Watson Institute Alumni

Watson alumni have been recognized at a global scale for their work and commitment to impact.

349

Fellows

Countries

$175M

Funds Raised

1,500+

Jobs Created

5M+

People Impacted

A global and impactful community of alumni

Watson Institute alumni have been selected to Y Combinator, the Echoing Green Fellowship, and six have been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 lists. Alumni continue their education at Harvard University, Princeton University, and Oxford Saïd’s Business School.

92%

of alumni are employed, continuing their education, or building a venture.

97%

of alumni report using a skill they learned at Watson Institute up to eight years after graduation.

62%

of alumni remain in touch with their Watson Institute Mentor up to eight years after graduation.

67%

of alumni believe they are living a life that maximizes their impact.

Watson alumni have been selected to Y Combinator, the Echoing Green Fellowship, and Forbes’ 30 under 30 list.

Watson alumni have continued their education at Harvard University, New York University, Princeton University, among others.

Explore Our Impactful Alumni Network

Meet a few of our alumni

Tessa Zimmerman

Founder and Executive Director of Upstream Education. Upstream Education is a nonprofit organization that trains and equips educators in bite-sized tools to help students reduce their stress and anxiety. Since 2016, ASSET has grown to impact 40,000+ students weekly.

Ricardo Rocha

Founder & President of Bondadosa. Bondadosa delivers healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate groceries to primarily Hispanic families across Denver. Bondadosa has fulfilled over 180,000 orders in 2020 alone, created over 70 jobs, and raised over $720,000.

Aditya Dave

On a mission to empower 1 million street food vendors in India by enabling them with technology, better infrastructure, and working towards their financial inclusion in the formal economy. He wants to create a 360-degree support ecosystem for street food vendors in India.

Raghad Alafifi

On a mission to create innovative solutions for today’s most challenging problems through investment in human development. She is the founder of Fill the Gap, a program inspired by the high potential Palestinian students to aim high and achieve higher in the face of difficult living circumstances.

Claudine Migisha

Claudine is the Founder of Nguvu Ya Africa (Power of Africa) an organization committed to peace and sustainability by creatively breaking the cycle of trauma and economic crisis facing the marginalized girls and women living in Congo through arts and social enterprise.

Amani Simbayobewe

Formerly a street kid during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Amani Founded Rukundo Foundation, which launched in 2017. Rukundo Foundation provides education to street children in Rwanda. Today, the foundation has 8 team members and works with 22 children.

Our Alumni In the News

Shine Registry

Monica Solares | Alumni | No Comments

Shine Registry users have created registries for all sorts of milestones, from celebrating 10 years in business to launching new ideas and campaigns. Whatever stage you’re at we love building…

Samuel Lasitis Entrepreneurship and Impact Journey

WatsonCentral | Alumni | No Comments

Samuel Lasiti is one of Tapona’s Accelerator program alumni. He is a co-founder of Leap Empowerment Development Initiative (LEDI-Kenya) and founder of Wakulima Ni Sisi Initiative. He shared with us…

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