A Year of Seva: Building On in AI and Gene Editing, Insightful Conversations and my Biggest Realizations of 2024
December Newsletter (+ annual reflection)
Intro:
Hola! If you’re new here: I’m a youth business builder and professional tabla (Indian drum) player. Some like to call me the “Cassava King!” Currently, I’m obsessed with building a scalable solution with AI and gene editing technology to tackle Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) in Nigeria, one of the most devastating yet overlooked agricultural diseases globally that causes widespread hunger. Recently, I won 2024’s Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs Organization (an award recognized by the President of Nigeria) for my solution’s potential, and permanently moved to the USA from the UK in March 2024 in order to pursue a better entrepreneurial path of unconventional opportunities and possibilities 🇺🇸 This is “My Monthly Beatz” - an online blog which I write up and share with my network at the beginning of every month about my previous month (to give you a snapshot of my professional and personal momentum over time in public). Jam along to the rhythm of my month in ‘My Monthly Beatz’ blog!
Part 1: My Personal Life🕺
Holiday Season🎄🎁🎅
You would note that I wrote this right after a cup of black coffee and binge watching Friends in the morning, so hopefully this newsletter is better than the last one! Excuse the eccentricity.
As is with previous newsletters of mine, I’m writing this in backwards order to help you picture in your mind my personal growth - reverse engineering from my outcome at the end of the month to where I was at the beginning of the month.
Let’s start off with personal life since it was just holiday season..
Since this is the final month of the year, I’ve also wrote my annual self-refection, which I have tried my best to describe - though I must admit, it was hard for me to put in words a part of my experiences..
If you’re like me, I’m not fond of winters. They’re cold. They’re dry. I get less sunlight. Even if I try to adapt like the animals do, it somehow still doesn’t suit me. But, my dear paternal Grandfather (who is nearly 100) told me the other day:
"It's -13 celsius in Chicago?! Good!
Embrace this! Remember you willingly jumped into the cold lake in The Lake District on your preparatory school trip with your peers when you were 13 years old, and were proud of it afterwards? Like with then, this should be seen as an opportunity - not a challenge!!"I then appreciated the winter, especially because of it’s problems.. A mindset shift!
This is my principle for the year ahead (I don’t do new years resolutions, rather I abide with long lasting principles).
2025, for me, will be about jumping willingly into the frozen lake and coming out of it. Which means doing work even if I don’t feel like it. More discipline, less distractions. Staying focused and driven. Embracing the good and especially the bad (to beat the odds). For making first time significant progress and results learning/building wise and implementation with the exponential growth curve I’ve experienced in my work and establishing the foundation in the past year - to support me and scale my work financially in the new year. I can proudly say I’ve been good at consistently eliminating all practical blockers in my control this year (i.e. which was procrastination, overthinking, and not thinking for myself/inauthenticity) since I noticed blockers go the more you are aligned with and feel your vision vividly.
My Biggest Realizations and Milestones of 2024, a Reflection💭
My intention for the new year:
I’d say, 2022 was the year that started it for me properly into business and entrepreneurship, 2023 was a year of gaining direction, and 2024 was solidifying my foundational year. 2025 will be the year where I pledge to deliver the first results to humanity (God willing).
My notable and tangible milestones of this year:
Moved to the US on March 26th, 2024, with nothing but a suitcase and a dream and my Father. Sacrificing everything behind. Not in a materialistic sense, but I saw things being taken away from us which felt strange. Furniture. Home. Dog. Maria and Julian. My Maternal family. Where I lived and grew for my whole life, I left. Success requires sacrifice
Established a project, which I’m lucky to enjoy in learning and building, and I’m now on track with to make a living out of but most importantly, save lives through seva. Thank you to my mentor, John Spence (Chairman, Karma Group), for your simple yet profound advice to me around last Christmas which I’ll remember forever, about finding something you enjoy and doing everything to implement it
On the verge of a good and interesting future that’s exciting for me with a potential internship to learn about businesses, and research work (at Delaware State University, and others - such as UPenn and Stanford University, both of which I’m in talks with) to begin solving unnecessary hunger in the world
Gained a more clear way of thinking by gaining good guidance (I’m thankful to my mentors and people who guide me) and putting in genuine effort, contributing wherever I may. Gained stakeholders and important frameworks like systems thinking from Villars
Met people I know who will be lifelong friends and important guides at TKS and Villars Institute
Was fortunate to visit my maternal family and dog twice in the year after moving
And… I may have matured a bit (though I do still feel like a 13 year old within!!).
