Amir Hasson
United Villages
Amir is an Egyptian-American who grew up in Chicago, IL. His background is in entrepreneurship, technology management, and ICTs for development. He completed his Bachelor’s with Honors from the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University. He worked in marketing and production at leading new media companies in New York City during the ".com boom" and spun-out a Web solutions portal for the integrative healthcare industry. He was then accepted into a Master's program at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
During his course of study at MIT, Amir pursued an interest to innovate ICTs for developing countries through which he co-conceived and patented DakNet, a novel wireless networking technology for rural connectivity. He worked with scientists and engineers at the MIT Media Lab to lead the development and deployment of WiFi networks in rural India, while also managing business development for Media Lab Asia based in New Delhi, India. Based on this MIT research, Amir spun-out First Mile Solutions, a developmental venture providing delay-tolerant wireless Internet solutions for public and private organizations in developing countries.
Amir led First Mile Solutions to profitability, managing product development and projects for NGOs, telcos, and multilateral institutions in countries such as India, Cambodia, Rwanda, Costa Rica, and Paraguay. Amir now serves as the Founder and CEO of United Villages, Inc., a VC-funded company that acquired First Mile Solutions and uses its technology to provide products and services and establish rural wireless network operators in target markets, with a current focus on rural India.
Through his work so far, Amir has been responsible for providing access to over 200,000 villagers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He is personally and professionally motivated by the potential of ICTs to impact the masses at the bottom of the world’s population pyramid, whose participation in the global economy he believes is a critical driver of growth and peace in the next century. Amir has published several papers and has spoken at over 25 international events related to ICTs and economic development.
He is the inventor of one issued and three pending patents and has been interviewed and cited by major media organizations including CNN, the BBC, the New York Times, and Le Monde. Amir was recently featured as one of the "Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 35" by Red Herring Magazine.
With over five years of hands-on experience implementing ICTs for the "Bottom of the Pyramid", combined with his participation in international forums such as the United Nations and the World Summit on the Information Society, Amir has begun to help bridge the gap between global development goals and local development needs through sustainable, commercial enterprise.