Impact Stories from Professional Development Policy Area
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Fellow launches e-waste-to-STEM kits at university in Algeria
Fellow(s): Ahlem Benazzouz
Country: Algeria
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow launches e-waste-to-STEM kits at university in Algeria
Inspired by her TechWomen program mentors and learnings, fellow Ahlem Benazzouz (Algeria, 2022) has introduced, EcoBioMedTechMakers, an electronic waste upcycling innovation project to her students and colleagues at the University of Science and Technology Mohamed Boudiaf in Oran, Algeria, where she works as a research assistant professor while earning her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering.
The project emerged from a dual commitment to sustainable technology development and the promotion of women in STEM, Ahlem shares. She integrates physical computing into her curriculum using micro:bit technology introduced by mentors Kathy Giori and Meg Gordon. Components are salvaged from e-waste, such as circuit boards, resistors, capacitors and LEDs to create STEM education kits. The kits are instrumental in designing experiments that teach electronics and coding concepts. Moreover, she is actively encouraging students to embark on sustainable projects and startups, considering both environmental and socioeconomic impacts to generate lasting positive outcomes.
“The results have been promising, with increased enthusiasm and participation from our female students,” Ahlem shared in recent communications. “The real-world applications of physical computing and coding have bridged the gap between theory and practice, fostering creativity, critical thinking and practical skills development.” Ahlem further shares that she is collaborating with a team of research professors to elevate the project to the next level. “Techwomen is really the beginning of a new journey.”
Report Date...: 02/12/2024
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Fellow green tech org wins $1000 Social Impact Award
Fellow(s): Olamide Ayeni
Country: Nigeria
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development
Fellow green tech org wins $1000 Social Impact Award
Fellow Olamide Ayeni (Nigeria, 2017) recently won the Social Impact Award and a $1,000 USD prize at the Bob Mark Business Model Pitch Competition for HOPCYKU, a sustainability-as-a-service organization for which she serves as Chief People Officer and co-founder.
Hosted by Michigan Technological University, where Olamide is currently pursing a Master of Engineering and Industrial Management, the competition offers professional business coaching to students of all disciplines and the chance for them to present four-minute entrepreneurial concept pitches before an audience and panel of judges. Winners are awarded prize money for their businesses.
HOPCYKU, formerly Pearl Recycling, is a circular economy company expanding from a waste-to-furniture upcycling startup into a more holistic green tech organization.
Report Date...: 02/12/2024
![](https://www.techwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/0212-Sevara-150x150.png)
Fellow joins board of Asian Credit Fund
Fellow(s): Sevara Siradjeva
Country: Uzbekistan
Cohort: 2016
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow joins board of Asian Credit Fund
Fellow Sevara Siradjeva (Uzbekistan, 2016) has recently joined the board of the Asian Credit Fund (ACF). It is the third largest microfinance institution (MFI) lending to rural borrowers in the nation of Kazakhstan and boasts a portfolio of more than 60% women clients.
Sevara joins the board with over 12 years of experience in tech industry digitalization and product development. Throughout her career, she has expertly developed and launched tech products in global markets, including the U.S., the UK, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Georgia and Uzbekistan.
Beyond her professional endeavors, Sevara has also served as a mentor for women and girls in STEM, particularly in her home region of Central Asia. She recently joined TechWomen on the spring 2023 delegation to Kazakhstan and intends to join the spring 2024 delegation to Tajikistan.
Report Date...: 02/12/2024
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Short film covers visionary career of fellow Elmira Obry
Fellow(s): Elmira Obry
Country: Kazakhstan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Short film covers visionary career of fellow Elmira Obry
Fellow Elmira Obry (Kazakhstan, 2022) was recently featured in 20-minute short film entitled “Elmira Aubrey: STEM Thinking as the Skill of the Future” as part of the series, “Success Stories of Central Asian Women,” produced by Silk Way.
“When you teach a woman, you teach an entire generation,” Elmira shares at the outset of the feature, recounting her earliest exposures to technology via visits to the workplace of her father, a statistician who worked with enormous computers “the size of ATMs,” she reminisces. Her father, also interviewed in the video, facilitated these visits as part of his drive to keep his children invested in education, to which he credits Elmira’s enduring desire for knowledge and education. Elmira went on to graduate high school with Honors in Mathematics and then study Public Relations, Management and Finance in higher education.
Throughout the film, colleagues recount her visionary thinking that positioned her team within their organization, the Astana International Financial Center’s Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD AIFC), to lead the 2019 development of Edtech, a digital platform for technology personnel training, which skyrocketed at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fellow Aknur Karaby (Kazakhstan, 2022), also appears in the film to discuss their mutual experiences in the TechWomen program as well as with other programs for women and girls in STEM.
Today, Elmira is the CEO of the BCPD AIFC, as well as MOST Business Intelligence, and the Founder of BRANDWORKS and QWANT> School of Advanced Technologies.
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Report Date...: 02/05/2024
![](https://www.techwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/0205-Imane-150x150.png)
Fellow admitted to JAMII Femmes for entrepreneurs
Fellow(s): Imane Ben Khelifa
Country: Algeria
Cohort: 2015
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow admitted to JAMII Femmes for entrepreneurs
Fellow Imane Ben Khelifa (Algeria, 2015) recently announced her admission to the 2023-2024 cohort of the prestigious JAMII Femmes program.
JAMII Femmes, a collaboration between the Women in Africa social impact initiative and the Coca Cola foundation, aims to develop 7,000 women entrepreneurs from Algeria, Egypt and South Africa through four key steps: a competitive selection process, three months of self-paced, online courses offered by the Honoris Academy and United Universities, a set of comprehensive exams to earn Certificates of Entrepreneurship and Leadership, and. finally, an immersive, in-person bootcamp. During this final step, they will engage with experts and mentors on workshops, projects, networking and competition with grants topping out at $10,000 USD.
