Sam Sturm 2021 Speaker

Chief Venture Architect

Founders Factory Africa

Biography

Sam leads a team that focuses on turning promising ideas into breakthrough innovations, managing Founders Factory Africa’s venture studio to develop new businesses from the ground up. A former teacher and (aspiring) filmmaker, Sam takes a design-led approach to problem solving, creating products, services, and business models that are equal parts scalable and sustainable.

As a Strategy Lead at the San Francisco-based design firm fuseproject, he worked with a broad range of clients – from large multinational corporates to Silicon Valley start-ups – and led the design and delivery of the SPRING Accelerator, working with nearly 80 businesses across East Africa and South Asia to drive growth at scale.

With an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA from Amherst College, Sam brings both a commercial and a creative perspective to the venture design and development process, leading to businesses that are more inclusive, more imaginative, and more impactful.