These are some things I’m proud of.
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Now, onto my reflections of the year. Sharing them as I believe you may find them valuable. The insights which I think are valuable to share in public I’ll mention.
In summary, I put effort into (professionally and personally): establishing a project, connections, going to the gym to train my strength (which I told you I’d update you on at the start of this year - see the result below) and friendships.
My letter to this year which may not entirely make sense to you, so I suppose it’s up to your own interpretation - titled: Thank You, 2024 (a few lines adapted from my journal written 28th Dec 2024 - excludes a few personal details from my original writing):
Thank you, 2024
For teaching me love. For showing me love. For giving me love. Thank you very much.
I had a constant feeling I had back in August when I went to Villars, and I've couldn't get rid of it since. Momentum? Inspiration? Meditative? I don't know exactly, but it's a good feeling. I met some life long friends and the best mentors once can ask for. What was most special was the people I met this year.
Love sounds so overrated these days. But when you, for a second, mute the world and then build your own, your love and the God in you arises - that is the most beautiful thing both in the mind and reality. That is true love.
You made me, 2024.
Now, I'm on the course to search for God.I now believe anything you put your mind to, it can happen. This year made me think this.
Now, below are all my own random ideas/notes to myself and the top 4 things I chose that I found true this year - i.e. the most recurring patterns I’ve noticed in my head. They’re unconventional but I found them useful. Things I found to be true:
‘Heart rate monitor’ analogy: You’re pointed at the right/wrong direction. But where’ll you succeed is if you execute daily and do all of them (the tasks you set yourself). It’s hard at first, but it can be 85% easier if you have mental clarity and concentration throughout the day while keeping your north star in mind, spending your time as planned. It’ll mainly be execution or back to back meetings/e-mails as a Founder on a weekly basis - remember ‘heart rate monitor’ analogy, your power is in words and actions mainly (more so the latter, but intentional words are an action too!). Don’t need to get technical in everything, but have a good overview of the highest impact and most hard hitting points. Then gather a few advisors (stakeholders) on science, policy, communication and innovation. And you’ll reach your goal in X years.
So in summary, imagine a heart rate monitor - your heart spikes sometimes. Or even a hard tabla beat or rhythm. You don’t need to be consistent. There are a few impactful moments where you need to execute (e.g. writing and then hitting an e-mail, a meeting with a resourceful person, or releasing a product that earns you money). The hardest moments of anything great is the beginning stages (e.g. building a company, a relationship, or brainstorming for your next music act). Take the most impactful actions, you can’t ALWAYS be impactful. But of course, good to increase the frequency and quality.
If you don’t know what’s right or wrong, follow the 3C’s: Choices, Conviction, Clarity. This applies in any situation you’re dealing with in life really. At some points in their journey or life, everyone is confused. Sometimes, people’s instincts don’t work. Rely on this.
If you earn it, you deserve it: Arguably the most important one. All problems (unless bound by the laws of physics) are solvable if you, by nature, use first principles thinking to create new solutions, by being a learner and inquirer with an entrepreneurial mindset, and by being someone who is willing to learn it all and work actively with the right people to go beyond expectations. Work hard and smart. Struggle hard and play hard. Utilize your youth if you are a young person (or young at heart!). Put in the utmost, genuine and sincere effort in your work without wishful thinking and working towards an interesting goal and executing with speed and accuracy until you get there while enjoying the process rather than the outcome (of course, outcomes will be rewarding so good to visualize them and keeping them in mind always) - it’s almost guaranteed nothing can go wrong. Nicking of someone’s quote here which I remember seeing a while ago in the British 5 Pound note that I find to be true paraphrased: “Have nothing to offer but blood, toil, sweat, and tears!”
