Jacob Korenblum

Jacob Korenblum is a leader in enterprise digital strategy with more than 15 years of experience designing and launching digital solutions for real-world challenges across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. His work has been featured by major media outlets, including The Financial Times, Forbes, Devex, and Scientific American. He currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, where he enjoys sailing.

From the start of his career, he focused on social justice and international aid initiatives. After completing his bachelor’s degree, he began working with the Education Development Center in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit organization with global operations. The organization supports families worldwide by improving access to employment, education, and health services in 80 countries.

During this period, Jacob advanced into a leadership role as director of monitoring and evaluation and communications for a project in the Middle East. He lived and worked in the region for several years, gaining direct experience with development challenges on the ground.

After completing this role, Jacob Korenblum joined OXFAM. This international nonprofit organization supports more than 25 million people each year through programs focused on gender equality, economic opportunity, and climate action. From 2008 to 2010, he traveled to underserved areas in Malawi, India, Haiti, and Kenya, where he led microenterprise assessment and mobile technology projects.

While working in the Middle East in the early 2000s, Korenblum identified a significant barrier to economic opportunity: limited access to affordable internet, despite widespread mobile phone use. In 2005, Jacob Korenblum co-founded Souktel, a nonprofit social enterprise that connects job seekers and employers via SMS rather than internet-based platforms.

Through this work, he helped thousands of people in Palestine access local employment opportunities. Over more than 10 years, the organization supported more than 500,000 users across approximately 30 countries. It partnered on initiatives that provided legal assistance and expanded work opportunities for women in the Middle East.

In 2018, he transitioned into roles within government and the private sector. From 2018 to 2021, he led digital policy development for the Government of Ontario, contributing to simpler and faster digital services, including COVID-related services used across Canada.

Jacob Korenblum continues to remain engaged in global social issues and applies his experience to support communities and small business owners worldwide.