Rizwan Tufail is the Founder of Innovonomcs. The impetus for setting up the organization came out of his work as an Edward S. Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where brought thought-leadership in innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and policy – based on experiences he gained in this domain as the Regional Director for Microsoft for Africa.
In that role, Rizwan led Microsoft’s strategic initiatives relating to all aspects of technology strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship and policy, across the 48 governments. As part of his work he also oversaw Microsoft’s work with governments to create projects and programs that help the governments achieve their national objectives and address their national socio-economic development priorities. Rizwan had previously led the sales teams, carrying responsibility for Microsoft’s strategies, initiatives and programs to build deeper business relationships with governments, large enterprises and partners.
In his previous assignment with Microsoft, Rizwan was the Regional Education Lead for the Middle East and Africa region leading the academic programs, business and engagements across 79 countries in the region. In this role he helped Microsoft architect, oversee and implement various public-private partnerships in the area of education, including the Jordan Education and Egypt Education Initiatives, in partnership with the World Economic Forum and other private sector partners.
Before joining Microsoft, Rizwan set up and successfully managed his own middleware technology start-up in the Silicon Valley for five years, looking after the business development, sales and marketing functions. After leading Clickmarks Inc. from a three-people start-up to an 80-people organization, he inducted a professional management team and left the company to pursue his ambition of bringing ICT technologies to bear on the development of his native Middle East and Africa region.
Rizwan holds a Master in Public Administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Master of Business Administration degree (in Economics and Econometrics) from Chicago Booth at the University of Chicago, where he has also completed the coursework for his PhD in Quantitative Marketing and Econometrics. He also has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration Degree in Marketing.