Technology for a Change

Ryan Shirzadi, Regional Partner of Tekrevol in Houston sits with Gene Deems. Gene is a co-founder of Medicine With A Mission, and the e-gov services manager at the department of natural resources in Maryland. The main discussion for the episode revolves around mapping how businesses are evolving to stay afloat during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, what other businesses can learn from these industry leaders, and the role of technology both today, and in the future of entrepreneurship.

Our Guest: Gene is an entrepreneur and a philanthropist, who believes that being rich is not what it takes to make it big. 

As the co-founder of Medicine With The Mission, Gene has spearheaded many campaigns to raise funds, resulting in the largest single donation in healthcare for Grenada. He was also able to raise $907,000 in a 24-hour online event for #MakingADifference.

He played a central role in the digital transformation of the department of natural resources, Maryland, helping the he department become the first government agency to have an e-newsletter, a website, and integrating Alexa skills to the latest fishing report for the department. For Gene, life is all about evolving with time, driving value, and creating meaningful change through entrepreneurship. And if he can do it, he believes you can do it too.

Tekrevol's Co-Founder and CMO Abeer Raza  sits with Steve Jiminez and discuss the inspiration behind “the veteran app”, how entrepreneurs can translate an idea into an actionable business plan like Steve did, the role of technology in making that possible and the many struggles that an entrepreneur has to face throughout his journey and how to navigate through them successfully.

Our Guest: A war veteran, Steve came back to his hometown and faced some of the harsh realities that the veteran community has to live through daily. Finding it hard to assimilate back into society, Steve felt a lack of purpose in his life.

Then came the idea. Driven by the impact of #Mission 22, Steve decided to take matters into his own hands and fill the void that he felt, knowing well enough that veterans in the US and all over the world must be going through the same troubles. Lack of resources, lack of opportunities, and a lack of assimilation were the problems, and their solution? The Veteran App.

The mission was simple: Having gone through many of the problems faced by veterans, Steve decided to dedicate his life to make sure that other veterans don’t have to go through the same hardships, and if his work can bring down the number of veterans who commit suicide every day from 22 to even 21, that’s a victory.