When most individuals consider Microsoft, they consider merchandise—Home windows, Azure, Workplace. However for a few of us, Microsoft has grow to be one thing far larger: a basis for progress, a associate, and a relentless pressure behind daring, world-changing visions.
Simply ask Zülal Tannur, the 23-year-old founder behind From Your Eyes and NeuroVision AI Tech Inc., and the 2025 EMEA Winner of the Microsoft Girls Energy Awards.
An award sometimes granted to ladies with 15+ years of govt management, this recognition breaks custom—and displays one thing far more highly effective than expertise alone. It highlights what occurs when fearless pupil innovators are met with intentional help, deep mentorship, and international perception of their concepts.
- At 18: Named one among Microsoft’s youngest international tech leaders.
- At 21: Based FROM YOUR EYES, an organization devoted to redefining accessibility by way of AI-based notion techniques.
- At 22: Turned the Think about Cup World Champion, incomes $100,000 in funding and a mentorship session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
- By 23: Scaled her second firm, NeuroVision AI Tech Inc., from Türkiye to Silicon Valley—powered by AI, Azure, and unstoppable imaginative and prescient.
Zülal’s story is greater than inspiring—it is proof of what is attainable when Microsoft doesn’t simply cheer from the sidelines however walks alongside founders as they construct, scale, and redefine industries.
- Sensible Mobility: Embedding synthetic imaginative and prescient into next-generation automobiles.
- City Notion Infrastructure: Designing edge-first AI techniques that assist cities and machines “see.”
- Federated Intelligence: Transferring past centralized AI towards safer, adaptable, and inclusive techniques.
Their work represents the forefront of accessibility, AI, and mobility innovation—and Microsoft has been a strategic associate each step of the way in which.
From the Think about Cup to Microsoft for Startups, from GitHub for Startups to one-on-one mentorship from Satya Nadella himself—Zülal’s expertise reveals the depth of Microsoft’s dedication to pupil innovators turned startup leaders.
This isn’t nearly giving college students a platform. It’s about giving them:
- Capital to scale early-stage applied sciences
- Mentorship from international leaders who’ve constructed transformative firms
- Credibility by way of recognition and awards that open doorways
Zülal says it greatest:
“As a blind, younger, and feminine founder, having individuals actually see the imaginative and prescient behind what you construct is not all the time straightforward. However Microsoft Think about Cup noticed it — and amplified it. It was our huge bang: our first funding, the catalyst that took us international. From FROM YOUR EYES to founding NeuroVision AI Tech within the U.S., we’ve constructed a workforce that’s now 60% worldwide and partnered with giants like NVIDIA. Think about Cup didn’t simply help us — it believed in what we may grow to be.”
Her journey is proof that when pupil founders are met with intentional partnership—not simply encouragement—they will go from early imaginative and prescient to international impression.
Zülal leads two AI firms centered on accessibility, imaginative and prescient, and mobility. She additionally occurs to be the world’s first blind Expertise Ambassador.
Her story proves that innovation isn’t all the time born in boardrooms. Typically, it begins in pupil dorms. In hackathons. At digital competitions. And with a relentless perception that expertise ought to make the world extra inclusive, not much less.
As Zülal places it:
“This isn’t about the place we’ve been. It’s about the place we’re going—and the way far we’re keen to see.“
Microsoft didn’t simply watch her journey. They invested in it. Believed in it. And have become the form of associate that doesn’t simply again startups—they assist construct them.
Are you an early stage pupil founder?
Join right here to be notified when Think about Cup 2026 launches later this 12 months.
