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 Soros Fellowship.

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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.