Posted by Rick Chinn on May 25, 2017
 
Chris Ategeka
 
Members who attended the May 30th meeting were delighted to hear Mr. Chris Ategeka speak on his most recent entrepreneurial ventures.
 

Chris Ategeka was born in a small village in western Uganda along with his siblings and extended family. At a young age, he witnessed both his parents die from HIV/AIDS, and his brother who died in the arms of his extended family in an effort to carry him to the nearest healthcare facility. Despite these tragedies, Chris connected with an organization in Uganda, called Y.E.S. Uganda, where he was able to receive support, opportunity, and an education. Chris showed reverence for education, and a sponsoring family from California took notice and gave Chris funding to attend private school and invited him to live with them. Chris attended UC Berkeley, where he received his Bachelors and Masters in mechanical engineering. Using the knowledge he gained, in combination with his childhood experience of growing up in poverty in Uganda, he created Health Access Corps, a non-profit organization with a vision to create a world where every human being has access to healthcare. Health Access Corps (formerly Rides for Lives) started off providing appropriate technologies for healthcare access to the world’s most vulnerable populations in East Africa through their signature products The Mobile Hospital and The Village Ambulance. After serving hundreds of thousands of patients in the field, it was apparent that the biggest problem is neither getting someone to the hospital, nor bringing a mobile hospital to them in the village, but the lack of access to a doctor in medical facilities. Creating a scalable and sustainable solution to solve this problem utilizing local talent is the mission of Health Access Corps. Ategeka is also the Founder at The Life Center, the world's first center of it's kind, with a focus on creating solutions for the negative unintended consequences of Technology. He brings his experience, capital, and global relationships to support visionary entrepreneurs. He supports startups with creative market based, scalable solutions addressing negative unintended consequences of technology. He partners with entrepreneurs who deeply care about people, planet, and sustainability.

 
Ategeka's work has been profiled in YAHOO, San Francisco Chronicle, Fast CompanyTEDNPRForbes, and the United Nations. Ategeka has received many honors and awards for his work, most recently was named a 2016 100 Most Influential Young African (Africa Youth Awards), 2016 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum as well as 2014 Forbes '30 Under 30' Social Entrepreneurs who are changing the world. He is an active proponent for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) education, entrepreneurship and innovation.