Impact Stories from Entrepreneurship Policy Area
Fellow delivers keynote at innovation center launch
Fellow(s): Fellow Sebay Bintu Koroma, née Momoh (Sierra Leone, 2018)
Country: Sierra Leone
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow delivers keynote at innovation center launch
Fellow Sebay Bintu Koroma, née Momoh (Sierra Leone, 2018) recently delivered the keynote address for the official launch of Kamara Yokie Innovation Center (KYIC), the first youth-owned and youth-led innovation center of its kind in Sierra Leone. The center aims to leverage modern entrepreneurial leadership and STEM education principles to unlock the potential of youths, with support and resources including free computers and robotics tools. “In an age shaped by technological advances,” Sebay recapped in a recent post, “it is imperative that young people have the know-how to create and operate technology and science-based solutions, as it is critical to their advancement…and will strengthen their agency in terms of decision-making over their health, financial and career choices.” Sebay is a petroleum engineer for Petroleum Directorate Sierra Leone.
Read More »Report Date...: 3/27/2023
Fellow shares inspirational journey on BBC Sounds Podcast
Fellow(s): Baratang Miya (South Africa, 2015)
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2015
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow shares inspirational journey on BBC Sounds Podcast
Fellow Baratang Miya (South Africa, 2015) was recently featured as a guest on BBC Sounds Podcast “Women leading the tech revolution in Africa” episode, where she discussed her journey into tech, the power of teaching women and girls how to code and the sociocultural, infrastructural and policy changes needed to make that possible. “Walking into a board room with men [who] judge you and tone you down,” she confided,” really made me cry at some points… [and] I feel like it’s what keeps women behind. I used to be very emotional about that. I’m not anymore.” When asked how she overcame this struggle, Baratang explained that “the mindset and the policy issues are not going to change unless I become the most powerful and strong woman [and] can withstand the rocks that come my way. …And once I started taking it as it comes and telling myself, I’m going to sit in the boardroom and say, ‘we have to talk about women and girls,’ then I started hearing my voice getting stronger and seeing the change. It became a passion for me. Change is what I do.” Baratang is the founder of Girlhype Coders Academy, which has taught more than 1,000,000 women and girls how to code. She is also the founder of Women Tech Policy Hub (WTPH), which trains leading women in STEM in policy entrepreneurship through fellowship and executive education. Founded in 2022, the fellows of the WTPH include a vast number of women from the TechWomen community, including at least fourteen fellows from Cameroon, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Tunisia and Uzbekistan. Baratang was also named among the 50 People Who Made the Internet a Better Place in 2016 and regularly serves as a technology writer, judge, speaker and advisor in tech competitions and hackathons.
Read More »Report Date...: 3/20/2023
Fellow(s): Zharkyn Chsheglova, Abeer Albashiti, Ichraf Jarray, Kseniia Tysganova and Racha Friji
Country: Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
WomenTechMakers Conference features five fellows
Five 2022 fellows banded together to contribute to the recent WomenTechMakers Conference held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on March 11, International Women’s Day. Zharkyn Chsheglova (Kazkahstan) served as a moderator, while Abeer Albashiti (Jordan), Ichraf Jarray (Tunisia), Kseniia Tysganova (Kyrgyzstan) and Racha Friji (Tunisia) all served as speakers at the event. Themes of the conference included User Interface and Experience (UI/UX), GIS, Mobile, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Web, Decentralized Crypto, Design, Firebase, Cloud, Google Actions, Tech Entrepreneurship, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR), Security and Architecture.
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Report Date...: 3/13/2023
Fellow selected to join Forbes Technology Council
Fellow(s): Oluwatobi (Tobi) Otokiti (Nigeria, 2022)
Country: Nigeria
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
In her role on the Forbes Technology Council, Tobi will serve as a Forbes contributing writer.
Fellow Oluwatobi (Tobi) Otokiti (Nigeria, 2022), founder of Product Dive, has recently been selected for the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for global CIOs, CTOs, and tech executives. Through a competitive committee selection process, Forbes Councils assembles accomplished leaders from various fields into a community that offers opportunities for professional growth and enables members to have a more significant influence on the business world. As a part of this role, Tobi will offer her perspective as a product management professional, serving as a contributing writer for Forbes articles such as this recent collaborative write-up on wearable technology. “I’m glad to expand my network to share, learn and give back to the global tech community as an experienced product manager,” Tobi shared in a recent post. “Technology is constantly changing with a growing trend in AI, ChatGPT, Web3, Cloud and more.”
Read More »Report Date...: 3/5/2023
Fellow recognized as trailblazer in Egyptian geology
Fellow(s): Sara Fakhry Elokda (Egypt, 2022)
Country: Egypt
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development
Sarah speaks on eXtra news TV about her journey to becoming one of Egypt’s earliest female well-site geologists at a rig site.
Fellow Sara Fakhry Elokda (Egypt, 2022) has recently gained media recognition on several news platforms for her distinction as one of the first female field geologists in Egypt. In recent weeks, she has been interviewed by Egypt’s eXtra news, DMC TV, Oil News and the Women of Egypt Network. Through these outlets, she has shared the inspirational story of becoming one of the first women in her country to serve as a well-site geologist and how this led her to apply and be selected as an Emerging Leader for TechWomen. She also shares her opportunity to speak in Washington D.C. on a panel discussion during a luncheon addressed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Since returning to Egypt, Sarah has been active in spreading the message of her experience with TechWomen to encourage other women to apply for the program.
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Report Date...: 3/5/2023
Mentors collaborate for women entrepreneurs
Fellow(s): Mentor Rekha Pai
Country:
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Mentors collaborate for women entrepreneurs.
