10 Young Black Tech Innovators You Should Know

Kimberly Bryant

Bryant founded San Francisco-based Black Girls Code in 2011 to help close the digital divide for girls of color. So far the nonprofit organization has trained more than 1,500 girls to work in technology fields such as robotics, video game design, mobile phone application development and computer programming.

This past July, Bryant, a biotechnology and engineering professional, was one of 11 people to receive the White House Champions of Change for Tech Inclusion award. The award is given to celebrate people in the U.S. “who are doing extraordinary things to expand technology opportunities for young learners—especially minorities, women and girls, and others from communities historically under-served or under-represented in tech fields,” according to whitehouse.gov.

Dr. Paul Judge

Dr. Paul Q. Judge is a serial entrepreneur and noted scholar with a doctorate in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. The Atlanta-based entrepreneur has founded several companies that expanded and resulted in successful acquisitions. In 2000, Judge joined the founding team of CipherTrust, an anti-spam email software company, which became one of the fastest growing firms in North America with 300 employees and over 3,000 customers, including half of the Fortune 500 companies, in more than 50 countries. CipherTrust was acquired by Secure Computing for $273 million in 2006.

Judge has received many awards and was recognized by the MIT Technology Review Magazine as one of the top 100 young innovators in the world in 2003. He was also featured in Black Enterprise magazine’s list of “50 Most Powerful Players Under 40.”‘

Ory Okolloh

Harvard-educated Ory Okolloh of Kenya has created both the watchdog site Mzalendo and the crime reporting site Ushahidi, and now serves as Google’s policy manager in Africa. Recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology last year, she is set to become the new face of entrepreneurship on the continent.

Shaun Evans

Shaun Evans is the chief executive officer of OMBO Apps, which is becoming one of Atlanta’s hottest tech companies to take on the mobile industry. His startup company develops cutting-edge mobile applications targeting the African-American market. Evans is a game-changer with one hit already under his belt, Urban Gossip FREE, the No. 1 black celebrity news app for iPhone and Android mobile devices.

Anthony Frasier

Anthony Frasier is a native of Newark, N.J., former co-founder of mobile startup Playd, and the award- winning gaming site TheKoalition.com. Anthony was also profiled in the online hit documentary Black in America: The New Promised Land – Silicon Valley, which has received over 1 million viewers.

In 2012 CNN Money profiled an elite group of eight minorities diversifying the tech industry and Frasier made the list. He was also listed in NBC The Grio’s “100: Making History Today” for his acclaimed work. Currently he’s working on building up the Newark tech scene and a new tech startup.

Minority Report: Young Black Entrepreneurs Create The First Robot Bartender

Sci-fi television and films usually seem to foreshadow technology innovations by many years. It is 2014, and even though there has been a slew of  innovative products, we’re far from flying cars like those in Back To The Future or The Jetsons. What we do have now, is a robotic bartender. A group of young Black men from Atlanta have created a device called the “Monsieur” that allows users to have their drinks automatically mixed.

As reported by mashable.com:

“It might sound unusual for a robot bartender to whip up cocktails in the kitchen as you come home from work, but a new concept called the Monsieur could make this the new norm.

“Here’s how it works: You load the alcohol of your choice (and mixers such as orange juice and cranberry juice) into the back of the system. It will then create a customized menu based on whatever you put in. Choices for mixed drinks then appear on the touchscreen. After selecting the one you want, you can select if you want the drink strong, medium or light.”

The Monsieur team is led by co-founders Barry Givens, Eric Williams and CTO Mario Taylor, who are all graduates of Atlanta’s Georgia Tech. They also have the wildly successful Dr. Paul Judge, on their board and as an investor.

According to their website:

“The Monsieur comes with 12 themed packages with 25 preset cocktails each. You can select from a tiki bar theme, a sports bar theme, an Irish pub, or a non-alcoholic theme. On average, the machine can make 150 cocktails before it needs refilling.”

The Monsieur team is also working on a home version of the robotic bartender as well.

According to gizmag.com:

“The company is developing an in-home version of its business model Monsieur bartender using crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Weighing 50 lb (22.6 kg), Monsieur is a black box measuring 22 x 18 x 21 in (55.8 x 45.7 x 53.3 cm) with a touchscreen and a dispensing slot with a suitably festive blue neon glow. Inside the basic model is room for eight 30-oz (0.8-l) containers along peristaltic pumps, and processors that handle orders and monitor container levels. Clean up takes about two minutes”

It’s always great to see young Black professionals doing big things in the technology industry, and hopefully the Monsieur will become a mass market product.