Impact Stories from Entrepreneurship Policy Area
Mentors share their expertise at Women in Leadership Forum
Fellow(s): TechWomen delegation trip to Sierra Leone
Country: Sierra Leone
Cohort: 2013 - 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Growth, Special Report, Youth Engagement
At Wednesday’s Women in Leadership Forum, nearly 100 mentors, fellows and Sierra Leonean women leaders came together to discuss challenges and opportunities for women to step up as leaders and develop in their careers in science, technology and business fields. The morning’s program aimed to generate momentum to inspire, encourage and nurture the future generation of women leaders.
Seinya Bakarr, 2016 fellow of Sierra Leone, opened the conference speaking about gender differences, highlighting the fact that in Sierra Leone only 12% of parliamentarians are women – a signal of a more prevalent challenge in her country.
To address the lack of women in leadership positions, mentor Shawne van Deusen-Jeffries stressed during her TED-style talk the importance of speaking out for others: “We as women have the opportunity and obligation to enable other women.”
The panels that followed were themed around creating supportive communities, sharing best practices on how to succeed in male-dominated environments and mentoring other women. In the first panel, “Lifting up the next generation of women,” panelists discussed cultural differences, exploring the idea that historically, women are taught to be seen not heard. Trudy Morgan, president of Sierra Leone Women Engineers, shared her personal experience of feeling she needed to be tougher in front of men in order to prove her value. “The power structures haven’t changed,” she said, “but we as women should not change who we are in order to be what they want us to be.”
In the last panel of the day, “Finding and owning your voice,” fellow Sebay Momoh spoke about how she saw her life as a brand and that “we inspire more people than we think.” Habiba Wurie, a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme, also gave her insight encouraging her fellow women to “find your tribe, cultivate your tribe, maintain your tribe. The networks will eventually come.”
Report Date...: 2/25/19
Fellows and mentors coach young entrepreneurs at Pitch Night
Fellow(s): TechWomen delegation trip to Sierra Leone
Country: Sierra Leone
Cohort: 2013 - 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Growth, Special Report, Youth Engagement
Thursday’s Pitch Night and Startup Exhibition provided an opportunity for the delegation to engage with young women and adults to support them to learn the fundamentals of delivering an effective pitch. After explaining the core elements of a powerful pitch, 2018 fellow of Zimbabwe Natsai Mutezo led by example through demonstrating what a persuasive pitch looked like – a pitch that brought the audience in, made them imagine a scenario that they were directly involved in and brought them into the story.
Two groups of budding entrepreneurs were then asked to brainstorm a solution to an identified problem in their community and develop a pitch to sell their solution to the audience. In the young women’s group, one team chose to address the issue of trash disposal and its effect on both water sanitation and teenage pregnancy. With guidance from mentors and fellows, the girls identified a common thread, realizing that young women who go out late at night to fetch water are vulnerable to sexual violence and unplanned pregnancies. They discussed that if the community disposed of their waste responsibly, the water would be cleaner and the rate of teen pregnancy would decrease. Armed with their narrative, the girls pitched their proposal, which included leveraging local community leaders, educating young people and advocating for the safety of women at night. Although pitch winners were chosen at the end of the evening, the event was not about winning; it was about developing entrepreneurial skills, practicing teamwork and showing growing leaders that they have the ability to implement change in their communities.
Report Date...: 2/25/19
Fellow and mentor collaborate to acquire laptops for students
Fellow(s): Sabine El Kahi, Rebecca Biswas
Country: Lebanon, United States
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Youth Engagement
The relationship built between fellow Sabine El Kahi and her Professional Mentor Rebecca Biswas of Juniper Networks didn’t end after TechWomen 2014. Sabine and Rebecca kept in touch, regularly talking on the phone and sharing professional updates including news about Kids Genius, Sabine’s organization that spreads maker culture to young students through hands-on activities and courses at their two centers in Lebanon.
After training staff at a local NGO on starting a Kids Genius makerspace, Sabine learned they had no working computers. She shared the situation on one of her phone calls with Rebecca, who offered to see if her company could help. A few weeks later, multiple departments at Juniper Networks had become involved, and together the group was able to organize the shipment of 18 laptops to the students in Lebanon. “I didn’t know the level of impact that this project could have,” says Sabine. “Now, the students are learning basic skills on the computer, and soon I will train and help the instructors on teaching them coding. I will never miss a chance to maintain those TechWomen connections and create new impact projects together.”
Report Date...: 2/11/19
Fellow awarded international scholarship for women leaders
Fellow(s): Ainura Sagyn
Country: Kyrgyzstan
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Growth
2017 fellow of Kyrgyzstan Ainura Sagyn was recently awarded the Toptal Scholarship for Women, a $10,000 prize to accelerate the careers and initiatives of female CEOs and founders. Ainura’s startup, WasteToWealth, aims to reduce litter and encourage re-use through an online platform where Bishkek citizens can sell recyclable waste. Alongside a Toptal mentor and machine learning expert, Ainura hopes to create an online feature that will help recognize specific plastics for more efficient recycling.
Ainura will use a portion of her Toptal funding to buy laptops for Technovation Coding Caravan, her project that will visit villages in rural Kyrgyzstan to put on four-day coding seminars for girls. She will also use the money to enroll in programming and machine learning courses from Udacity’s School of AI. With any remaining funding, Ainura hopes to travel to the 2019 Grace Hopper Celebration, which she has dreamed about attending for many years.