Know who is genuine and who isn’t: This is hard to tell, but usually you can tell from people’s eyes, tone of voice, body language and subtle verbal language (it’s a hobby for me to analyze people without judging, to understand them well!). They are people who genuinely wan’t to get to know you as a human and not for your achievements or milestones.
If your Dog thinks it’s important, it’s definitely important!: My dog has better instincts than me, and also dogs are the most genuine creatures on Earth. If your dog (say he/she senses something fishy, or wants to jump on you and get cuddled), it definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. Don’t ignore the basic things in life - family, friends, food, shelter, gratitude, etc.
“Too many cooks spoil a broth”: While I received many valuable advices this year, some I found to be outright contradictory and confusing - as many of them weren’t relevant to my context and their experiences weren’t useful to me in a business sense. Be selective about who you take advice from while respecting everyone (especially seniors) in front of you, and gaining advice by talking to the right people can significantly give you great speed and accuracy. Not everything will be relevant, so only take the best things out of people. Same applies to any content, books, entertainment or even the food you consume!
Always remember that social media isn’t the real world: I believe a correlation with technology usage and the downfall of humans in all metrics, unless used wisely. Social media mitigates original thought. How many of your thoughts are yours? Go outside and play man. And if you use it - technology is the new gold. Use it to make the world a better place. Be a creator to be discovered, not a consumer to be swamped and get out of context and confusing inputs.
Be a ‘chameleon’: Always stick to the plan the best you can, but adapt accordingly if need be, as serendipity can happen. Even in the winter, I adapted like an animal by simply changing my diet and eating Siberian beetroot soup, hibernating in my own way and wearing more layers, as one day Chicago was -16 C! This is also a plug to my book as the codename title of my upcoming book releasing in June 2026 is ‘Chameleon!: A <name to be announced> Biography’.
We’re all advanced species on a pale blue dot: This sounds funny, but understanding human nature at a basic level can help you deal with people in the best way possible. These days (I say ‘these days’ even though I wasn’t around in caveman era ;)), everything’s masked with civility - which, of course, is good! But understanding human nature to its fundamental core is the secret sauce to getting what out of people and achieving certain objectives (note: I don’t encourage fighting in gladiator style or hunting animals - but there’s a reason why fighting or love films become the most popular). We’re all fundamentally primates, at the end of the day!
Embrace your inner weirdo:
I’ve noticed that most successful people I’ve come across or some of my most high achieving peers have an eccentric quality. I believe this is because they strive for extreme results, which lead to outlier outcomes, hence they may follow certain extreme habits (like cold showers), laughing whenever they’re stressed or walking backwards (that was a joke). So embrace you’re weirdness - but don’t be too weird of course! “Unconventional paths lead to unconventional success" (or unconventional failure!) So make sure you walk the right unconventional path, not the wrong one !!
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I have a few more, but enough with my long-winded lecture! I’ve shared the ones I think will be valuablue as they are the ones I thought are some of the most interesting and humorous ones for you. But anyway, my job is not to give advice but to build (while sharing my realizations/learnings), so now let’s move on to what I did this month!
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Ho, ho, ho! In the spirit of all of us having gone through holiday season mode (btw… I think sometimes it’s ok to be a bit laid-back once in a while, even if you’re used to mostly working hard. So work hard, play hard my friends!), let me share with you some of my personal insights from this month.
My highlights included visiting the house from Home Alone 1 (where it looked like actually the family was gone on holiday and one kid was in the house) in Winnetka, Illinois, and spending time relaxing in front of lakes (as Illinois is the place of plenty lakes!) such as the largest lake in the world that’s entirely within one country - Lake Michigan.
I remember last year in Bali, when I was on a boy’s trip holiday with my Granddad and Dad, we were watching Home Alone 1 on the beach. This year, I got to see the house in-person (20 mins from my home)!! I believe it is indeed true what you put your mind to becomes a reality.
You often don’t realize but there maybe some of the most interesting places to visit right near your home town!
