Pelkins is a scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He was born in Cameroon and graduated from high school with the highest score in the country in the Advanced Level exam – Cameroon’s high school leaving exam. Afterwards, he immigrated to the US where he obtained a BSc. in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Pelkins continued to obtain an MS/MBA from Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Harvard Business School, where he graduated with honors and was supported by the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.

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Pelkins is the founder of CassVita – a social enterprise that has developed a novel biotechnology for increasing the shelf-life of cassava from 3 days to 18 months. CassVita partners with over 1,000 farmers in West Africa and has been able to increase their earnings by as much as 400%. Pelkins' work has been recognized by MIT, Harvard, the New York Times, the African Development Bank, and President Biden.