Blessing Phiri is an aggressive UK-based innovator, business speaker, and growth strategist with a passion for impacting communities through technology and entrepreneurship. Born in Zimbabwe, from a diverse professional background in Engineering, Entrepreneurship, as well as Leadership Development, Blessing has been a force to reckon with both in the business and social sectors.
Blessing is a professionally practising Electrical and Automation Engineer providing an exceptional blend of technical skills and visionary leadership. He holds a Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering from Chinhoyi University of Technology and then advanced his specialist training in Robotics and Machine Vision from Western Kentucky University in the United States.
Blessing very strongly believes in lifelong learning and professional development. He is a proud alumni member of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) class of 2021, a prestigious American government-initiated leadership program. He has further been selected amongst a group to represent his country, Zimbabwe, in the USA on the Global uGRAD Exchange programme.
Blessing heads Fundie Technologies, which is an Artificial Intelligence tech startup whose work is facilitating free quality educational material for the African grassroots child. He is also the founder of Don Minteiro, which is a bespoke menswear brand that is award-winning and the first of its kind to adopt a sustainable approach in manufacturing.
While in the United States, Blessing had the rare opportunity of being at the White House under the reign of President Trump. All these opportunities he, however, owes to one man, who gave him the opportunity, that being Senator Mitch McConnell. Close to home, Blessing is one of the young entrepreneurs and innovators whose work has received considerable attention nationally and internationally. He was, at one time, the national winner of the Generation Unlimited Innovation Challenge, run by UNICEF and BOOST Fellowship, through his innovation Fundie Technologies. All the same year, Phiri, emerged winner of another Innovation Challenge run by the UNDP
Driven by the passion to see young people empowered, Blessing is the founder of the Innovation Development and Empowerment of Africa (IDEA) Trust. The trust hopes to run programs that see to the development of young people personally and get them impacting on society as well as others. Young people’s commitment to Blessing’s empowerment and excellence in leadership has seen him receive various accolades, such as being among the 30 most influential leaders under 30, Science, and technology category, by Gumiguru Achievers Awards.
Blessing has, over the years, been a great achiever, more so with respect to leadership. Among many others, he once was the student leader at Chinhoyi University where he served as the SRC, pressing for better student welfare. In the same vein, he has also given his best in serving others as a youth leader with the AFM Church in Zimbabwe, where he has taken an active role in facilitating community and personal-development workshops.
His work and input have also been featured in other platforms, such as People and Paper magazine by the UK and the EU market. He has been featured on all other national television programs, such as Ndine Thaza and Own Your Image, which was aired on ZBC TV, where he discussed the ladder of entrepreneurship and leadership trifles. A professional speaker, Blessing was a keynote speaker at this year’s UNICEF-funded Zimbabwe launch of the imaGen Ventures Youth Challenge and a panellist at the SDG Youth Dialogue and Youth Getting into Business Seminar to push for more inclusion of youth in initiatives related to sustainable development.
At heart, Blessing Phiri is an engineer, an entrepreneur extraordinaire, and a social impact man. He continues to inspire and empower humanity, this time around with a passion for innovation and driving affirmative change through entrepreneurial ventures, leadership initiatives, and social impact commitment.
