Jessica O. Matthews

Jessica O. Matthews is a Nigerian-American inventor, founder, CEO and venture capitalist. In 2011, Fortune named her one of its "10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs" Matthews is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Nigeria. as a teenager pursuing science fairs and track and field. Matthews then attended Harvard College where she majored in Economics and later Harvard Business School. Matthews and classmate Julia Silverman invented Soccket as part of an assignment for an engineering class. She has described the inspiration for the invention as coming from an experience attending her aunt's wedding in Nigeria. When the electricity was lost and diesel generators were used to keep the lights on, Matthews recognized the health hazard posed from fumes and decided to try to do something about it. so that play with soccer ball also provides children a reading light with which to do their homework after dark. The two founded Uncharted Power to develop Soccket, with Matthews becoming CEO. The company also makes a jump rope that stores energy in a means similar to Soccket called the Pulse, which generates three hours of power for an LED through 15 minutes of jumping rope. She subsequently shifted the company's focus to developing a broader range of kinetic-energy-storing products in partnership with experienced manufacturers. "Matthews describes her company's proprietary MORE technology as an energy harvesting and emanating building block that can be seamlessly integrated into various infrastructures, objects and products — everything from floor panels, streets, speedbumps and sidewalks, to subway turnstiles, strollers, shopping carts and beyond." In 2016, Matthews raised $7 million in Series A funding for Uncharted Power, with the company valued at $57 million. TechCrunch reported that this made Matthews the 13th black female founder to have raised more than $1 million in funding. By March 2017, 500,000 Socckets and Pulses had been used in developing regions, primarily in Africa and Latin America. In 2016, when Matthews moved Uncharted Power to Harlem, New York, she created a non-profit arm, the Harlem Tech Fund (HTF), which aims to support 100 new startups and offer technology training to 10,000 Harlem residents over the next two to five years. Matthews serves as chairman of the board of HTF. She is co-founder and executive director of KDDC, developing a hydropower dam project in Nigeria. The 30-megawatt dam is among the first hydroelectric dam projects privatized in Nigeria.

Recognition Matthews has received numerous awards, honors and recognition. In 2013, she was named "Innovator of the Year" by Black Enterprise, and was recognised as both one of Forbes 30 Under 30 and Inc.'''s 30 under 30 in 2014 and 2016 respectively, and selected twice by Fortune for recognition. Matthews received the "One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year" Award in 2020.