Iddris Sandu
Iddris Sandu | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 7, 1997 Accra, Ghana |
| Occupation(s) | Software engineer, Technology design architect |
Iddris Sandu (born May 7, 1997) is an American entrepreneur, programmer, engineer, and digital architect. He is the CEO of Spatial Labs Inc., a hardware software infrastructure company.[1][2][3]
Early life
[edit]Sandu was born in Accra, Ghana.[4] Sandu grew up in Compton, California, before later moving to Harbor City, California. He moved to the United States with his family at the age of 3 and learned computer programming at the age of ten. At the age of 13, he was offered an internship at Google where he worked on Google+ and designs for other social connectivities.[5] In high school, he created an app for his school that provided turn by turn navigation for students to navigate around the campus using augmented reality. Sandu also advocated for STEM in the high school curriculum.[6]
Career
[edit]Sandu has worked as a technological design consultant and engineer with companies such as Boeing, Twitter, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Uber, Snapchat and Instagram. For Uber he created the software called Autonomous Collision Detection Interface, a software program that detects a driver's hand motion and position.[7][8]
He has worked on digital content for Beyonce, Kanye West, Migos, Travis Scott, Rihanna, Jay Z, and Jaden Smith.[6][9] In 2017, he partnered with Nipsey Hussle to open the Marathon clothing store in LA.[10]
In 2021, Sandu founded Spatial Labs, a hardware software infrastructure company based in Los Angeles.[3] In October 2021, Marcy Venture Partnership (MVP) founded by Jay-Z invested in Spatial Labs.[11] In 2022, Spatial Labs launched Gen One Hardwear, a collection of garments embedded with LNQ’s proprietary LNQ One Chip,[12] and LNQ Marketplace, a retail platform to trade physical goods on the blockchain.[13][14]
Awards
[edit]In 2022, Sandu was featured in the Ebony Power 100 list.[15] In 2019, he won the Young African Committed to Excellence (YACE) Rising Star award and the Technology Award at the Culture Creators Innovators & Leaders Awards.[16][17] He has also received a Certificate of Commendation from Barack Obama.[18]
External links
[edit]- Gen Z: Plan A | Iddris Sandu | TEDxCrenshaw
- Iddris Sandu | Raw & Uncut Part 1
- Iddris Sandu Talks His Career and More | BHL's Next
References
[edit]- ^ "Iddris Sandu is Going to Change the World". 1 April 2019.
- ^ Hawgood, Alex (14 November 2018). "A Tech Wunderkind Who Knows Jaden Smith and Elon Musk". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Iddris Sandu Brings the Metaverse to Hip-Hop by Partnering with Jay-Z on New Technology". Forbes.
- ^ Christian, Tanya (December 6, 2020). "Tech Visionary Iddris Sandu Secures Land In Ghana For Youth Center, Plus Nine Other Headlines We're Talking About". Essence.
- ^ Ramalho, Catarina (2019-10-21). "Iddris Sandu worked for Uber, Google and Kanye. Now he wants to fix tech's diversity problem". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
- ^ a b Page, Falyn (9 December 2018). "Iddris Sandu - Bridging the gap between technology and minorities". www.cnbc.com.
- ^ Gbadamosi, Nosmot (21 December 2018). "Meet the 21-year-old tech whiz who's coded for Instagram and Snapchat". CNN.
- ^ "Iddris Sandu, a tech genius, software engineer and cultural architect". This Is Africa. 2019-04-12. Archived from the original on 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
- ^ "Entrepreneurs in Brown Skins? Performing Matter into Contemporary Black Lives".
- ^ Terrell, Ashley (7 February 2021). "How Ghanaian immigrant Iddris Sandu became a tech leader". TheGrio.
- ^ Spencer, Alexa (14 October 2021). "Jay-Z Invests in 24-Year-Old Technologist, Spatial LABS Founder Iddris Sandu". Black Enterprise.
- ^ Mamo, Heran (28 June 2022). "Clothing on the Blockchain: Iddris Sandu Is Bringing the Culture to the Metaverse With Jay-Z's Support". Billboard.
- ^ "Spatial Labs Is Changing the World of "Phygital" Apparel". Highsnobiety. 21 October 2022.
- ^ "Putting Chips in Hoodies and Clogs to Unlock Value for Buyers and Sellers". Bloomberg.com. 29 November 2022.
- ^ "Introducing EBONY'S 2022 Power 100 List and Gala". Ebony. 20 September 2022.
- ^ Antwi, Prince. "22-year-old Ghanaian wins prestigious international youth award". The Ghana Guardian News.
- ^ Staff (22 June 2019). "Iddris Sandu Accepts Technology Award at Culture Creators 2019". Billboard.
- ^ "Iddris Sandu Talks Fashion & Technology on The Dropcast: Listen". Highsnobiety. 10 May 2019.