About Wayan Vota

Wayan Vota is an award-winning digital development entrepreneur. He is on the forefront of utilizing new and emerging technologies to magnify the intent of communities to accelerate their social and economic development, with noted presentations on wearable sensors, real-time data, and failure in international development.

Wayan supports USAID/Zambia. Previously, he was senior staff at Deloitte, IntraHealth International, FHI 360, Development Gateway, Inveneo, and IESC Geekcorps, and a consultant to infoDev at the World Bank.

Wayan combines three core competencies in his efforts:

  • A deep understanding of information and communication technologies.
  • The experience of deploying cutting-edge innovations in the world’s more difficult environments.
  • The ability to translate the potential and peculiarities of both into the language of international development.

Wayan lives on the bleeding edge of technology innovation across the globe with solution designs for radio stations in Timbuktu, computer labs in Zanzibar, mobile applications in Luzon, and an entrepreneur training course that is still in worldwide use today.

His experience transcends over 40 years of technology experimentation, including:

  • Hacking TRS-80 computers using BASIC in the ’80s.
  • Redesigning complex IT systems in Russia during the ’90s.
  • Deploying computer labs across Africa in the ’00s.
  • Leading Open Source health software systems in the ’10s.
  • Guiding digital transformation across donor organizations in the ‘20s.

Wayan brings the international development community with him on this voyage of discovery, creating holistic nationwide programs in 16 countries with a combined value in excess of $360 million over the past 18 years – an average of $20 million in new business won per year.

He also started multiple conferences to showcase technology’s promise, including the Global Digital Development Forum, Technology Salon, MERL Tech, ICTforAg, Fail Festival, and ICT4Drinks, and publishes ICTworks, the premier online community of technology for development practitioners that reaches 25,000 subscribers every week.

After hours, Wayan keeps busy designing highly popular card games, including JadedAid and KinderPerfect, with his lovely wife Amy, daughters Hanalei and Archer, and the family mascot, Addi Dog.

Now he’s experimenting with Mastodon.