Visiting the House from Home Alone on Christmas Day🎅
Like with my first Thanksgiving in the US last month, on Christmas Day and New Years Eve, I reflected on what I’m most grateful for and what I’m looking forward to - both professionally and personally. As I like to build in public, sharing them with you below…
Some things I’m most grateful for:
Being here in the US for exponential opportunities
Being young and using that to my advantage
Self awareness
Having a roof over my head
My family.
Some clear things I’m looking forward to:
A potential internship at a high growth emerging technology-related startup where I gain transferrable business building and CEO skills, in the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2025
Starting my research work at Delaware State University and others on Cassava mosaic disease in the first half of the year, after gaining a sufficient grant during this period, then establishing that as a business in the latter half of the year
Building continuously and gaining feedback to secure a grant and establishing my businesses - earning my first self-earned cents to allow me to fulfil my dreams
Earn enough to make me self sustain and achieve reasonable time, location and financial freedom by end of the year through focusing singularly on mastering my Cassava project, to help me continuously operate better and all while reinvesting in my long term goals
Working towards and earning my F-1, then O-1 Visas (or a visa that allows me to intern)
Entering Ivy League US or equivalent level university by fall (my applications are all done next month) with intention of gaining credibility and new friends. If not, plan B is to simply continue with as I am now with learning and establishing my entrepreneurial endeavours
Playing the tabla and establishing myself as the world youth champion by year end (since there is none yet, but I spotted an asymmetric niche!), played in at least 3 international concerts this year with major musicians. I’m set to record with Apache Indian and Dana Gillespie as my first records, releasing in the first half of the year. Then more to come..
Starting properly and scaling my comedy club as a hobby, with me writing the scripts and driving it
Publish a biography of one of my mentors
Speaking at at least 3 US conferences.
I’ll let you know how I go with them while sharing my learnings along the way. Stay tuned.
“By the way, someone asked me the other why do I do so many things! Well, basically because I like doing it!” - John Spence
Someone the other asked me have you ever had burn out in a casual conversation, to which I replied: “No. Because burn out is not in my dictionary. In fact, I create the burn out!” (jokes aside, this is an important mindset shift to have. I should clarify: this is my way of tackling challenges with humour and grit, but I understand burnout can be a challenge for many, and I respect that). Follow Ikigai, while being ok with doing the necessary chores. And if you enjoy it, that’s the key word - enjoy, you can do it faster and more accurately. Then there’s no burn out. That’s the secret mantra.
Feedback, Feedback, Feedback!🗣️🔄
Before I get into my professional work’s tangible progress and what I built, quite a few of my regular readers wrote to me after my last newsletter was published as I wanted to hear and implement your advices..
You often don’t realize how much value you create value unless you ask other humans and see what they think! I gained insights on how to improve my writings about my journey in terms of content, delivery, clarity, and readability as the KPIs - and I thank you! As always, your insights give me ideas on how I can make it better for YOU (the reader!) while also prioritizing authenticity.
I hope this newsletter is at least 1% better from the previous piece, following the principle of kaizen. If not, let me know :)
So, what was the conclusion of your feedbacks? = Less is more.
An example of feedback I received:
When it comes to any work I do in public, it’s important to have a constant a feedback loop. After all, whether it be business, newsletters or say even delivering a comedy performance on stage - an aim of any human endeavor is to make sure to create value for yourself and society.
Now, enough of my lecture😆 Let’s get to what I did this month from the work side of things…
Part 2: My Professional Life🕴
Why do I do so many things?.. Well basically- because that’s what I like doing!! - John Spence, Chariman of Karma Group
Applying to Stanford, Minerva, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, and others..📝
I’ve begun my applications, and they end at the end of January. Not many exciting insights here, but I’ll keep you posted on the results later this year once I get them.
Lots of Led Zeppelin music I’ve listened to while doing my applications!
