Impact Stories from Entrepreneurship Policy Area
Fellow Elmira Obry discusses TechWomen journey in recent interview
Fellow(s): Fellow Elmira Obry discusses TechWomen journey in recent interview
Country: Kazakhstan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow Elmira Obry (Kazakhstan, 2022) recently interviewed with Kazakh online media outlet ER10 to discuss her career journey and experience as a TechWomen emerging leader. Topics included the mission of TechWomen, the application process, the cross-cultural mentorship and Elmira’s intentions going forward. “I plan to investigate the impact of technology on the involvement of women in the country’s economy,” Elmira shared, “and the development of sustainable technologies through the prism of a multiplier economic effect.”
Elmira is the founder of QWANT programming school founder and the CEO of the Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD) of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC). “By pooling resources, efforts and expertise,” Elmira emphasized, “we can turn the tide not only on gender equality, but also on growing social and economic stratification.” During the interview, Elmira also stressed the importance of supporting teachers, modernizing technical colleges, and “developing the institution of mentoring” in Kazakhstan. “Many people think that Silicon Valley is about money,” she explained. “Actually, it’s about the supportive environment. In order to attract young people, it is necessary to create a benevolent climate [and] to maintain interest in innovation from an early age.”
Report Date...: 12/12/2022
Seed grant initiative empowers orphans with aquaponic farm
Fellow(s): Seed grant initiative empowers orphans with aquaponic farm – Chiedza Mugabe, Evangelista Chekera, Henrica Makulu, Tafadzwa Murinzi and Yollanda Washaya
Country: Zimbabwe
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
FOCUS Zimbabwe, a self-sustaining food cultivation initiative founded by seed grant-awarded Team Zimbabwe 2022 fellows Chiedza Mugabe, Evangelista Chekera, Henrica Makulu, Tafadzwa Murinzi and Yollanda Washaya, has successfully launched its pilot program at SOS Children’s Village in Waterfalls, Harare. FOCUS Zimbabwe seeks to enable children in orphanages to grow nutritious/organic food by empowering them through hands-on skills training and mentorship in aquaponics, the cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment. Through this, they hope to cultivate entrepreneurialism, stimulate an interest in STEM and foster a sense of responsibility for the communities in which the children live, while also helping protect them from the elevated risks of drug abuse, crime, prostitution and suicide. To date, approximately 75 people have interacted with the growing system, resulting in local families gaining food to eat, produce to sell, and psychosocial benefits to their overall wellness. FOCUS Zimbabwe was launched with the funding of a $3,000 USD TechWomen seed grant. It has also received support from its aquaponics system vendor, which has donated complimentary training and consultation hours to the project as part of its corporate social responsibility efforts.
Report Date...: 12/05/2022
Fellow(s): Fellow Ichraf Jarray talks entrepreneurship on tv interview
Country: Tunisia
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow Ichraf Jarray (Tunisia, 2022) was recently interviewed on the nationally televised Tunisian show “Dentelle” to discuss her entrepreneurial journey. Ichraf is the CEO of HIVE12 coworking space and start-up incubator, a concept she developed after seeing the enormous impacts that the covid-19 pandemic had on the business environment in her community. She wanted to “find a solution that creates some sort of sustainability” for her and other people’s businesses. During the interview, Ichraf discussed the notion of having an entrepreneurial mindset and finding a project that embodied her vision for her community and country. “When there is a vision and a commitment,” she said, “nothing can stop us.” She also emphasized the importance of shaping one’s own experiences, even when they don’t align with your original vision. The secret ingredient,” she says, is to know “I’m enough; I can do it.”
Read More »Report Date...: 12/05/2022
000 in South Punjab"
Fellow(s): Fellow Ayesha Zaman inks partnership to train 50,000 in South Punjab
Country: Pakistan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Skills Todo, Pakistan’s premium skills-based e-learning platform, co-founded by fellow & CEO Ayesha Zaman Hammaad (Pakistan, 2022), has recently announced a partnership with Digital South Punjab aimed at strengthening the tech ecosystem in South Punjab, Pakistan by training 50,000 local students and professionals. Ayesha and her partner, COO Namra Nasyr, inked the agreement with Rizwan Majeed, Founder of Digital South Punjab and Director of Information Technology at Islamia University of Bahawalpur. Together, they believe that the partnership will raise awareness of the benefits of digital skills education in concert with academia and bring fruitful tech industry prospects to the region.
Ayesha has also recently accepted a role as a Startup Mentor for NewChip, an Austin, Texas-based online accelerator that provides founders with tools and skills to build, scale, and fund their startups.
Report Date...: 12/05/2022
"Team recognized by BBC & Ambassador after seed grant win"
Fellow(s): Team recognized by BBC & Ambassador after seed grant win – Amara Dar, Sadaf Gul, Ramla Syeda Hassan, Syeda Sadaf Shah, Anum Sadiq and Shehnaz Zakia
Country: Pakistan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development
The fellows of Fall 2022 Team Pakistan, composed of Amara Dar, Sadaf Gul, Ramla Hassan Sadafi Shah, Anum Sadiq and Shehnaz Zakia, were recently featured in BBC News Urdu to acknowledge their having recently been awarded $3000 in seed grant funding for the impact project they developed during their TechWomen program.
The project, AGAHI, will be a mobile technology campaign aimed at raising climate change awareness in the wake of the devastating floods in Pakistan this summer.
In addition to being featured in BBC, the team also recently met with the Ambassador of Pakistan to the USA on 26th Oct. 2022 to discuss AGAHI shortly after the close of their TechWomen program in Washington D.C.
