AI + Education Winner
About María
María Fernanda Sierra Perea co-founded Propel to close the gap between AI usage and AI impact in Latin America's social sector. A Colombian entrepreneur who taught adults to read from the age of thirteen, she built Propel around a single conviction: that the organisations doing the most critical social work should not be the ones left behind by AI.
The focus of her work
Propel supports nonprofits and civil society organisations across Latin America to integrate AI into their daily operations, not just as an occasional tool, but as infrastructure embedded in their workflows, funding strategies and decision-making. The team provides translation: connecting AI capability to specific missions, teams and the problems those organisations are actually trying to solve. Propel has also built an AI-powered funding matching tool that connects organisations to relevant philanthropic opportunities in minutes, addressing a structural gap where only 1 percent of global philanthropic capital reaches the region.
Impact
700+ organisations supported across 27 countries
100 million people indirectly reached, nearly 15 percent of Latin America's population
91 percent of participating organisations have adopted AI or digital tools
86 percent report measurable productivity gains
In Colombia, one Propel-supported organisation doubled its fundraising and built an AI simulator helping indigenous youth secure jobs earning nearly double the local living wage
Responsible AI in practice
Propel measures success by workflow integration and real-world outcomes, not adoption rates alone. The team co-designs with organisations rather than building for them, ensuring AI is connected to specific missions, daily decisions and the people carrying them out. María actively works to counter AI paralysis in the social sector, building accessible pathways so that organisations working on poverty, education and health are not excluded by a discourse moving faster than their capacity to engage with it.
Vision for the future
For María, responsible AI is AI for impact, and AI that includes the communities who know the problem in building the solutions.
The 2026/27 She Shapes AI Global Awards Call for Applications opens on 8 October 2026. If you or someone you know is driving positive impact through AI, we want to hear from you. Visit sheshapes.ai/awards to learn more and sign up to our newsletter to stay informed.
