Benjamin Fernandes is an award-winning Tanzanian speaker and entrepreneur. He grew up in Tanzania and earned scholarships that took him to the U.S. at age 17. At 21, he became the youngest African in history accepted into Stanford Graduate School of Business. He holds an MBA from Stanford and an Executive Education from the Harvard Kennedy School, becoming the first Tanzanian to attend both institutions. Fernandes was a former TV personality in Tanzania and later worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation before founding NALA, a fintech company building payments for the next billion. NALA now operates in 21 countries, has nearly 150 employees, and raised $50M from top U.S. investors including Y-Combinator, Accel, and Bessemer. NALA was listed on the Forbes Fintech 50 in 2025. Fernandes has been recognized globally, including the ROW100, Top 100 Changemakers in Africa, and a Forbes daily cover story in 2024.