Impact Stories from Economic Impact Policy Area
With T.I.M.E for Women fellows inspire a new generation
Fellow(s): Mutriba Akhmedova, Anzurat Kosimova
Country: Tajikistan
Cohort: 2015, 2016
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Fellows Mutriba Akhmedova (2015) and Anzurat Kosimova (2016) have launched T.I.M.E for Women, a project that works with women and girls to expand their IT knowledge and skills. T.I.M.E – which stands for Technology, Innovation, Management and Entrepreneurship – is a new venture of SheCanDoIT, the fellows’ initiative that was recently named a grantee of the 2020 Democracy Commission Small Grants Program from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan. The program focuses on initiatives centered on social empowerment, entrepreneurship and skills development.
Through SheCanDoIT, the fellows will encourage and inspire girls to enter the IT field. “Our name contains our main goal,” says Mutriba. “Women can do everything and be successful in IT.” The T.I.M.E for Women platform launched in October, and will soon offer women and girls training in both technical and soft skills: app development, cybersecurity, IoT, leadership, communication and more. They will also offer professional advice that will prepare Tajik women for the TechWomen application and other exchange program opportunities. Already, the platform features videos from three fellows – Mahina Usmonova (2016), Natalya Tyudina (2018) and Zevar Davlatmamadova (2018) – who offer motivational speeches on their journeys in IT. “TechWomen connected us, but we are also connected by our common goals and mission,” says Mutriba. “We want to change the views of our society. We want to bring IT and innovative ideas to our country. Together, we can achieve more. And as TechWomen says, we are empowered to empower.”
Report Date...: 11/16/20
Dabchy fellow’s fashion startup wins the MEA Seed Challenge
Fellow(s): Ameni Mansouri
Country: Tunisia
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
This week it was announced that Dabchy, the startup co-founded by 2018 fellow Ameni Mansouri, was one of seven businesses named a winner of the MEA Seed Challenge. The inaugural challenge, launched in June by Orange Ventures, has a mission to finance 100 high-growth potential startups by 2025. Orange Ventures will invest nearly $800,000 amongst the seven winners.
Dabchy, Tunisia’s first web-based fashion marketplace, was selected among 500 businesses who entered the competition. Their online platform allows its 250,000 users to buy and sell secondhand clothing, accessories and beauty products in three countries. Ameni, Dabchy’s CEO, looks forward to the business expanding with Orange Ventures’ collaboration. “We are very excited about this new investment because getting the confidence of a world leader like Orange in our start-up, which has been evolving since its launch in 2016, can only strengthen our positioning even further. We are really excited about this new collaboration that will enable us to apply our vision and have foolproof support for our expansion into Africa and throughout the MENA region,” she said.
Report Date...: 11/16/20
Fellow wins Digital Female Leader Award
Fellow(s): Pam Mkhize
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Professional Growth
2019 fellow Pam Mkhize is a recipient of the 2020 Digital Female Leader Award, recognized in the Career category. The awards are an initiative of Global Digital Women, aiming to amplify inspiring women who advance and shape digitization. This year’s awards received over 800 applications from 19 countries globally.
Pam is the head of Africa digital solutions for Enel Green Power, a renewable energy company that operates across five continents and 28 countries. In her DFLA feature, Pam spoke about her experience building teams and leading digital transformation across the African continent. “My professional and personal interest is in ensuring that data is stored, retrieved and transmitted in a technologically secure manner,” she said. Pam also shared her journey as a digital leader, speaking about building systems and teams from scratch over the course of her 15-year career. “Leadership to me means compassion, honesty, foresight and consistency,” she said.
Report Date...: 11/16/20
Fellows collaborate for Facebook Live event
Fellow(s): Racha Bia and Sabine Kai
Country: Algeria, Lebanon
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Last year, 2014 fellow of Algeria Racha Bia founded TecHealth Voice, an online platform that shares YouTube videos, podcasts and Facebook Live interviews themed on health, science and amplifying women in tech in Algeria and beyond. In addition to running TecHealth Voice, Racha is a regional ambassador for Technovation Algeria, working with girls to create innovative tech solutions to real-world problems.
This week, Racha launched Tuesday live talks on TecHealth’s Facebook page, a weekly series aimed at empowering diverse voices in tech. Her first guest was 2014 fellow of Lebanon Sabine Kai, the founder and managing director of Kids Genius, a STEM-based initiative that spreads maker culture to young students through hands-on activities and courses in their maker hubs throughout Lebanon. In the live event, Sabine shared her journey in entrepreneurship and experiences as a woman engineer, speaking about how her curiosity for STEM as a young child developed into a country-wide business that spreads maker culture to kids. During their talk, Sabine said that her workshops go beyond teaching students hands-on skills – they also empower them with confidence and problem-solving abilities. “It’s not only about teaching kids technology,” said Sabine. “To me, we’re building the personality of a maker, someone who doesn’t wait for someone to bring the solution for them. They start by building it from scratch.”
Report Date...: 11/9/20
Fellow featured as African Union changemaker
Fellow(s): Angele Messa
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
This week, 2019 fellow Angele Messe and her organization, EduClick, were featured for Africa Youth Month 2020. The month-long campaign is sponsored by the African Union, a continental body that promotes unity, solidarity and building a more prosperous and peaceful Africa.
The African Union’s One Million by 2021 Initiative aims to create one million opportunities for young people through jobs, engagement and entrepreneurship. For the month of November, One Million by 2021’s African Youth Month is amplifying voices in Africa that work towards educating and empowering young people. As founder of EduClick, Angele brings innovative alternative learning solutions to underserved and displaced communities in Cameroon. Through an SMS learning system integrated into EduClick’s platform, school children can access lessons and exams without the need for an internet connection.
