MIT alum returns to share his experiences of developing technology to generate positive externalities in rural emerging markets and tangibly impacting the condition of the world’s poorest citizens & fostering self-reliance.
Details:
Thursday, October 12, 4:00 PM
Sloan School, E62-276
All Tata Talks are free and open to the MIT community!
The topic:
Reshaping value chains in frontier markets
Logistimo pioneers technology for low-resource supply chain and logistics orchestration, with a mission to ensure critical healthcare, energy and agricultural products are available, accessible, and affordable at every village. In this talk, co-founder and CEO Anup Akkihal will provide general context of frontier markets, and the key challenges faced when aiming to reduce friction in important value chains impacting the health and livelihoods of the rural majority. Anup will review the technology platform designed for this context, and share three case studies – in vaccines, steel and freight – where value chains were re-engineered and optimized to better serve rural communities.
About the speaker:
Anup Akkihal is an action researcher and systems thinker with 16 years of experience building technology and crafting strategy in military, pharmaceutical, agriculture, energy, automotive & retail industries – across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. He’s had the privilege of designing field/tactical logistics systems for the U.S. Army, managing SAP enterprise software projects, advising UNDP, WHO, USAID and UNFPA on logistics strategy, and providing inclusive web-scale technology to governments in Myanmar, South Sudan, Zambia and India. Anup co-founded an “inclusive supply chain” effort called Logistimo in 2011 to pioneer novel value networks in frontier markets. Alongside collaborators, he works to assure rural access to essential products and strengthen market linkages for village producers across emerging markets — especially in public healthcare, agriculture, energy, industrial goods, and consumer products. Born and raised in West Virginia, Anup studied at the Johns Hopkins University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.