Meet the Leader

This company launched with $600. How it’s using data and AI today to boost yields for millions of small-scale farmers

2025年9月9日

 • 2 mins

Getting the right information at the right time is critical for any sector but especially small-scale farming. Losing a yield could mean a farmer has no income for a year while weakening food security and local economies. To bridge these gaps, company Farmerline has created AI-powered tools, including one that acts like a “911 for farmers,” bringing critical information on weather, crop diseases and more on demand to people who need it, all in 34 languages. The company has also developed ways alternative data can be used to develop credit scores for farmers, helping prove the investing opportunity to lenders while connecting them to much-needed financing. With small scale farmers locked out of some of the biggest innovations in the last century thanks to access and affordability, founder Alloysius Attah shares what’s needed to ensure agriculture is future ready – including the power of a database that can create a national pulse on food security for NGOs, governments and the private sector. Attah also shares his company’s founding journey, what he’s learned in the past 10 years - and how global crises like COVID have helped him rethink how he prioritizes as a leader.

Getting the right information at the right time is critical for any sector but especially small-scale farming. Losing a yield could mean a farmer has no income for a year while weakening food security and local economies. To bridge these gaps, company Farmerline has created AI-powered tools, including one that acts like a “911 for farmers,” bringing critical information on weather, crop diseases and more on demand to people who need it, all in 34 languages. The company has also developed ways alternative data can be used to develop credit scores for farmers, helping prove the investing opportunity to lenders while connecting them to much-needed financing. With small scale farmers locked out of some of the biggest innovations in the last century thanks to access and affordability, founder Alloysius Attah shares what’s needed to ensure agriculture is future ready – including the power of a database that can create a national pulse on food security for NGOs, governments and the private sector. Attah also shares his company’s founding journey, what he’s learned in the past 10 years - and how global crises like COVID have helped him rethink how he prioritizes as a leader.

The web is ‘fragile.' How to protect the world’s information - and how crypto can help

2025年8月18日

 • 55 mins

Most of the world’s information is stored digitally in a way that’s vulnerable to disappearing without warning thanks to everything from link rot and server changes, to someone not paying their web hosting bill. Some information might even disappear because bad actors have removed or changed it. Civil liberties lawyer and Filecoin Foundation president Marta Belcher explains why the modern standard for how we store information is so vulnerable and why protecting data is a human rights issue. She breaks down a fundamentally new approach (leveraging crypto and decentralized databases to protect information and create new incentives to store it) and how it serves as a sneak peek at how Web3 technologies could bake in new approaches to privacy and civil liberties protections. She’ll share how it’s already being used to protect digital artifacts such as Ukraine war crime evidence and Alexander Graham Bell’s earliest sound recordings, and how it could even be used to improve space communications. Marta, a crypto law pioneer, also shares unique ways she’s driven open-source solutions throughout her life and career and how these lessons can help any leader better collaborate.

Most of the world’s information is stored digitally in a way that’s vulnerable to disappearing without warning thanks to everything from link rot and server changes, to someone not paying their web hosting bill. Some information might even disappear because bad actors have removed or changed it. Civil liberties lawyer and Filecoin Foundation president Marta Belcher explains why the modern standard for how we store information is so vulnerable and why protecting data is a human rights issue. She breaks down a fundamentally new approach (leveraging crypto and decentralized databases to protect information and create new incentives to store it) and how it serves as a sneak peek at how Web3 technologies could bake in new approaches to privacy and civil liberties protections. She’ll share how it’s already being used to protect digital artifacts such as Ukraine war crime evidence and Alexander Graham Bell’s earliest sound recordings, and how it could even be used to improve space communications. Marta, a crypto law pioneer, also shares unique ways she’s driven open-source solutions throughout her life and career and how these lessons can help any leader better collaborate.

