# Lesley Marincola

> Lesley Silverthorn Marincola is the founder and CEO of Angaza, a San Francisco-based B2B software company that powers pay-as-you-go financing for solar home systems and other off-grid products across emerging markets. A Stanford-trained product designer and mechanical engineer, she launched Angaza in 2010 after a course called 'Designing for Extreme Poverty' lit a fire she hasn't put out since. Today, Angaza's platform reaches over 5 million people across 50 countries, enabling low-income households to pay for life-changing energy products through weekly micropayments via mobile money — replacing kerosene lamps one $1 payment at a time. Her work earned Angaza the 2018 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and a TED stage appearance. She is a Forbes '30 Under 30' alum, Echoing Green Fellow, and World Economic Forum Young Global Shaper.

- **Role:** CEO & Founder at Angaza
- **Organizations:** Angaza, Echoing Green, World Economic Forum, Skoll Foundation, Unreasonable Group
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS in Product Design, Stanford University, MS in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
- **Known for:** 2018 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship ($1.25M), Forbes '30 Under 30' Social Entrepreneur (2012), Businessweek 'America's Best Young Entrepreneurs' (2011)

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Technology Development Intern at Exponent Failure Analysis Associates
- **2007-2008** — Product Design Engineer at Lab126 (Amazon) — worked on first three generations of the Kindle
- **2008-2010** — Product Design Engineer at D2M Inc., Bay Area design consultancy — clients included DirecTV, Genentech, Qualcomm, and Volkswagen
- **2010** — Founded Angaza Design in San Francisco, inspired by Stanford course 'Designing for Extreme Poverty'
- **2011** — Recognized by Businessweek as one of 'America's Best Young Entrepreneurs'
- **2012** — Named Forbes '30 Under 30' Social Entrepreneur; received Tech Awards Laureate recognition; named World Economic Forum Young Global Shaper
- **2013** — Won Women 2.0 PITCH SF competition; named Echoing Green Global Fellow; raised $1.5M seed round
- **2015** — Raised additional $4M seed funding; pivoted Angaza from consumer solar hardware to B2B pay-as-you-go software platform
- **2016** — Participated in Unreasonable Project Literacy Lab; spoke at Global Entrepreneurship Summit
- **2017** — Raised $10.5M Series A funding
- **2018** — Received Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship ($1.25M prize); spoke at 'We the Future' TED event at TED World Theater
- **2020** — Raised $13.5M Series B; guided Angaza through COVID-19 pandemic response across 50 markets
- **2024-2025** — Continues as CEO of Angaza, now 170+ employees, operating in 50 countries with 200+ distribution partners

## Achievements

- 2018 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship ($1.25M)
- Forbes '30 Under 30' Social Entrepreneur (2012)
- Businessweek 'America's Best Young Entrepreneurs' (2011)
- 2012 Tech Awards Laureate for pay-as-you-go technology
- 2013 Echoing Green Global Fellow
- World Economic Forum Young Global Shaper
- Santa Clara University Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) scholarship
- 2012 Astia International Women's Day Scholarship
- UCLA Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award Finalist
- Won Women 2.0 PITCH SF 2013 competition
- Angaza platform reached 5M+ people across 50 countries
- Raised over $30M total funding for Angaza
- TED stage appearance at 'We the Future' (2018) alongside UN Foundation

## Latest updates

- **2020-11** — Angaza closed $13.5M Series B round
- **2020-04** — Published open letter to Angaza customers and partners during COVID-19, outlining business continuity measures including bulk bonus credit distribution for field partners
- **2018-09** — Spoke at 'We the Future' TED event at TED World Theater, presenting Angaza's PAYG model and alternative credit scoring methodology
- **2018-04** — Received 2018 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship at Skoll World Forum in Oxford

## Links

- Website: https://angaza.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesleymarincola
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC51JRJHsbE
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/AngazaDesign

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/lesley-marincola
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-12