Review For 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 product platform of Caring Africa. I serve as the Technical Lead for frontend engineering and user experience, with ownership of all customer-facing systems, product design, and interface delivery. I led the design of the UI/UX, frontend architecture, and product workflows, working directly with users and stakeholders to build and scale a production platform that has supported close to $2 million in funding and real-world adoption.

Criteria Claimed

Mandatory Criterion – Leadership and recognition in digital technology
• Caring Africa recognised by Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures for work delivered through Caring Blocks
• Personal invitation from Morgan Stanley to participate in MSISV programmes
• Evidence of my role as Co-Founder and Technical Lead responsible for frontend systems and product experience

Optional Criterion 1 – Innovation in digital technology
• Leadership of frontend architecture, UI/UX design systems, dashboards, and workflow automation
• Evidence from private GitHub repositories, product designs, and delivery documentation

Optional Criterion 2 – Significant impact and commercial success
• Contribution to a platform that enabled close to $2 million in funding, including a $400,000 Gates Foundation grant
• Product adoption metrics, user engagement, and customer-facing impact
• Ownership of end-to-end frontend delivery for a live, scalable platform

2

Hi @keloyeleye

You’re eligible as a Senior Software Engineer and a technology founder. The only thing to watch out for is how you describe your role. Leading UI/UX, frontend architecture, and product direction is perfectly fine, but it can sound contradictory if you also position yourself strictly as a “Software Engineer,” which many assessors interpret as backend‑leaning.

It may help to describe yourself as a Full‑Stack Engineer so it’s clear that you work across both frontend and backend, alongside your product responsibilities.

Mandatory Criterion

Caring Africa recognised by Morgan…How exactly were you recognised, and can you show evidence of the work that led to that recognition? The assessor needs to see both the recognition and the evidence of what you did.

Personal invitation from Morgan Stanley…An invitation is a strong recognition element, but you must show what you were invited to do as a tech expert and how it relates to the digital tech sector. The “why” and “what you delivered” matter just as much as the invitation itself.

Evidence of my role as Co‑Founder and Technical…This sounds like an evidence description rather than the evidence itself. What are you actually showing here? A product? Metrics? Press? GitHub? Clarify the proof behind the desc.

Optional Criterion 1

OC1 is about innovation. Leadership in frontend architecture, UI/UX design systems, or private GitHub repos won’t really demonstrate innovation on their own. You need to show something you created, invented, or introduced that is new or significantly improved.

Optional Criterion 2

OC2 is about recognition for contributions to the sector outside your day‑to‑day job. It’s not about internal impact or commercial success. Think speaking engagements, open‑source work, mentoring, judging, publications, or sector‑wide influence.

Is it okay? If I suggest reading the Tech Nation guidance again and reviewing the evidence lists or read through this forum for listings shared by successful applicants. It will give you a clearer picture of what strong evidence looks like and how people structure their applications.

You’re definitely eligible, now it’s about understanding what you need to present and how to present it in a strategic way that aligns with the criteria.

All the best.

3

okies, thanks a lot
Any other reviews?

And myself and my brother are co founders and both software engineers (full stack).

How can we position our application so it doesn’t look similar? @Raphael

Thanks in advance

4

@keloyeleye If I understand your question - You and your brother are both Full Stack Engineers and Co Founders of the same company, and are applying for the Tech Nation endorsement the same time, and you want to know how you can position your application so it doesn’t look similar?

5

Exactly sir
And we both got the letter of invitation from Morgan Stanley to visit, attend some meetings and events

6

@keloyeleye From my experience, Tech Nation does not refer back to previous applications when someone reapplies. Going by this, that could mean your brother’s application shouldn’t have any bearing on how yours is assessed.

However, they are very clear about avoiding templates. If the evidence you both submit appears overly similar or follows a template like structure, that can raise concerns and may even be treated as potential fraud.

This is how the guidance puts it:

…evidence that appears to be duplicates or templates, or closely matches the contents of evidence submitted by other applicants, may be considered fraudulent or not acceptable as evidence for endorsement.

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