Impact Stories from Entrepreneurship Policy Area

Fellow named one of 20 young Nigerians to watch

Fellow(s): Olamide (Mide) Ayeni

Country: Nigeria

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Growth

Olamide (Mide) Ayeni, 2017 fellow of Nigeria, has been featured in 20 Young Nigerians to Watch in 2018 by Ripples Nigeria. The list celebrates young Nigerians who “have made a great positive impact on their environment and chosen field.” Mide was highlighted for her social enterprise organization, Pearl Recycling, which pays people to collect solid waste items such as plastic, car tires, wood, newspapers and other recyclables in order to turn them into furniture. Mide’s recycled creations include coffee tables, chairs, mirrors, flower vases and wall décor. She started this initiative in the hopes that it would mitigate the growing amount of waste in Lagos that is often dumped into the ocean or burned.

Ripples Nigeria is a multimedia online news platform based in Nigeria that reports on politics and the economy.

Report Date: 4/23/2018

Team Cameroon makes progress on action plan project

Fellow(s): Beatrice Nguimkeng, Danielle Akini, Meyo Zongo, Mpara Faith and Patu Ndango

Country: Cameroon

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth

Team Cameroon, one of five teams to win a $3,000 seed grant during the 2017 program for their action plan project, has taken exciting steps to reach their goal. The team members – Beatrice Nguimkeng, Danielle Akini, Meyo Zongo, Mpara Faith and Patu Ndango – proposed a project called Able Too, which aims to train teachers who work with special needs children. The team plans to create an online platform that will connect 300 trained teachers and specialists to other teachers and parents to enable the sharing of resources, experiences and expertise to best engage and support schoolchildren with special needs.

Thus far, the team has selected special education experts and communicated their mission to parents of special needs children. Most recently, they developed a web platform for ABLE Too that includes a blog, chat forums and a library with resources about different types of special needs. This platform is intended to empower parents and teachers who work with special needs children and provide them with useful information and strategies.

Report Date: 4/16/2018

Fellow conducts entrepreneurship training for students

Fellow(s): Nour Altobasi

Country: Jordan

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Entrepreneurship, Youth Engagement

Nour Altobasi, 2017 fellow of Jordan, has recently conducted trainings on entrepreneurship and lean startup methodologies for students in her community in Amman. Attendees learned how to transform their ideas into a viable business plan by participating in activities such as creating business model posters and designing surveys. The session also taught participants about entrepreneurship and to understand difference between innovation and invention. A student who attended the workshop said, “I learned how to open my startup with confidence… I know who to reach out to and how to start an idea from zero and turn it into a business.”

Report Date: 4/9/2018

Fellow selected for Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme

Fellow(s): Mpara Faith

Country: Cameroon

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth

Mpara Faith, 2017 fellow of Cameroon, was recently selected for the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme for her work on Scholar, an online platform supported by Mpara’s startup New Generation Technologies, which provides valuable software for educational institutions. The software offers admissions and attendance record-keeping, transcript and finance management and a range of other services.

The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme runs 12 weeks and equips African startups with crucial skills to launch their businesses, covering topics from marketing strategy to product design. The program also provides each participating initiative with a $10,000 seed grant.

Report Date: 4/2/2018

Fellow named to Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2018 list

Fellow(s): Sadia Bashir

Country: Pakistan

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth

Sadia Bashir, was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018 list in the Enterprise Technology category. Sadia is the cofounder of PixelArt Games Academy, a company that creates a platform for individuals who are interested in game development to enhance their skills and collaborate with others in the field of gaming. In an effort to address the gender gap in the gaming industry, her program maintains an enrollment rate of at least 33% women and has scholarships available for women who wish to participate. Sadia also strives to empower more women to break barriers and enter the tech industry in Pakistan and around the world. As her Forbes profile notes, “her success has inspired women in Pakistan to dream bigger.”

Sadia is one of only seven Pakistanis to make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and one of only five women to make the list in the Enterprise Technology category.

Report Date: 4/2/2018

WOWW Campaign

Fellow(s): Ala’a Agha Karss

Country: Jordan

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship

Ala’a Agha Karss, 2017 fellow of Jordan, was selected to tell her story on the WOWW Campaign podcast series. In the episode, Ala’a shares about her journey as a single mother turned entrepreneur. Now CTO and owner of Superiors ICT, an innovative mobile and web applications development company, she speaks about financial lessons, societal expectations, self-awareness and inner strength.

The WOWW Campaign is a global bilingual online platform aimed at inspiring women around the world by sharing stories from female leaders about entrepreneurship and personal development.

Report Date: 3/12/2018

GIST Tech-I Competition Semi-Finalists

Fellow(s): Mpara Faith and Danielle Akini

Country: Cameroon

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth

Mpara Faith and Danielle Akini, 2017 fellows of Cameroon, were both selected as semi-finalists for the GIST Tech-I competition. Mpara was selected for her work with New Generation Technologies Ltd, which provides communitybased enterprise software solutions. Danielle’s organization, Genius Centers, celebrates technological innovation with children by promoting leadership and computer skills in youth and young adults.

The GIST Tech-I competition is an annual initiative for science and technology entrepreneurs from emerging economies worldwide. It is led by the U.S. Department of State.

Report Date: 3/5/2018

Mentor(s): Zanoon Nissar, Paria Rajai and Pamela O’Leary

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth

Mentors Zanoon Nissar, Paria Rajai and Pamela O’Leary and TechWomen Lead Jillian Scott participated as panelists and moderators in the inaugural Women of MENA in Tech conference. The conference was organized by Persian Women in Tech and hosted by Oath.

Zanoon, founder of Women4Good, and Jillian spoke on a panel about community builders empowering women, which was moderated Paria, former director of marketing at Hackbright Academy. Pamela, a diversity and inclusion expert, shared insight about how organizations can transform workforce cultures.

The mission of the conference was to bring together powerful catalysts of change to intentionally create a new paradigm centered around equity, inclusion and diversity.

Report Date: 2/12/2018

Fellow Named One of Top Ten Women in Tech

Fellow(s): Ala’a Agha Karss

Country: Jordan

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth

Ala’a Agha Karss, 2017 fellow of Jordan, was named one of the ten leading women in tech from the Middle East and Africa by OPENLETR. Ala’a has a degree in software engineering from the Jordanian Hashemite University and founded Superiors ICT Solutions, an IT support and training organization. Ala’a and fellow Jordanian alums are also launching Ozwah, their action plan project developed as part of the 2017 TechWomen program. Their pitch was one of the winning seed grant proposals and offers a digital platform to help orphans overcome psychological and financial obstacles to higher education by providing social skills workshops and mentorship programs to increase long-term university enrollment rates.

PENLETR is a digital platform founded by a woman with the mission to explore the boundaries of creativity.

Report Date: 2/5/2018

Fellow Interviewed as Rising Star in STEM

Fellow(s): Nomso Faith Kana

Country: South Africa

Cohort: 2013

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth

2013 fellow of South Africa, Nomso Faith Kana, was interviewed by Levers in Heels, a digital platform featuring rising African women in STEM. The piece highlights Nomso’s training as a nuclear scientist and role as founder and managing director of Sun ‘n Shield Technologies, a group that provides solutions for smart cities, most recently by producing locally-made fiber optic cables to improve internet connectivity.

In the interview, Nomso talks about her mission to inspire young women in her capacity as co-founder of Taungana STEM, an initiative to empower rural African high school girls to access and explore futures in STEM fields.

Report Date: 1/29/2018

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