Impact Stories from Economic Impact Policy Area
"Fellow speaks at agripreneurs workshop "
Fellow(s): Evangelista Chekera
Country: Zimbabwe
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow Evangelista Chekera (Zimbabwe, 2022) recently served as a guest speaker at the SACCAU Young Poultry Agripreneurs Workshop held August 28 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Evangelista has been making big waves in the agricultural industry of her region with her groundbreaking Passion Poultry enterprise, which simplifies and accelerates the chicken slaughter process for small farmers.
“When I started Passion Poultry in 2016, I attended the Zimbabwe Farmers Union young farmers summit and became a member, “Evangelista recounts. “At first I felt out of place because all my colleagues were farmers while I was more inclined to designing, building and distributing agri innovations. I am excited to be representing Zimbabwe Farmers Union at the #SACAU young Poultry agriprenuers workshop as an innovator within the poultry industry.”
Report Date...: 8/29/2022
Fellow empowers 120 girls with Green Tech Girls Summer Bootcamp
Fellow(s): Damilola Asaleye
Country: Nigeria
Cohort: 2020-2021
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Fellow Damilola Asaleye of Nigeria (2020-2021) recently helped produce the Green Tech Girls Summer Bootcamp, a five-day program for high school girls organized by the Girls and Women Technological Empowerment Organization (GWTEO).
The summer camp takes a holistic approach to activities relevant to girls and women that will enhance their self confidence and abilities to become sustainable technology leaders and change makers. Damilola, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Ashdam Solar Company, helped in the production of learning sessions on the topics of basic solar installation, upcycling, sustainable agriculture, financial literacy, information and communication technologies, leadership skills, teamwork, healthy living and visioning. The Green Tech Girls Summer Bootcamp is not the only stop on Damilola’s summer of women and girls’ empowerment. She is also taking part in the BEMORE Summer Bootcamp in Akure, Nigeria with close to 400 girls over the following weeks.
“My summer of impacting girls started yesterday Monday 15th August with the Green Tech Girls Summer Bootcamp,” Damilola recently shared, “and I’ve got my hyper attitude on with adrenaline pumping.”
Report Date...: 8/22/2022
Fellow and mentor co-host workshop for new engineers
Fellow(s): “Meriem Talibi Alaoui Cynthia Leung”
Country: Morocco, United States
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring
This month, fellow Meriem Talibi Alaoui from Morocco (2022) invited her cultural mentor Cynthia Leung to host a “Mind Mapping” workshop as a part a bootcamp for fresh engineering graduates in Morocco.
Career Boot Camp (CBC), an initiative of the Association Forum de l’Ingénieur NGO, is a week-long program aimed at helping new engineers develop their personal and professional abilities, scale their soft skills and set goals for each stage of their career. Activities included resume building, mock and real interviews with sponsors and hiring companies, personal branding sessions and worker’s rights discussions. Participants chatted with Cynthia live and shared their mind maps, questions and thoughts about the exercise. Meriem remarks that, “Cynthia spread a lot of positive vibes and joy that everyone felt and appreciated.”
Report Date...: 8/22/2022
Fellow leads children’s entrepreneurship training event
Fellow(s): Talhmadhur Abukhamadah Almahdi
Country: Libya
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Entrepreneurship
“Children should be involved in conversations about enterprise and entrepreneurship,” wrote fellow Talhmadhur Abukhamadah Almahdi (Libya, 2022) after she led a training for 15 children in the FUTURE program, a collaboration with ION Telecom Technology in Libya.
Participants had the opportunity to learn about basic principles of entrepreneurship and business-building, develop creative ideas for solutions to everyday challenges and pitch their ideas to a panel of professionals.
“Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of economic growth,” Talmadhur shared, “and that’s why it is our responsibility to invest in ensuring that the next-generation of business leaders are educated and empowered right from the start.”
Report Date...: 8/22/2022
Mentor(s): Jill Finlayson
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Professional Development
Longtime mentor Jill Finlayson was recently interviewed for her insights on diversity in tech by Malaysian news network Astro AWANI. As Director of the Expanding Diversity and Gender Equity in Tech (EDGE) Initiative at the University of California, Jill was equipped to discuss the lack of diversity in tech workforces as well as the reasoning and steps needed to promote equitable participation of women and other under-represented identities in the industry. “What [companies] need to understand is that by making diversity, equity and inclusion a priority, they actually return better revenues, they make better decisions, they have less risk, and [they produce] better products,” she explained, “because you’ve got people who understand different markets, different countries, different cultures, [and] different experiences. “It’s not only a good thing morally and ethically. It’s a good thing financially.”
Read More »Report Date...: 8/15/2022
Fellow initiative co-hosts nation’s first all-women hackathon
Fellow(s): Merjen Saparmyradova
Country: Turkmenistan
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow Merjen Saparmyradova continues to expand the footprint of her Launch Life Coding Bootcamp, recently co-hosting Turkmenistan’s first-ever women’s hackathon. “DigiWomen Strive”, held in concert with The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) , was a two-day event dedicated to driving women’s empowerment in Turkmenistan through web and mobile app development.
