The Impact Accelerator Program Closing Event
After 14 weeks of bold co-creative work to accelerate real-world impact across 6 different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3, 4, 6, 13, 16, and 17), the first-ever cohort of the Analytics for a Better World Impact Accelerator Program is ready to share their journey!
Join the discussion on how cross-industry partnerships are shaping the future of technology from inspiring teams including AMREF Health Africa, Fleet Forum, ORTEC, Archivi.ng, OMP, the InfoNTD Consortium (with No Leprosy Remains and SightSavers), Teach the World Foundation, alongside the amazing data- and AI-volunteers.
What to expect on the day?
An inspiring keynote on inclusive and impactful technology, an interactive roundtable on the teams’ journey, exciting announcements on what’s next and, of course, a celebration of all the dedicated changemakers who are making it possible for data and AI to create real-world impact.
Eager to join us? Here are the details:
Tuesday, May 12th, 2:00 to 3:30 PM CEST
Online, via Zoom – join via the button below
Agenda:
2:00 – 2:10 – Welcome Remarks
2:10 – 2:35 – Keynote by Professor Payal Arora
2:35 – 2:40 – Media Moment: Celebrating the Journey of the Impact Accelerator Program
2:40 – 3:25 – The Roundtable of Change with the First Impact Accelerator Cohort
3:25 – 3:30 – Q&A and Closing Announcements
We are thrilled to announce the keynote speaker of the Impact Accelerator Program Closing Event – Professor Payal Arora! She is the Inclusive AI Cultures Chair in the Media and Cultures Department at Utrecht University and the Founder of the Inclusive AI Lab and FemLab. As a leading digital anthropologist with two decades of experience studying user experiences in the Global South, Professor Arora has dedicated her career to shaping inclusive AI designs and policies. Her latest book, From Pessimism to Promise (MIT Press), argues that while Western discourse around AI has grown increasingly pessimistic, communities from the Global Majority — where most of the world’s youth reside — tend to approach technology with greater optimism, seeing it as a path to addressing urgent, real-world needs. Named by Forbes as the “next billion champion” and listed among the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics 2025, her work deeply resonates with what the ABW Impact Accelerator stands for — using data and AI for equitable real-world impact. Professor Arora brings both rigorous expertise from her research and an inspiring vision to every stage she steps on, and we couldn’t be more excited to hear the insights she has to share with our community.
The Impact Accelerator Roundtable
The Impact Accelerator Closing Event Program Roundtable brings together the changemakers at the heart of this first cohort. Each will zoom in on what stood out most in their journey, lessons learned, and the impact their project will soon accelerate through co-created, bold solutions.
The closing event is an opportunity for the Fleet Forum to take a step back on the last weeks and review the program's effects and impact on our pilot project. I am very excited to learn more about the impact of the program's 'pressure cooker' aspect on our fellow cohort participants.
I am looking forward to the closing event as an opportunity to showcase our bold AI solution, share key lessons learned from the program, and learn from other teams’ experiences and innovation methods
Ibilolia Akahome is the Operations Lead at Archivi.ng, a digital archiving organisation preserving Nigeria’s historical records for research and long-term access. She shared that:
The ABW Impact Accelerator has been a journey of honest lessons; we started out building an AI-powered summary model for our newspaper archive, however facing challenges that many orgainzations encounter in the sector nowadays, we had to reassess what would amplify our impact. We grounded focus and strengthened our archiving operations team by building the workflow and digitisation governance that our archiving work actually needs to scale.
Frank Tabak has been working as a software/data engineer at ORTEC for 13 years, with experience in the fields of Revenue Management, Field Service. and Dutch Railways. In the Impact Accelerator Program, he served as a technical lead on the project and expressed pride in the solution’s sustainable, scalable impact.
I am looking forward to the closing event to celebrate not just where we landed, but the courage it took everyone to adapt and keep going.
I joined the Impact Accelerator Program to make a difference, and with our work with the Fleet Forum Association I feel we were able to achieve that because of how well our collaborative process unfolded.
As a WASH Programme Manager at Amref Health Africa, I collaborate with dedicated teams to develop solar-powered infrastructure and inclusive sanitation systems that ensure sustainable access to safe water across Kenya’s ASAL regions. Over the last 14 weeks of the ABW Impact Accelerator Program, the AMREF team, together with amazing data- and AI-expert volunteers, has built an AI and data science-driven groundwater mapping system designed to increase the accuracy of groundwater exploration and secure reliable drinking water for rural communities.
Floris Gunter works as a data trainee at ProRail, where he focuses on applying data science to real-world infrastructure challenges. With a background in Aerospace Engineering, he is interested in bringing analytical and systems-thinking approaches to complex societal problems. He is looking forward to the event to see how different teams have used advanced analytics and AI to generate practical impact, and how cross-industry ideas can amplify it.
I am looking forward to this event to showcase how these cross-industry partnerships are leveraging advanced analytics to solve critical water challenges and drive long-term real-world impact.
Joshua Favour Juma works in data systems and analytics within Amref Health Africa – Kenya, building solutions that transform data into actionable insights for our community-focused programs. He found the Impact Acceleration Program a valuable space for learning and exchanging ideas with various contributors from our private-sector partners.
Mohamed Nassim Bekkali studied Applied Data Science and currently works at ProRail as a data trainee in the role of an AI engineer. He is looking forward to the event to see how other projects have created innovative solutions to their challenges and is especially inspired by how his team’s data and AI specialisms can be applied to such specific, real‑world challenges.
Ahmed Lodhi designs, monitors, and evaluates child-focused programs and products, and currently leads Program Development, Quality, and Evidence at Teach the World Foundation. He has led the design of the School Quality Index as a tool to assess and strengthen the quality of learning delivery across TTWF MicroSchools, with the ambition of scaling the model through government partnership. He is very excited to share his insights into the journey the Impact Accelerator Program has been on, along with practical lessons from cross-sector collaboration, and to learn more about how others are using data to drive impact.
Jef D’Hauwe is a Product Expert at OMP, with a passion for leveraging new technologies to drive meaningful impact.
I'm excited to reflect on how our collaboration brought together diverse expertise to create real-world impact, and to exchange insights on the ethical and technical challenges we navigated along the way.
Bas specializes in project management and consulting and is a partner for creating value for financial service providers. His focus is on implementing digital transformations in organizations. With the ABW Impact Accelerator Program, he has led a team of individual volunteers who co-created a School Quality Index tool to assess and strengthen the quality of learning delivery across Microschools of the Teach the World Foundation. He looks forward to sharing lessons learned and learning from others, making an impact through data analytics solutions.
Stefano Alting von Geusau is a Master’s student in Business Analytics and Data Science at the University of Amsterdam, with a background in Econometrics and Operations Research. He is interested in how data analytics can move beyond theory and be used for practical, mission-driven impact. With the ABW Impact Accelerator Program, he contributed to the Teach the World Foundation project by helping translate school, student, attendance, and learning data into useful indicators and dashboard ideas for the School Quality Index. He looks forward to the Impact Accelerator Closing Event as an opportunity to reflect on what he has learned as a student working with real-world impact data, share the team’s journey, and learn from others who are using analytics to support meaningful change.
