Hi.
My name is Avinash Meetoo and I live in Mauritius, a small island state in the middle of the Indian Ocean and part of the African continent.
I am the Director of Knowledge7 and I have more than 24 years of experience in the Technology, Innovation, Education and Entrepreneurship sectors.
From 2021 to 2023, I was the Head of Experimentation of the Accelerator Lab of UNDP Mauritius and Seychelles. I also was the UNDP Digital Advocate for the two countries.
Prior to joining UNDP, from 2017 to 2021, I was the Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation of Mauritius. During these four years, I was a Board Member of the National Computer Board and a Member of the Board of Governors of the University of Technology of Mauritius.
I am an entrepreneur and founded Knowledge7, an IT training and consulting company, in 2008. During its first ten years of operation, I trained more than 600 people in advanced Linux, Android & Web Development. Knowledge7 was also one of the first companies to offer mobile development services in Mauritius.
I have worked as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Mauritius, the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce & Industry Business School and SupInfo University. I have also worked at DCDM Consulting. I am a Red Hat Linux Certified Engineer and a TEDx speaker.
When I was a kid, I was a computer geek and, when I grew up, I found it natural to study Computer Science (or, more precisely, Informatics).
I studied in France and I have an MPhil. in Computer Science (Diplôme d’Études Approfondies) from the École Normale Supérieure (Lyon, France) and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science (Diplôme d’Ingénieur) from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (Lyon, France).
I like to blog. In fact, I started blogging way back in 2004 on Noulakaz, our family blog. I also like to program. I have some of my programs on Github but most of the code I have written for the past 30 years are on my computers at home.
I am a fan of Linux and Open Source Software and I founded the Linux User Group of Mauritius in 2000. I run Debian Linux and Fedora Linux on a variety of servers and laptops and Linux rocks. I also like Apple computers and I have an iMac, a Mac Mini M1 and a MacBook Air M1. I also own an Apple iPad Air. When on the move, I always have my Samsung S23 FE or my OnePlus 7T smartphone with me.
I am a music producer and I have composed and released four albums and two singles of electronic music on all streaming platforms like Spotify, TIDAL and Deezer and also YouTube. I use Reaper on my Mac Mini with a large number of software instruments and effects plugins.
I like photography too and I have uploaded more than 30,000 photos on Flickr. I am fond of my Canon EOS 6D and the lenses I have but I have been using my smartphones a lot lately. I mainly use DxO PhotoLab, ViewPoint and FilmPack for photo editing.
I am married to a wonderful Christina and we have two very interesting and cool kids: Anya and Kyan. Both are currently studying in France.