Formation Ventures is dedicated to dramatically increasing the number and success of Black entrepreneurs starting in high school, through educational and new venture support programs.

Saamra Mekuria-Grillo is the founder of Formation Ventures, a startup that is dedicated to dramatically increasing the number and success of Black entrepreneurs starting in high school, through educational and new venture support programs.

Prior to founding Formation Ventures, she was the Chief Operating Officer at the Pahara Institute, where she oversaw Program and Institute Operations. Previous to Pahara, Saamra was a consultant at Bain & Company, where she worked with clients in education, private equity, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals.

Saamra started her career at Google, and spent over a year in India, as one of the founding team members of Google’s Hyderabad office, where she focused on training and growth of Google’s customer service sales and operations team.

Holding a deep belief in the power of education to provide transformative opportunities to young people, Saamra has served on multiple charter school boards, including the Mission Preparatory School in San Francisco, CA and the East Bay Innovation Academy in Oakland, CA, and she currently serves on the board of Compass Rose Public Schools in Texas.

She holds an MBA with a certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, where she double majored in History and International Studies. She is also a proud graduate of the Boston Latin School, the first public school in the United States. Saamra lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband and her two sons.