro. She considers herself lucky to have kindhearted, absurdly intelligent parents and 3 phenomenal younger siblings.
Joshua Haynes
Institutional Relations Officer
Joshua is a first year Masters of International Business student at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. Combining experiences gained while a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco and as a consultant in the software industry, his studies focus on using technology as a catalyst for wealth and livelihood improvements in developing countries. He loves exploring cultures (and cuisines), and has lived in five countries on five continents.
Koji Omae
Sustainability, Emeritus
Gender: M
Marital status: Married
Citizenship: Japan
Employer: NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan (HRM officer)
Education: Univ. of Tokyo, 2000, MS., Civil Engineering
Academic interests: Technology management, Entrepreneurship
Outside interests: Shogi (Japanese chess), Baseball
One word to describe me: Owl
Favorite book: Flowers for Algernon
Favorite movie: Amadeus
Favorite place: My sweet home
Rakesh Sahu
Operations, Emeritus
Well-experienced in mechanical engineering and technology management, Rakesh Sahu is interested in mobile technology, entrepreneurship and sustainable economic development. He has worked as an engineer and a consultant in the Information Technology, Mobile and Wireless industries. He believes his experiences working on engineering projects in India will help him in the current ICT4D initiative and make a positive impact upon the economic wellbeing of the farmers in Zacatecas, Mexico. Rakesh is currently a graduate student at MIT pursuing a Masters degree in engineering and management.
Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck
Visiting Professor at ITESM Zacatecas
Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck Executive director of international programmes and visiting professor at ITESM Zacatecas. When not obsessing about the history and culture of the former Jesuit missions of the Chiquitania, his work focuses on rural poverty reduction and technology-driven social development enablers. In other words, see LinkedIn. Favourite pastimes include marveling at Michail Bletsas’ brilliant, 133-word, multi-font MIT bio and trying to persuade Sofía Reyes to move to the United States. Notoriously camera-shy, he’d prefer you look at unsung guitar hero Keith Levene instead. He speaks English, Spanish, some French, and reads Latin.