Report Date...: 2/11/19
Fellow delivers address at Womenpreneur event
Fellow(s): Safaa Boubia
Country: Morocco
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
This week, 2018 fellow of Morocco Safaa Boubia gave a TEDx-style talk at Womenpreneur, an initiative that brings together women in the MENA region to pitch their business ideas and share their stories with aspiring entrepreneurs. Safaa, a web strategy consultant and co-founder of Houna, was connected to the opportunity after the event organizers read her guest blog for TechWomen.
Addressing the room of engineers, students and entrepreneurs, Safaa shared her story as a hearing-impaired woman and the challenges she has faced along the way. She also shared three pieces of advice with the audience for their own professional journeys: to adapt their thinking to work environment, to create their own opportunity instead of waiting for it and to engage in causes that inspire and uplift their communities.
Report Date...: 2/4/19
Fellow shares perspectives on inclusion in magazine interview
Fellow(s): Zimkhita Buwa
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2013
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
2013 fellow Zimkhita Buwa was featured in the inaugural publication of Tribe, a business magazine that features creative thinkers who are shaping the next era of business, innovation and design. In her interview, Zimkhita shares her passion for business, her work in community development and her hopes for impacting the next generation. As the chief operating officer at Britehouse, Zimkhita spoke to the importance of inclusion in the business world: “We have to realize that innovation can come from anywhere, hence the need to make this industry a safe and thriving environment in which women can grow.”
Zimkhita, an advocate for girls seeking careers in technology, is the founder of TechPearls, a blog that shares global opportunities for women in STEM. Last year, she was named to the Inspiring 50 South Africa list for making a meaningful impact in STEM fields. “My focus has never been on winning awards, but rather to follow my purpose to use my experience, skills and talents to upskill and uplift others,” she says. “If the recognition comes with this, then it’s an added bonus—but it’s not what drives me.”
Report Date...: 2/4/19
Fellow launches virtual community for women in MENA
Fellow(s): Haneen Abu Farha
Country: Palestinian Territories
Cohort: 2015
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
2015 fellow Haneen Abu Farha of the Palestinian Territories recently co-launched Elevated, a virtual community for women in the MENA region. The group, currently on Facebook, connects women to global and regional opportunities, including jobs, fellowships, exchange programs and professional development opportunities. Additionally, Elevated offers resume, cover letter and consulting services to job-seekers as well as candidate matching for job providers.
“The idea came from us three co-founders who have been working together on helping connect women to opportunities in the U.S.,” says Haneen. “We thought we needed to create a community that connects women to opportunities all over the world in an engaging way.” The group recently published a live video featuring the program She Entrepreneurs and soon will launch their “Star of the Month” series, where female professionals share their personal and professional journeys with the community. In the coming year, Elevated hopes to share and amplify TechWomen fellows’ experiences and recruit women throughout the MENA region to apply for TechWomen 2020.
Report Date...: 1/21/19
Fellow featured in local television interview
Fellow(s): Ouafa Benterki
Country: Algeria
Cohort: 2012
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
This month, 2012 fellow of Algeria Ouafa Benterki was interviewed on Ennahar TV, an Arabic language station broadcast from Algeria. In the interview, Ouafa spoke about her experience as the CEO and founder of MTY Intelligent Software, a technology startup that provides data analytics and localization services. Founded in 2015, the women-run company is the first Algerian startup to focus on artificial intelligence.
Ouafa also spoke about how her international experiences have impacted her career and influenced her as a woman in business, expanding on her participation in TechWomen and her time at her host company, Adobe. Ouafa is a frequent contributor and speaker in Algeria’s AI space and was a featured speaker at the 2018 Microsoft Ignite conference.
Report Date...: 1/21/19
Fellow delivers talk on entrepreneurship at local event
Fellow(s): Fatima Zohra Benhamida
Country: Algeria
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
2017 fellow of Algeria Fatima Zohra Benhamida was a featured speaker at WikiStage El Oued, an event launched by local youth that aimed to make a positive impact on the Sufi community through idea exploration, debate and community gathering.
The conference featured a diverse list of speakers who presented on the event’s theme, “Rethinking Entrepreneurship.” Fatima’s presentation focused on her lessons in entrepreneurship from TechWomen as well as her experience as a computer science professor, speaker and Technovation mentor. The day’s programming was of special significance to Fatima, who was raised in the town next to El Oued. “This was more than just an additional talk on my list,” she said. “We could feel the energy and motivation to make a change.”
Report Date...: 1/14/19
Fellow plans digital empowerment center in Cameroon
Fellow(s): Sophie Ngassa
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
2014 fellow of Cameroon Sophie Ngassa has broken ground in Douala to launch her new inititiave, a digital empowerment center for women and girls. The initiative, currently called #GiftFromMum, began after Sophie’s mother gifted her land to pursue her passion project. The center will serve as a space where women and girls can acquire digital skills training, participate in STEM-based workshops and learn skills to generate income.
Construction for the digital empowerment center is in progress and will eventually house a workshop, kitchen and offices. Speaking about her vision, Sophie says, “Two years ago it was a conversation, last year it became a plan and this year it is work in progress. We make little steps every day.”
Sophie, a digital rights activist and high school teacher, founded a youth vocational technical training organization, Center for Youth Education and Economic Development, in 2010. She has also served as a mentor for Technovation Cameroon since 2014.
Report Date...: 1/14/19