On Feb 8, mentor Rekha Pai led a pre-summit workshop for the ECA’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) in 11 countries in East Asia and the Pacific, with the support of seven other TechWomen mentors — Julia Lovin, Jill Finlayson, Shachi Patel, Sandra Chen, Mohna Dhomse, Sarasija Parthasarthy and Meg Gordon. Together these mentors facilitated two breakout sessions designed to help attendees clarify target markets and customer segments, and craft unique value proposition statements and competitive positioning. Participants expressed deep appreciation for how these activities helped them develop key decisions about their business models. The event and workshop were supported by the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and included participants from Brunei, Fiji, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam. Rekha is the founder of a non-profit women’s accelerator, Launch-HER, which gives women entrepreneurs from emerging markets access to free curriculum, resources, community and funding networks made of impact investors and impact VC funds.
Read More »Report Date...: 2/20/2023
Fellow invited to join WEF Network of Global Future Councils
Fellow(s): Lindiwe Matlali (2017)
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow invited to join WEF Network of Global Future Councils
Fellow Lindiwe Matlali (South Africa, 2017), founder of Africa Teen Geeks (ATG), has recently accepted an opportunity to join the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Network of Global Future Councils, a multistakeholder insight network that mobilizes experts from various fields and regions to generate deep understanding of frontier topics, such as AI and sustainable development, and explore their effects on other global, regional and industry-specific challenges. Lindiwe will serve on the Global Future Council on the Future of Cyber Security for the 2023-2024 term. Lindiwe has been involved with the WEF since 2020, when she won the Social Innovator Award from the Schwab Foundation. Following that, Lindiwe became a contributing writer, speaker and partner with the WEF. Most recently, at this January’s WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Lindiwe made notable appearances at the stakeholder dialogue “Inspiring Innovation: How to Create the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs” and the press conference “Trailblazing Entrepreneurs Attacking the World’s Biggest Problems.” Present on both panels was John Dutton, Head of UpLink, an innovation division of the WEF, which has recently partnered with Lindiwe’s ATG to launch an innovation and networking accelerator designed to bring African youths into the WEF ecosystem. “Talent alone is not enough,” Lindiwe posited at the press conference. “Most of us are here because we had talent and social capital. We were in front of people who saw [our] talent and were able to support [us].” Her contributions to the event garnered a mention in the WEF’s Outcomes from the 2023 Annual Meeting report (p. 22).
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Report Date...: 2/13/2023
STEM4ALL interviews Fellow
Fellow(s): Dinara Moldosheva (2022)
Country: Kyrgyzstan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
STEM4ALL Interviews Fellow
Fellow Dinara Moldosheva (Kyrgyzstan, 2022) was recently interviewed by STEM4ALL for her contributions as founder of Innovation Lab. STEM4ALL is a joint platform launched by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) with the aim of promoting gender equality and increasing the representation of women and girls in STEM fields in Europe and Central Asia. Innovation Lab is an ecosystem involved in intellectual property, innovation infrastructures, startups, STEAM and gender development. In the interview, Dinara acknowledges that “the whole world is trending towards globalization, digitalization, exact sciences, engineering [and] mathematics.” She highlights that although hers is a landlocked and developing nation, they are rich with human resources. “Our potential is our people. This is an innovation. This is a creative solution. This is a creative economy. This is STEM,” she explains. “Because we have had STEM, one might say, in our families since ancient times.”
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Report Date...: 2/13/2023
Fellow startup launches WellShift biofeedback app
Fellow(s): Abeer Albashiti (2022)
Country: Jordan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow Startup Launches WellShift Biofeedback App
Larimar technology, a wellness, performance and productivity startup funded by fellow Abeer Albashiti (Jordan, 2022) recently announced the launch of its first technological tool, the WellShift app, available in Arabic and English. Larimar offers self-regulation tools designed to monitor and transform emotions, wellness, performance and resilience for both individuals and enterprises. The technology can be used in a standalone capacity or be integrated with existing smart wearables. Abeer credits her participation in TechWomen as a major contribution to Larimar’s social capital growth. “While in California,” she explains, “I visited HeartMath, the research center on which 60% of Larimar’s scientific research depends. [There, we] discussed the psychological backbone of my innovation and initiated a partnership.” Abeer is a wellbeing advocate and emotion AI builder who founded Larimar to help people utilize emotions and life experiences “as enabling data for actionable insights like boosting wellbeing, improving customer experience, gaming and security threat detection.”
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Report Date...: 2/6/2023
Fellow(s): Pamela Azanfouet (2022)
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Pamela founded NGO Nkwangtech Foundation to facilitate mentorship in STEM and encourage the pursuit of STEM careers and entrepreneurial applications.
Fellow Pamela Azanfouet (Cameroon, 2022) recently expressed gratitude to TechWomen partner organization Juniper Networks for having donated 20 computers to Nkwangtech Foundation, an NGO that she established in 2021 to connect students and job seekers with mentors, while inspiring them to pursue careers and creative entrepreneurial opportunities in STEM. Pamela has explained that the youths in the city of Bafoussam, capital of the West Region of Cameroon, face many roadblocks accessing employment and education, which can inhibit their ability to fully realize their potential and contribute to their community. Through Nkwangtech Foundation, they gain beneficial exposure to new skills, professional networks and opportunities to quickly advance their careers and professional goals. “By this donation,” Pamela shares, “Juniper networks gave us the strength to believe and to continue working hard to help the youths of the western region be part of the digital transformation effect and become opportunity creators.” Pamela credits the advocacy of Professional Mentor Rebecca Biswas with driving the donation from Juniper Networks. She also expresses gratitude to the TechWomen program, which “changed my life [and] perception of myself and gave me an opportunity to learn how to communicate and interact with others.”
Report Date...: 1/30/2023
