May Samali

May Samali

Associate
Urban Innovation Fund

May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world.

May is currently Associate at the Urban Innovation Fund. She was previously at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator in San Francisco. Her primary areas of interest include venture financing, technology policy, urban innovation, social entrepreneurship, and purpose-driven leadership. She is published on these topics in a variety of outlets, including TechCrunch, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Philanthropy News Digest, the Conscious Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

From this author

Inclusive and workplace acceptance of refugees
Partnering for refugee employment

When considering their talent pipelines, few companies think outside-of-the-box. Most refugees flourish in the workplace, and so do the businesses that hire them.

SDG 16
Institutional investors demand a more sustainable capitalism

Honey gathering is a solitary job in Indigenous communities. The collector then shares the honey with their community but refrains from joining in the honey feast themself. The idea is that the gathering is not about their gratification, it’s about their contribution to the collective.  

SDG15 Bushfires
Optimisation model as a guide to burning forests to save forests

Setting fire to parts of a forest to save it might seem counterintuitive to urban communities. There is no equivalent of torching a few streets to protect a suburb. However, amongst First Nations people in Australia, hazard reduction burning is a well-established practice.

SDG13 - coal mining
Net zero now – it’s the economy AND the planet

In Australia, as elsewhere, the climate wars have focused on the climate versus jobs dichotomy. Yet while Australia remains highly dependent on fossil fuel extraction for its national economic prosperity it has also become increasingly unequal in its distribution of that wealth.