Building Brave, Shaping Africa’s Tech Ecosystem & Blending Music, Web3, and Talent Strategy 3 with Jessica Colaço | Impact Masters Podcast

Jessica Francisca Colaço — Co-founder at Brave & iHub | Talent Strategy @ Platform01 | Web3 Artist & Enthusiast | Musician | TED Fellow | Harambean | Mentor @ Google for Startups Accelerator

Jessica Francisca Colaço is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Brave and iHub, computer scientist, talent strategist, executive tech and product recruiter, musician, and public speaker. She is a TED Fellow and Harambean. She is currently the first female in tech and music to release a music single (“Momentum”) on NFT in Kenya and now Legendary as well.

She is the Managing Partner at Platform01, helping Seed to Series A companies with culture, strategy, growth, product, and talent. She co-founded Brave (an HR tech company) based in the US and UK with Ibanga Umanah and Daniele Orner-Ginor. Brave integrates with existing HR vendors and analyzes available company talent data to provide deep insights. Brave also provides headhunting and HR advisory.

Jessica was the COO at Amitruck (Oct 2021 – June 2022), where she helped the CEO build a senior-level “navy seals” team in preparation for scale. Amitruck is a digital logistics startup based in Kenya.

She co-founded the iHub with Erik Hersman in 2010 — the first tech hub in Kenya and East Africa. At iHub, she served in multiple leadership roles for six years, including Operations, Strategy, Partnerships, Research Advisory, Sales, and Business Development. Jessica is passionate about how tech ecosystems arise and evolve. She has built communities for developers, startups, corporates, and investors over the past decade. She is currently writing a book on the intentional serendipity behind the Kenyan tech ecosystem and iHub’s journey.

Jessica is an acclaimed speaker and has appeared on major global stages. She spoke at SXSW 2014 & 2015 and gave guest lectures at Harvard (2017 & 2018). As a bass guitarist, she has played in Nairobi’s afro-fusion and rock bands and is now working on her own solo EP.

She also co-founded WMIAfrica (a peer-to-peer mentoring network for women in STEM) and AkiraChix (training underprivileged women in tech). She was named one of Kenya’s Top 40 Women Under 40 by Business Daily in 2009, 2011, and 2012.

Jessica has served on the DFID Digital Advisory Panel (2015) and was recognized among the 100 Most Influential Young Africans (2017), 100 Most Influential Young Kenyans (2016)