Building, Building, Building in AI and Gene Editing (try out my prototypes today and provide me feedback please!)🧬🤖🛠️
⭐️ Throughout most of the month, I spent my professional time pursuing a couple purposes: a) building out the products of my AI and gene editing project for people to try out and b) planning out the entire funding phase of my project for Bill Gates Foundation/NSF and others. ⭐️
Released my AI platform and gene editing simulations:
Try out my AI platform and gene editing simulations below! (and if you have time, a quick feedback would be appreciated):
Thanks Kabir Mathur, Max Newlon, Mikaela Ergas Lennet, and Ryan Leong for validating the AI aspect over time.
The development process:
Here’s my process behind building that led to the results above and also my takeaways while building it:
Below my most recently build in public updates:
Appreciations:
Sharing some of your kind appreciations of my work!:
I’m moved by all of your gestures💛
Reach outs/ongoing conversations/intros - the results:
Wikipedia page (under renovation by the writer):
I’m also now humbled to be featured on Wikipedia (the Encyclopedia Brittanica of the web), recognizing my work in tackling CMD and the Global Entrepreneurs Award - in progress! This is a boost to the credibility of my project.
Internship at a High Growth Startup🎓
This is the school of the real world!
As I’ve built projects (which I shared in last month’s publish), I reached out to mentors and gained insights. One was for cybersecurity in December, and another one which is the latest in January was more for learning about how to run a business and gaining transferable skills (e.g. like how to run a company, fundraising, making customers happy, etc.. from a Founder and CEO’s point of view).
As many of my peers are still seeking internships, here’s the things to keep in mind and considerations which I’ve realized/been told:
remote work or in person work. most of the time or all the time?
make it clear what work you expect
figure out a way to not be distracting for your boss as it’s annoying to have someone with me all day while your boss is working
at a proper startup, bosses work early mornings and late nights. are you willing to do that?
managing you feels like more work for the boss. find a way so you can compliment each other well.
Sharing that so you understand the thought process of people who hire. A boss of an internship does want to support you and help you grow, but make sure interning with them makes sense at this time in order to do it. Even if you were to shadow your boss for a a period, they might just be focused on let’s say hiring. So in that case it would be heads down hiring talent. If you'd like to support with that, you can discuss that with your boss, but be prepared as you might not be working with me in person every day.
I’ll share my update on a potential internship as soon as my US visa situation that allows me to work is finalized.
Insightful Conversations📣💭
Kabir Mathur, the CEO of Leen calling in from San Fransisco
This month, I spoke to my mentor Kabir Mathur, Founder & CEO of
as my final meeting of the year to update him on my progress on what I built!Esther Kim, Genetic Engineer calling in from San Fransisco
I also spoke to
Karen E. Wilson, Lecturer at London Business School calling in from Geneva
I had a conversation with
Max Newlon, Former USA President of BrainCo calling in from Boston
It was a pleasure meeting with
Ian Lockhart, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at TKS calling in from Ottawa
I had a call with
Afraj Gill, Investor at C100 calling in from San Fransisco
I had calls with
Tandy Virdee, Multi Award-winning Digital Consultant calling in from London
Talked with
Manoj Thacker, Former Board Advisor to Intel and former Swiss watchmaker and entepreneur calling in from Mumbai/Dubai/London/Lausanne
I had a call with
<One line like kabir’s, give only the most useful bits.>
Next month, I’m looking forward to my planned calls with
, Lee Howell, Rhea Werner, Max Newlon, Muhammad Hunain, Sahil Bloom, and others!Becoming an Expert in Something
What does it take to become an expert in something? In my opinion:
This not only applies in the TKS context, if you’re outside of TKS you can also do this. Maybe not as well, because TKS has some trade secrets that we learn ;)
Reader Shout outs📢🗣️
As always, I’ve selected a few people at random who’ve spent time reading every one of my newsletters as regular readers. This month, they’re:
Dr. Arupa Ganguly
Dr. Scott Poethig
Dr. Sunil Wattal
Many thanks for supporting the early stages of my journey! Next month, I will select another few of you as appreciation for reading through my newsletters thoroughly.