The hackathon led nine all-female teams through the development of tech-driven projects focused on increasing employment, education, networking and mentorship opportunities of women and girls in Turkmenistan. Attendees had spent the preceding six months taking part Merjen’s Launch Life Coding Bootcamp to learn skills for careers in tech.
“Digital transformation is changing our world and shaping our future.” explained Mary Risaeva, UNDP Officer-in-Charge in Turkmenistan. “UNDP promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment and works on eliminating gender stereotypes so that women and men can equally benefit from the opportunities provided by a new digital reality.”
To close out the hackathon, teams pitched their innovations to a panel of judges and all winning teams were awarded prizes and certificates of appreciation. Exceptional participants from each team also earned internships with local IT companies.
Report Date...: 8/15/2022
Fellow delivers keynote speech at African youth summit
Fellow(s): Sabina Nforba
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2020-2021
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow Sabina Nforba (Cameroon, 2020-2021) delivered the keynote address at the opening ceremony of “Democracy and Political Transitions in Africa: Harnessing Youth Voices for Change,” a two-day youth summit held in Accra, Ghana this summer. Acting as a representative of the Office of the Youth Envoy of the African Union Commission, Sabina addressed an audience of participants aged 15-35 from among the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) 15 member nations on the importance of youths taking ownership over the democratic and developmental goals of the continent.
Sabina encouraged attendees to get involved in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063, which works to strengthen Africa’s position on the global stage by driving inclusive socio-economic development, comprehensive integration, peace and security and democratic governance. “The youth should actively and meaningfully participate in politics, become entrepreneurs, and fully exploit the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement,” Sabina urged, adding that they should “champion good governance, starting from local communities to regional communities and the continent at large.”
The Youth Summit is a collaboration of ECOWAS, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA).
Report Date...: 8/8/2022
"Fellow announces partnership to co-host mega IT conference "
Fellow(s): Ayesha Zaman Hammad
Country: Pakistan
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Professional Development
SkillsTodo, an e-learning platform co-founded by fellow & CEO Ayesha Zaman Hammad (Pakistan, 2022), recently announced that it will serve as an execution partner for the 7th annual Connected Pakistan conference, a two-day mega event that brings together up to 20,000 participants in the IT and freelancing sectors for 50+ workshops featuring over 300 speakers and government officials.
SkillsTodo provides 90-minute in-demand skills courses taught by field experts at an affordable rate. The startup has quickly gained influence and popularity, rising to the number one spot on the Startany.com “trending startups to follow” list, just four months after its launch in February of 2021.
Ayesha notes that she has boosted her professional engagement due to the influence of TechWomen. “I give a lot of credit for this confidence,” Ayesha said, “to my professional mentor Aliya Janjua,” from SS&C Advent. In addition to running SkillsTodo, Ayesha conducts marketing bootcamps for Microsoft Business to business clients, recently helped raise funds for a co-working space in Lahore, and just joined on as an advisor for Techtitans Pakistan, a peer-to-peer exchange network for tech and HR professionals.
Report Date...: 8/1/2022
Fellow raises six-figure seed funding for e-commerce startup
Fellow(s): Shatha Ajaj
Country: Palestinian Territories
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Modesta, a fashion startup founded by Palestinian fellow Shatha Ajaj (2019), has raised six figures in a recent seed funding round. The fundraising round was led by venture capital firm 500 Startups with input from angel investors and the Innovative Private Sector Development Project (IPSD), a program funded by the World Bank.
Founded in March 2020, Modesta is a flourishing e-commerce fashion platform that specializes in diverse offerings of modest women’s clothing. Modesta aims to attract a global customer base seeking an easy and enjoyable way to shop for less-revealing women’s attire for any reason — religious or otherwise. As founder and CEO, Shatha shares that she “is very proud of what Modesta has been able to achieve in the two years since its founding and hopes to “satisfy the needs of modern women who adopt modesty in their lifestyle.”
Shatha intends to use the six-figure seed funding to broaden Modesta’s clientele in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and develop its technology to include more brands and vendors. “The promised land for Modesta is a global vision as a leading modest e-commerce [platform] for women to express their individuality,” Shatha shared in a recent press release.
Report Date...: 7/18/2022
Fellow hosts seminar on business accounting with help of NGO
Fellow(s): Merjen Saparmyradova
Country: Turkmenistan
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Merjen Saparmyradova (Turkmenistan, 2019) recently collaborated with Public Accountants, an Ashgabat-based NGO, to lead a seminar on the importance of business accounting as part of her Launch Life Coding Bootcamp for women and girls. The seminar focused on building its participants’ foundational knowledge of economic, financial and legal matters critical for small-scale enterprises and entrepreneurs in Turkmenistan.
Launch Life Coding Bootcamp is designed to promote the economic rights and opportunities of its participants by developing their coding aptitude while also growing their resume, cover letter and interview skills. Merjen believes that “teamwork and collaboration can foster a healthy work culture and environment where teams of individuals can achieve goals through powerful skills and effective work.”
Report Date...: 7/11/2022