In the meeting, the ambassador expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the U.S. Department of State and ECA for providing opportunities for Pakistani women in STEM to excel through exchange programs. He also encouraged Team Pakistan to complete the project with full dedication, offering assurance of the Embassy of Pakistan’s support in the sustainable execution of the project and the development of future collaborations.
Report Date...: 11/28/2022
"Fellow initiative expands to include coding bootcamps"
Fellow(s): Fellow initiative expands to include coding bootcamps – Selma Ndi
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow Selma Ndi (Cameroon, Spring 2022) successfully ran two coding bootcamps this year for her startup, DataGirl Technologies. DataGirl Technologies is an ICT initiative that aims to introduce university girls to coding as a pipeline to career opportunities. This year’s bootcamps consisted of 12 weeks of full-time web development training followed by three-month internships. The first cohort graduated 10 full-stack developers in July, with four participants having already secured gainful employment. This October, they graduated their second batch of 15 full-stack web developers. “DataGirl leaves no one behind by focusing on equal opportunity in technology and using an individualized approach to teaching,” Selma explains. DataGirl Technologies’ impact was recently highlighted in a Technext news story this summer, most notably for training over 3,000 girls since inception.
Read More »Report Date...: 11/28/2022
"Fellows announces partnership with UpLink at UN Summit"
Fellow(s): Fellows announces partnership with UpLink at UN Summit – Lindiwe Matlali
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
This fall at the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development Goals in New York, Fellow Lindiwe Matlali (South Africa, 2017) announced a partnership between her initiative Africa Teen Geeks and UpLink, a division of the World Economic Forum (WEF) tasked with supporting innovation. Together they “hope to build a movement of teen innovators and raise awareness of sustainability issues around the globe,” she noted, with a program designed to arm the next generation of students with the hard and soft skills needed to lead creative STEM-based innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa.
Lindiwe became a contributing writer, interviewer, speaker and panelist for the WEF after winning their Social Innovator award in 2020. She also spoke at their Pioneers of Change event in 2020 and interviewed African-American tech-preneur and inventor of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Marian Croak, about whom she is also producing a documentary.
In her involvement with the WEF, Lindiwe is particularly focused on democratizing access to power and influence by bringing in children from disadvantaged communities to participate in the exclusive business network. “How can we take children with skills and talent and put them in front of someone who can make it happen for them?” she asks. “This is really about teaching kids how to innovate for non-consumption and innovate themselves out of poverty. It’s about leveling the playing field and a creating an ecosystem of innovators who can access WEF networkers, the people looking for those innovations,” Lindiwe expanded. “I want every kid to know that they can create global companies by serving the underserved.”
Report Date...: 11/21/2022
"Fellows present EmpowerHER initiative idea to World Bank"
Fellow(s): Fellows present EmpowerHER initiative idea to World Bank – Inobat Allobergenova, Elmira Obry, Emma Mphalele, Hadiza Abdullahi, Hajar Salamt, Iman Dankar and Syeda Sadaf Shah
Country: Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Uzbekistan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fall 2022 Fellows Inobat Allobergenova (Uzbekistan), Elmira Obry (Kazakhstan), Emma Mphalele (South Africa), Hadiza Abdullahi (Nigeria), Hajar Salamat (Morocco), Iman Dankar (Lebanon) and Syeda Sadaf Shah (Pakistan) recently teamed up to present a multi-national initiative idea at the World Bank in Washington DC. These seven fellows conceived of the project, EmpowerHER, to introduce girls from rural areas aged 12 to 18 to STEM careers. With the motto “Small Money, Big Impact,” EmpowerHER will be focused on raising awareness of careers that address climate change and environmental issues. The presentation was met with great interest by the 35 World Bank personnel who welcomed the fellows at their Washington D.C. headquarters.
Inobat helped facilitate this meeting after having recently accepted a position with the World Bank in Uzbekistan as a natural resource management specialist.
Report Date...: 11/21/2022
"Fellows wins Top 10 spot in UNFPA Innovation Challenge"
Fellow(s): Fellows wins Top 10 spot in UNFPA Innovation Challenge – Crescence Elodie
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
WETECH, an initiative presided by fellow Crescence Elodie Nguimbus Nonga (Cameroon, 2018) was recently selected as one of 10 winners in the Joint Innovation Challenge 2022 “Positioning to Scale: Innovations to Empower Women and Girls,” sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Crescence founded WETECH (Women in Entrepreneurship and Technology), shortly after completing her TechWomen program, as a platform to develop a network of African women leaders in entrepreneurship and technology by offering opportunities, resources and mentorship.
The UNFPA works in concert with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, and the International Trade Center to fund woman-led social enterprises that develop solutions in the areas of maternal health, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence.
Winners of the Joint Innovation Challenge sign a 9-month agreement with the UNFPA and receive an equity-free investment of $60,000 USD as well as customized mentorship and training opportunities provided by the UN network. WETECH was selected from a field of 300 submissions from 61 countries and 20 finalist pitches.
Report Date...: 11/14/2022
"Fellow earns state medal for labor achievements"
Fellow(s): Fellow earns state medal for labor achievements – Elmira Obry
Country: Kazakhstan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Newly minted fellow Elmira Obry (Kazakhstan, Fall 2022) was recently awarded the Republic of Kazakhstan’s Yeren Enbegi Ushin Medal for labor achievements in the economy, social sphere, science, culture and public service by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich. The honor was announced on October 21, during a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sovereign Republic of Kazakhstan.
Elmira is currently the CEO of the Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD) of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), which works to provide local professionals in the financial sector with professional and competency development opportunities.
“By combining international experience with local wisdom, being open to global opportunities, but at the same time preserving the unique identity of the region, we can achieve a lot,” she shared in a recent post to mark the occasion.
Report Date...: 11/14/2022
