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Shozo was born in Japan and move to USA when he was 14 years old all by himself. He attended the Brewster Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire, USA, and then received a certificate from Harvard University, Secondary School Program. After graduating from Indiana University Bloomington with a bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs, Shozo worked at Accenture and few other strategic consulting firms providing corporate planning, business consulting and business development, consulting clients in a myriad of sectors and across the globe.

 

Shozo established UNLOCK DESIGN in December 2013, a company that provides strategic marketing and educational platform for young talents and entrepreneurs. Today, it has three branches in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Working closely with both Japanese and Malaysian governments, corporates and universities, the company aims to build a tech / entrepreneur community as well as to advance the industry in Malaysia.

 

UNLOCK DESIGN is the organiser the one-of-a-kind International Space Apps Challenge every year in Malaysia, a hackathon opened to everyone from technologists to designers to educators and entrepreneurs with collaboration and access to open data provided by NASA, creating a new growth platform to bring technology, innovations, and talents together.

Shozo has lived in Malaysia for 5 years, together with his wife, who is a Malaysian Chinese.