“My journey from Techwomen alumna to being accepted into the JAMII Women program is a testament to the transformative power of mentorship, education, and perseverance,” Imane shared in recent communications.
Report Date...: 02/05/2024
![](https://www.techwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/0205-Flora-1-150x150.png)
Fellow co-organizes U.S Alumni Conference in Nigeria
Fellow(s): Flora Asibe
Country: Nigeria
Cohort: 2020-2021
Policy Area(s): Professional Development
Fellow co-organizes U.S Alumni Conference in Nigeria
Fellow Flora Asibe (Nigeria, 2020-2021), recently co-organized the U.S. Exchange Alumni Conference held at the Abuja Continental Hotel on January 17 and 18, 2024.
With the theme “Leading together: Bridging Boundaries for Change,” the event brought together 80 delegates representing 16 U.S. exchange programs, including TechWomen and TechGirls,. The primary goal of the event was to create a national alumni association for the nation’s 12,000 and growing fellows, as expressed by Chargé d’Affaires David Greene during a keynote address.
“Gratitude goes to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria for the opportunity to contribute, and our exceptional TechWomen Nigeria team for their invaluable co-organizational efforts in making this conference truly outstanding,” Flora shared in a recent post.
Read More »Report Date...: 02/05/2024
![](https://www.techwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/0129-Egiroghene-1-150x150.png)
Fellow organizes international hackathon with IMSA
Fellow(s): Ejiroghene John
Country: Nigeria
Cohort: 2023
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow organizes international hackathon with IMSA
On January 24, MayCreatorz STEAM Initiative (MCS Initiative), founded by fellow Ejiroghene John (Nigeria, 2023), hosted a bi-national hackathon, “A Cross-Cultural Exchange Network Event.” Held on the International Day of Education, the program was anchored by the students of the SWENext Club at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), hosts of the 2023 Pitch Day in Chicago, for the students of the Community Secondary School (CSS) Olanada in Nigeria.
Training participants to solve real world problems with AI, coding, HTML and CS, the event drew 50 students and 7 teachers from CSS Olanada, as well as virtual participants from other schools in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, and other parts of the world.
The second series of the hackathon will take place in late February. MCS Initiative hopes to secure 5 to 10 laptops by then for participant use in hands-on skills training.
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Report Date...: 01/29/2024
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Fellow and CEO featured in video showcasing impact of NGO’s medication delivery innovation
Fellow(s): Norah Magero
Country: Kenya
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Public Health
Fellow and CEO featured in video showcasing impact of NGO’s medication delivery innovation, Vaccibox
Fellow Norah Magero (Kenya, 2022) was recently featured in a video, “Ingenious Solutions for Rural Health: The Story of Vaccibox in Kenya,” a production of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, which highlights her work in providing innovate vaccine delivery solutions.
Norah is the co-founder and CEO of Drop Access, a non-profit focused on rural energy access. Through Drop Access, she has lead the team developing Vaccibox, a portable, solar-powered refrigerated box that safely stores and transports heat-sensitive medications and medical items for delivery to rural locations. It can be wheeled by hand or mounted on various vehicles, including motorcycles, boats and pack animals. It also features a proprietary printed circuit board that monitors the interior temperature, battery storage, location of the box and more. In remote regions where terrain, resources, or even cultural morays, impede access to conventional brick and mortar health facilities, healthcare workers are able to deliver care to rural patients with Vaccibox.
“Our dream is to scale this impact in the whole of Africa,” Norah shared in a recent post. “In the face of climate change, VacciBox is promising to help reach the most underserved populations, where access to healthcare is often a critical challenge.”
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Report Date...: 01/22/2024
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Mentor(s): Reshma Singh
Company: Berkeley Lab
Mentor Type: Impact, Professional
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development
Mentor joins steering committee for FEED conference
Mentor Reshma Singh has recently joined the steering committee of the 2024 Forum on Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization (FEED), which will be hosted in New Delhi, India this February 28 and 29.
Presented by the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy, FEED allows stakeholders in India’s energy ecosystem to come together in alignment with the agenda of the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and COP28.
Reshma is a leader and innovator in the clean technology sector with over 12 years of experience. She holds two clean technology patents, is a published author, and works as a Senior Advisor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office. As a program lead at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, she heads several tech-focused entrepreneurship initiatives including IMPEL, Cradle to Commerce, and the Climate Smart Women Energy Leaders program (CS-WEL).
Read More »Report Date...: 01/22/2024
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Fellow delivers keynote speech at youth conference
Fellow(s): Ayesha Hammad Zaman
Country: Pakistan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow delivers keynote speech at youth conference
Fellow Ayesha Hammad Zaman (Pakistan, 2022) recently appeared as a keynote speaker at the Pakistan National Youth (PNY) Conference, which took place on January 13 in Lahore. The PNY Conference serves as a platform to encourage innovation, creativity and future-oriented career development for youths through job fairs, live podcasts, emerging technologies, workshops and other related activities.
“As a visionary leader, she illuminated the ever-evolving landscape of technology, offering invaluable perspectives on maximizing performance in the dynamic tech field of the future,” PNY Conference published in a recent post.
Ayesha is a pioneer in the tech skills-building sector. She is the founder of SkillsTodo, a tech training and placement platform, and co-founder of Pakistan Tech Forum, which works to amplify Pakistan’s IT exports.
Report Date...: 01/22/2024