Bridging AI's 'woeful' data gap can save lives and tackle climate change: Gecko Robotics

2025年8月11日

 • 33 mins

Robots that fold our laundry might sound futuristic, but don’t justify a new way of operating. And AI that reads our email or searches the web in new ways, won’t tackle the world’s biggest problems. Jake Loosararian, Gecko Robotics Co-founder, explains how technologies such as AI and robotics could do more to tackle stubborn challengess – such as infrastructure failure, to protect lives and prevent catastrophes – if only they had the right data. He breaks down: how big data gaps have held back innovation for the physical world, and how smarter approaches to infrastructure can improve efficiency and safety in sectors like manufacturing or mining, all while reducing emissions. He also offers key questions leaders can ask to better understand what information has informed their AI and why that's critical to continued trust in the technology. Lastly, he takes us through the moment he knew he needed to start Gecko Robotics, the sleepless nights he pushed through to bootstrap it in its early days, and the unique way he has merged worklife and family life to spend more time with his wife and four children. This interview was recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos Switzerland, January 2025.

Robots that fold our laundry might sound futuristic, but don’t justify a new way of operating. And AI that reads our email or searches the web in new ways, won’t tackle the world’s biggest problems. Jake Loosararian, Gecko Robotics Co-founder, explains how technologies such as AI and robotics could do more to tackle stubborn challengess – such as infrastructure failure, to protect lives and prevent catastrophes – if only they had the right data. He breaks down: how big data gaps have held back innovation for the physical world, and how smarter approaches to infrastructure can improve efficiency and safety in sectors like manufacturing or mining, all while reducing emissions. He also offers key questions leaders can ask to better understand what information has informed their AI and why that's critical to continued trust in the technology. Lastly, he takes us through the moment he knew he needed to start Gecko Robotics, the sleepless nights he pushed through to bootstrap it in its early days, and the unique way he has merged worklife and family life to spend more time with his wife and four children. This interview was recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos Switzerland, January 2025.

What’s needed to restore land and protect economies: UNCCD’s Ibrahim Thiaw

2025年7月31日

 • 25 mins

Forecasts say we’ll need to double food production by 2050 - a tall order given 40% of the earth’s land has been degraded over decades by mining, unsustainable farming and climate change. The head of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Ibrahim Thiaw, takes us through this complex issue that impacts economies, human well-being and global security. He breaks down what’s needed to restore 1.5 billion hectares of land and the policies and technologies that can make a difference. He also shares how drought devastated his family and community when just a child and how the destruction and despair he witnessed inspired him to dedicate his life to environmental issues. As he closes out his role as executive secretary this summer, he shares how leaders can sharpen their focus on the issues that matter most.

Forecasts say we’ll need to double food production by 2050 - a tall order given 40% of the earth’s land has been degraded over decades by mining, unsustainable farming and climate change. The head of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Ibrahim Thiaw, takes us through this complex issue that impacts economies, human well-being and global security. He breaks down what’s needed to restore 1.5 billion hectares of land and the policies and technologies that can make a difference. He also shares how drought devastated his family and community when just a child and how the destruction and despair he witnessed inspired him to dedicate his life to environmental issues. As he closes out his role as executive secretary this summer, he shares how leaders can sharpen their focus on the issues that matter most.

Rebuilding trust after turmoil and coaching for results that matter: USA Gymnastics CEO

2025年7月28日

 • 53 mins

Former gymnast and current USA Gymnastics CEO and president Li Li Leung joined the organization after after a turmoil-ridden period marked by an abuse scandal, bankruptcy and rapid leadership turnover. She talks to Meet The Leader about what she did in her first days to rebuild trust with athletes, coaches and gymnastics communities across the country and build new policies that met their needs. She also shares what’s needed for psychological safety and the slate new mental health resources created at the organization, from therapists to emotional support dogs, that are supporting both athletes and coaches. Lastly, she shares what the sport has taught her about discipline and accepting feedback, and what’s key to coaching teams on results that matter.

Former gymnast and current USA Gymnastics CEO and president Li Li Leung joined the organization after after a turmoil-ridden period marked by an abuse scandal, bankruptcy and rapid leadership turnover. She talks to Meet The Leader about what she did in her first days to rebuild trust with athletes, coaches and gymnastics communities across the country and build new policies that met their needs. She also shares what’s needed for psychological safety and the slate new mental health resources created at the organization, from therapists to emotional support dogs, that are supporting both athletes and coaches. Lastly, she shares what the sport has taught her about discipline and accepting feedback, and what’s key to coaching teams on results that matter.