Jens Thang, Singapore, Executive Officer and Mira Co-Founder, has experience in the entrepreneurial startup world with his role as an Entrepreneur Consultant to Internet startups in the United States. He has been responsible for developing dynamic strategies driving business development in many startups focusing on the Internet and mobile industry. He has also been a guest speaker at major business conferences such as the Global Entrepreneurship Week. In July 2008, he quit his professional life and took a year leave of absence from his B.A Economics and Technopreneurship studies at National University of Singapore, to devote himself full-time to a non-profit project in Ghana, West Africa. He is responsible for a post-graduate program in entrepreneurship which transforms local college graduates into successful software entrepreneurs. Jens also comes with a background in community work in Asia, having involved himself in several community projects in the Philippines, Laos, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Jens is an aspiring Jazz artist and avid photographer. He has traveled extensively to different parts of the world.
Sara Ortega, United States, Operations Officer and Mira Co-Founder, has a professional background in organizational management & community development. She most recently worked in philanthropy and education spearheading operations, communications, and special events. Her philanthropic path led her to the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, and her educational path led her to Taiwan (as a teacher) and Ghana (as an administrator). Sara received a Masters of Social Welfare with a concentration in Management and Planning from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from George Washington University in Washington, DC. Because of her experiences in DC, Sara’s interest in global development piqued; she studied in Europe and Central America and has since continued traveling around the world. Overall, Sara enjoys helping others hone their skills and talents & fulfilling their professional dreams.
Simon Tam, Canada, Technology Officer and Mira Co-Founder, holds a Bachelor of Mathematics with Distinction from the University of Waterloo, Canada, with a double major in both Combinatorics & Optimization and Computer Science. While interning as a software engineer at a line of distinguished companies – Alias Systems (now Autodesk), C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Xandros, Expedia, Microsoft – he has made several notable contributions to software technology – his latest efforts include the development of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008’s LINQ (.NET Language Integrated Query) and C# 3.0. An avid traveler, his love for technology and international development finally intersected when he spent the prior year trekking through Asia and occasionally volunteering as an English teacher for primary school children. Employed as a Technology Fellow at a post-graduate program dedicated to training Ghanaians to be software entrepreneurs, Simon whole-heartedly believes in the power of education and the gift of technology to transform it.
