Andy Volk

Andy is the Head of Ecosystem for Sub-Saharan Africa at Google, leading a team based across Africa, with a focus on reaching top startups and developers at skill levels through scalable, high-impact programs and tools. Andy is also an active investor and mentor to early-stage startups in emerging markets and disruptive technology sectors, having made over 30 seed-stage angel investments, is a Limited Partner with the venture capital funds Microtraction and Future Africa, and is a graduate of the Venture Capital Executive Program at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Before joining Google, Andy was the VP of Apps & Developer Relations for Mxit, the groundbreaking African mobile messaging platform and social network. Over the course of his career he’s led the creation of new standards (Media RSS / mRSS), new patented technologies (5 media and search technology patents), new startups (Live365 and Downtempo.net), and countless technology experiments.