Monthly favourites & media that I consumed👂📒
📖 Reads:
I didn’t read any books this month and I don’t have excuses - except that I’m a bit lost in book choices! So, I found a reading list to guide me that fellow podcaster Lex Fridman posted on X for 2023. I’ve decided that I’ll follow this list of books in order as my reading list for the first half of my 2025, to gain knowledge and insights (some I’ve read already from this list) to better my understanding of myself and the world - helping me to have more in-depth and interesting conversations with people. You can go through a multiple lifetimes just by reading books, so reading good books is like a “time warp” to gaining insights in a short amount of time.
I’ll therefore invest in buying some of these and post my reflections of 4-5 books per month, and how they resonated with me.
And here’s my favourite reads that I read in 2024:
Tuesdays with Morrie
The Art of Learning
Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World's Greatest Disruptor
🎥 Videos/Podcasts:
A. R. Rahman interviewed by Aarthi and Sriram:
This is the only podcast I listened to properly this month and I re-watched it fully 20 times now. I’m quite obsessed with the idea of achieving a “heightened level of human consciousness” in my work, hence - the parts I found most interesting were: Creative process of making music for films (21:35); Storytelling, role of art and spirituality (43:00); Getting into a creative mind state? (44:20); and God, spirituality and work (54:50). Otherwise, I regularly listen to
and I must say I’m a fan (thanks to my mentor Kabir for introducing this podcast to me about a year and a half ago). This is the best episode yet, and I’m glad business and technology podcasts are becoming more mainstream as a podcaster myself.Founders Podcast made a good summary of this talk.
2025 Predictions by the All In Podcast:
This was released as I was writing this, and I know this is important to know. Below is the summary of the podcast (thanks Max Newlon) during our TKS Activate session:
How to Bulk Like A Pro (Using Science) by Jeff Nippard:
One of my core personal KPIs is fitness. This year, I’ve committed to a bulking phase - hence, I’m following the advice of this video. I’m treating bodybuilding as a sport, and this year I will build in public with this! I’ll post a short section of my fitness tracker results every month on here to keep me accountable. Discipline > Motivation
Atharva Rao, Neil Mitra and Theodore-Grether Murray on Seva at Scale Podcast:
I’m going to selfishly plug my own podcast here (which I’ve re-named to Seva at Scale from CapitalTycoon, to match my movement’s name), however I gain value from listening to the amazing guests I’ve had on in my podcast. The three most recent ones I’ve posted all last month since I focused more on my work over interviews however, I’ve found it a rewarding habit listening to some of the greatest youth innovators of our time. Do give my most recent episodes a listen!
🎶 Music:
Led Zepplin: When the Levee Breaks
This song actually originated from blues artists - these guys took it and owned it. Thanks to my Mum, who is a rock musician, for recommending me this. I’ve never listened to any of their music before however, I learned that they the most influential and “biggest band in the world”! They’re IMAX cinema documentary is releasing next month to celebrate them. I’ll be sure to check out more of their songs.
It’s not repetitive or ‘lazy’ like today’s music (sorry One Direction!), this is proper raw music. Recommend listening on headphones.
If I’m ever bored, I’ll listen to they’re music and play the tabla along with it!
I haven’t listened to rock music for quite a while, the last time I listened to this genre was from my guitar teachers in the past (when at one phase I was aspiring to become a professional guitarists), Paul Rooney, who is the guitarist of the well-known band Vice Squad, and Andy Hobson, of the Pretenders. Funny thing is, punk rock and acid rock musicians are some of the softest people on the inside out there!
Fun fact — “Chicago” is mentioned in this, where I live !!
Challenge: I like the drum beat on this, and therefore I’ll post a video below of how it sounds with the tabla next month!
Intentions for Next Month🤔
Thank you for reading this newsletter. Going into the new year, I’m going to be in West Bengal, India, for the most of the month (including a trip to the Sundarbans - famous for the Jungle Book and a unique ecosystem of trees and shrubs that is the largest mangrove forest in the world! I’ll try and spot a Bengal tiger by becoming Mowgli😉..), continue with consolidating my Cassava and Whiteflies project towards a grant, and update you on new and exciting developments with my AI and cybersecurity project series towards an internship at a high growth startup. See you then👋
#SevaAtScale
P.S. Below is a video of the lake that’s become frozen over winter by my home:
