Kimeshan Naidoo

Last updated
Kimeshan Naidoo
Kimeshan Naidoo.jpg
Naidoo in 2023
Born (1991-05-08) 8 May 1991 (age 33)
Tongaat, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Education
Occupations
  • Entrepreneur
  • Engineer
Known for Unibuddy
TitleCo-founder Unibuddy (2016–present)
Website

Kimeshan Naidoo (born 8 May 1991) is a South African entrepreneur and engineer. He is known for co-founding Unibuddy, an educational technology company [1] . Unibuddy became a $100 million enterprise by market cap in 2020 [2] . He currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer of BX Technologies, a London-based climate tech startup. [3] In June 2024, Ashinaga announced Naidoo joined their UK board of trustees to bring his technical expertise to their Ashinaga Africa Initiative [4] .

Contents

Early life and education

Naidoo was born in Tongaat, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. During his high school years at Northwood School, he led the Synergy team, which won the ThinkQuest South Africa 2008 web development competition. [5]

In 2012, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical engineering from the University of Cape Town. During his time at UCT, he was the chairman of the United Nations Association of South Africa University of Cape Town. [6] In 2016, Naidoo completed a Master’s degree in Computer science from University College London (UCL) [7] , where he was part of a team that won the Google Firebase Hackathon. [8]

Career

After graduating from UCT, Naidoo briefly worked as an engineer at SLB. In 2016, while pursuing his studies at UCL, he developed the initial concept for Unibuddy, a platform designed to connect prospective university students with current students. [9]

Under his technical leadership, Unibuddy expanded globally, partnering with over 500 higher education institutions. [10] The platform aims to enhance student recruitment by facilitating interactions between applicants and current students [11] . Critics have pointed out the challenges Unibuddy faces in ensuring the authenticity and usefulness of student interactions, especially as the platform scales.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Naidoo oversaw the introduction of live video streaming capabilities within Unibuddy, which played a crucial role in maintaining university engagement with prospective students during global lockdowns. [12]

In 2023, Naidoo transitioned to a new role as the Chief Technology Officer of BX Technologies, a climate tech company focused on providing climate data solutions to reduce carbon footprints in supply chains. [3]

Social entrepreneurship and youth development

Naidoo has been involved in efforts to address youth unemployment in South Africa and Africa, particularly through exploring the establishment of a coding school to improve developer training [13] . He notes the gap between the demand for experienced tech professionals and the availability of opportunities for junior engineers, a challenge heightened by the post-COVID decentralization of talent [14] .

In 2024, Naidoo became a trustee for the Ashinaga Association in the United Kingdom, a non-profit organization that provides educational and emotional support to orphaned students worldwide. In this role, he contributes his expertise in technology and education to help expand access to higher education for disadvantaged youth. [4]

Awards and recognition

Naidoo has received several industry recognitions, including being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in the Social Entrepreneurs category in 2020. [15]

In November 2020, he was awarded 7CTOs Rapid Growth given to the CTO whose innovation and forward-thinking has been a driver for rapid growth at their company and whose leadership is impacting the broader CTO community [16] .

In 2022, he was also honored with the Haystack Pioneer Award in 2022 for his contributions to software engineering. [17]

Publications

Naidoo has authored several publications, including:

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References

  1. ↑ Leigh, Dana (2020-11-30). "Kimeshan Naidoo, CTO and Co-Founder at Unibuddy: Connecting University Applicants to Existing Students". TechRound. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  2. ↑ "Global Edtech Startup, Unibuddy, Raises $20 Million Series B to Reinvent College Recruitment". Yahoo Finance. 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  3. 1 2 "Kimeshan Naidoo Announces a Shift from Edu Tech to Climate Tech by Joining Bx as the CTO". markets.businessinsider.com. Archived from the original on 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
  4. 1 2 "New Trustees Bring Additional Experience and Expertise to Ashinaga UK｜Ashinaga". Ashinaga. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  5. ↑ "WCED: Media release". wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za. Archived from the original on 2022-12-16. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  6. ↑ "Student leaders' selfless efforts hailed". www.news.uct.ac.za. Archived from the original on 2022-12-17. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  7. ↑ UCL (2022-04-12). "Spring into STEM | Tech Entrepreneurship: Scaling a UCL MSc project to 1 million users and beyond". UCL Computer Science. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  8. ↑ "UCL Students win Google Firebase Hackathon". www.cs.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  9. ↑ Roundabout, Silicon. "As the Edtech market becomes increasingly borderless, Unibuddy has its sights on the US and APAC | Kimeshan Naidoo, CTO and Co-Founder | Silicon Roundabout" . Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  10. ↑ "Partners". unibuddy.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-17. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  11. ↑ "Unibuddy: A scale-up with big goals for human-centred decision-making". Silicon Republic. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  12. ↑ "After witnessing 190% growth amid the pandemic, UK-based edtech startup Unibuddy raises €16.9M". Silicon Canals. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  13. ↑ Swant, Marty. "These Hackathon Participants Want To Bring Detroit's Small Businesses Online With The Help Of Coding Students". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  14. ↑ "Spotlight on... Kimeshan Naidoo". www.myscience.uk. 2022-01-07. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  15. ↑ "30 Under 30 Europe 2020: Social Entrepreneurs". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-12-16. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  16. ↑ "7CTOs Honors Tracie Hlavka with Rapid Growth Award". Silicon UK. 2022-12-14. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  17. ↑ "4 Companies Winning on Developer Experience & Engineering Productivity". www.devopsonline.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  18. ↑ Naidoo, Kimeshan (2012). "Modelling of Call Dynamics in Next Generation Wireless Networks". Modelling of Call Dynamics in Next Generation Wireless Networks.
  19. ↑ Naidoo, Kimeshan. "Unibuddy: A web application connecting high school applicants to enrolled university students". Unibuddy: A Web Application Connecting High School Applicants to Enrolled University Students. Archived from the original on 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
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