Advise on Exceptional Talent Endorsement

Stage 1
1

I am a Senior Software Engineer and technology founder with over seven years of experience, and a Co-Founder of Caring Blocks, the core technology platform powering Caring Africa. I serve as the Backend and Infrastructure Engineering Lead, with responsibility for system architecture, APIs, cloud infrastructure, security, and platform scalability. I designed and delivered the backend and operational foundation that enabled Caring Blocks to scale into a production system supporting real-world usage and significant external funding.

Criteria Claimed

Mandatory Criterion – Leadership and recognition in digital technology
• Caring Africa selected by Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures based on the strength of its technology platform
• Evidence of my role as Co-Founder and Backend and Infrastructure Engineering Lead
• Ownership of core technical decision-making for platform reliability and scalability

Optional Criterion 1 – Innovation in digital technology
• Design and implementation of backend systems, scalable APIs, payments, compliance, and security architecture
• Evidence from private GitHub repositories, architecture diagrams, and system documentation

Optional Criterion 2 – Significant impact and commercial success
• Technical leadership underpinning a platform that enabled close to $2 million in funding, including a $400,000 Gates Foundation grant
• Platform usage, performance improvements, and operational scale
• Leadership of backend and infrastructure delivery for a live production system

2

@teloyeleye The overview of your career trajectory already shows that you’re eligible.

Mandatory Criterion
Did Morgan Stanley invest in your startup? If yes, that counts as a recognition element, but you still need to clearly show ownership (that you are a Founder or Co‑Founder) and provide evidence of the investment selection process and disbursement. “Evidence of my role” alone does not demonstrate recognition. You need to show how you led the technical team as the Backend and Infrastructure Engineering Lead, things like lines of code, architectural diagrams, and collaboration evidence that can be externally verified.

Optional Criterion 1
Designing and implementing backend systems is not, on its own, an innovation. These are tasks any competent engineer can perform. GitHub repositories, architecture diagrams, and system documentation are also common artefacts for an average engineer, so they don’t automatically demonstrate innovation.

Optional Criterion 2
OC2 is not about significant impact or commercial success. It focuses on how you are recognised for contributing to the sector outside your day‑to‑day job, such as mentoring, speaking at conferences, or other tech community focused activities that are unpaid.

Is it okay, if I suggest you read through the Tech Nation guidance, also relevant posts on this platform, to fully understand what is required.

All the best.