Report Date...: 11/9/20
Fellow featured as founder of Girls Fly Programme Africa
Fellow(s): Refilwe Ledwaba
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
2019 fellow Refilwe Ledwaba was highlighted in Nsesa Foundation’s STEM Wow series, featured for her work as a social entrepreneur, founder and South Africa’s first black female helicopter pilot.
As founder of Girls Fly Programme Africa, Refilwe works to educate girls about aviation and aerospace. Their programs include a yearly aviation and space camp as well as a mentorship and scholarship program. In her Stem Wow feature, Refilwe speaks about growing up surrounded by strong female role models and learning the importance of women supporting other women. Although she originally hoped to become a doctor, Refilwe went on to break barriers in aviation, receive the Amelia Earhart Memorial scholarship and most recently was chosen as an Obama Foundation leader. Refilwe also spoke about the challenges and stereotypes she faced on her journey to achieving her goals, emphasizing the importance of perseverance: “I always say fight with your books and let your work speak for you,” she says.
Report Date...: 11/2/20
Fellow brings equal access to education for Kyrgyz students
Fellow(s): Gulzire Minbaeva
Country: Kyrgyzstan
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
During TechWomen 2018, Gulzire Minbaeva, a teacher in applied math and informatics, had the opportunity to visit Khan Academy headquarters in Mountain View. The site visit was facilitated by her TechWomen Professional Mentor Nancy Hang, who organized a meeting with Khan Academy’s international communication officer. There, Gulzire expressed interest in becoming an official language advocate for Khan Academy Kyrgyzstan. Language advocates are international volunteers who translate and localize the academy’s educational content, working with schools and community partners to further their mission of providing accessible and free education to anyone.
Gulzire maintained her connection to the academy when she returned home, and in 2019 was officially selected as a language advocate for Khan Academy Kyrgyzstan. Today, Gulzire and her team of project managers, proofreaders, methodologists and over 200 volunteers are working to empower students to reach their full potential by providing them with effective learning opportunities. Gulzire has translated and recreated 13 video lessons, organized education fundraising events and recruited regional teacher ambassadors from all regions of Kyrgyzstan. Her work and advocacy has gained attention from the media, leading to a recent interview that features her impact. “We believe that all knowledge-seeking youth of Kyrgyzstan should have access to quality and free education,” says Gulzire. “As a proud alumna of TechWomen, I can surely say that the program enhanced my understanding of how little actions can help to make a big difference in society.”
Report Date...: 10/26/20
With Prosper App fellow facilitates global mentorship
Fellow(s): Topyster Muga
Country: Kenya
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
2017 fellow Topyster Muga has launched a new mobile app that connects professionals seeking one-on-one mentorship to a network of mentors around the world.
“Having been a beneficiary of mentorship in my 15 year career in technology, including the TechWomen program, I thought It will be great make it easy for mentees to find mentors,” says Topy. Her solution is Prosper, a mobile app that connects individuals seeking guidance for professional growth to experienced and accomplished professionals. Once mentors and mentees are matched based on their interests and goals, they can book interactive and on-demand in-app video calls on Prosper. Anyone can sign up to mentor and be mentored, and the platform already has 89 mentors and over 500 mentees. This week, Topy learned that Prosper has been shortlisted for the 2020 CIO100 East Africa Awards, an annual summit that recognizes 100 organizations that leverage technology to create change and innovation.
Report Date...: 10/26/20
Fellow shares her story as a Muslim woman in tech
Fellow(s): Fatima Zohra Benhamida
Country: Algeria
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
This week, 2017 fellow Fatima Zohra Benhamida was interviewed for Tech Sisters, an online community and platform that challenges the perception of Muslim women and amplifies women in technology fields. Fatima is an assistant professor at the National School of Computer Science in Algiers, as well as a TechWomen/TechGirls Club board member, Technovation judge and Microsoft Humans of IT community ambassador. In the feature, Fatima speaks about her passion for STEM fields, the power of mentorship and how tech can become more welcoming to women and girls.
When Fatima was a computer science student, 10% of students at the university were women. “Now, I’m delighted to say that half of the students in my class are women. In the same university, we went from 10% to 50%,” she says. Fatima also shares advice for Muslim women — and all women — who are struggling to find the self-confidence to take risks: “When you believe in something hard enough, you can stick with it. You’ll fight, and fail, and rise again until you get there. You have to fight for your dreams, and I know you can do it!”
Report Date...: 10/26/20
Fellows collaborate for Google Developer Group’s DevFest
Fellow(s): Hanan Atallah, Ola Nada
Country: Egypt, Palestinian Territories
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Professional Growth
2018 fellows Hanan Atallah of the Palestinian Territories and Ola Nada of Egypt were featured speakers at GDG Ramallah DevFest 2020, a two-day virtual event that invited experts to give sessions on engineering, branding and more. DevFests are community-led developer events hosted by Google Developer Groups (GDGs) that are focused on community building and learning about new technologies.
Hanan, a DevFest organizer and Google Women Techmakers ambassador, and Ola, a researcher at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, have remained close friends since TechWomen 2018. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the world, Hanan and her fellow GDG Ramallah members decided to put on an event that would bring people together and spark inspiration. In addition to serving as a DevFest moderator, Hanan led a session on an introduction to microservices architecture. Ola led a session on self branding, sharing best practices and ideas on finding new opportunities during the COVID-19 crisis. At the end of Ola’s session, she and Hanan held a Q&A to take audience questions, including some from TechWomen fellows from the Palestinian Territories and Algeria. “Other TechWomen 2018 fellows joined, and it was like unscheduled reunion,” said Hanan.
Report Date...: 10/19/20
