Impact Stories from Entrepreneurship Policy Area
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
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
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
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
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
Fellow(s): Aderonke Sakpere, Shlomit Shyeter and Corinthe Bailey
Country: Nigeria
Cohort: 2023
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development
Fellow launches 10-day HCI workshop with sponsorship from Google Research and support from mentors
Fellow Aderonke Sakpere (Nigeria, 2023) has co-launched a two-week capacity building workshop in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) with sponsorship from Google Research and support from mentors Shlomit Shyeter and Corinthe Bailey.
Addressing the issue of HCI underrepresentation in Nigeria, this initiative was borne out of Aderonke’s professional mentorship project from her TechWomen 2023 program. The mentorship-driven workshop will take part in two 5-day phases, the first of which will offer participants a comprehensive overview of HCI while also leading them through the initial stages of design thinking and prototyping for a capstone project. The second 5-day phase will allow participants to fully develop their projects, providing access to and practice with large language models, qualitative and quantitative analysis, artificial intelligence platforms and much more. At the close, participants will present their capstone projects and learn about graduate school admissions.
AfriCHI Community and Afrisnet, where Aderonke serves as a member of the board of directors, served as partners of the workshop. Google’s Explore CSR awards aid higher education efforts to support students from historically marginalized groups to pursue graduate studies and research careers in computing.
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Report Date...: 01/15/2024
Fellow(s): Aiymzhan Baitureyeva, Kyzzhibek Ryszhanova, Uldanay Moldagaliyeva and Zhibek Akasheva
Country: Kazakhstan
Cohort: 2023
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development
Team Kazakhstan profiled in article on seed-grant victory
Team Kazakhstan 2023, composed of Aiymzhan Baitureyeva, Kyzzhibek Ryszhanova, Uldanay Moldagaliyeva and Zhibek Akasheva, was profiled in DigitalBusiness.kz for their recent $3,000 seed grant win, which will be used to develop Irrigate Smart, a mobile AI application to assist farmers and the state in efficiently and fairly allocating water resources to agriculturalists across the country.
In addition to highlighting the TechWomen program, the article delves into their efforts gaining community and government buy-in, and how they plan to utilize their diverse career skills and expertise towards business development, AI implementation, scientific documentation, information systems development and data protection.
“As soon as we succeed at home, the project can be scaled,” Uldanay explained. “There are water problems not only in Kazakhstan. Almost every country in the world has the same questions.”
Report Date...: 01/15/2024
SP ‘22 Team Lebanon brings light to Lebanon with TAQA
Fellow(s): Dana Abdel Khalek, Diala Al Samarani, Ghiwa Haddad, Miriana Itani, Saria Cheaib and Zeina Farah
Country: Lebanon
Cohort: 2022
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development
Spring ‘22 Team Lebanon is bringing light to Lebanon with TAQA
Fellows Dana Abdel Khalek, Diala Al Samarani, Ghiwa Haddad, Miriana Itani, Saria Cheaib and Zeina Farah of Team Lebanon Spring 2022 have officially launched the first application cycle for TAQA, their seed grant-funded impact initiative that is working to provide renewable energy solution to family-owned businesses impacted by 2020 Port of Beirut explosion.
Benefactors of TAQA, funded by angel investors on a greatest-needs basis, will gain access to renewable energy from sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. This will allow them to continue running their businesses throughout the ongoing recovery of the national economy and power grid, which were devastated by the catastrophe that caused over 200 deaths, 7,000 injuries, 300,000 cases of homelessness and 15 billion dollars in property damage.
Report Date...: 01/15/2024
Fellow leads Youths Without Borders entrepreneur camp
Fellow(s): Nesrine Ben Yahia
Country: Tunisia
Cohort: 2023
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Youth Engagement
Fellow leads Youths Without Borders entrepreneur camp
Inspired by her TechWomen experience, fellow Nesrine Ben Yahia (Tunisia, 2023) recently spearheaded, ‘Entrepreneurial Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities & Challenges,’ a two-day training session and entrepreneurship competition in collaboration with Jeunes Sans Frontières (JSF, Youths Without Borders) of Matouia.
Nesrine served as a mentor, introducing the basics of artificial intelligence and its potential uses to boost entrepreneurship. She then provided design thinking and pitch coaching to prepare the youths for the entrepreneurship competition, which took place before a jury of judges. The training concluded with awards and certificates of participation.
“TechWomen helped me build skills that have made me stronger and more community-minded,” shares Nesrine, a professor of computer science at the National School of Information Sciences (ENSI). She also serves as the head of the Information and Decision Systems department and a senior research at the RIADI Laboratory.
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Report Date...: 01/08/2024
Fellow featured in Logitech’s #WomenWhoMaster series
Fellow(s): Ainura Sagyn
Country: Kyrgyzstan
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development
Fellow featured in Logitech’s #WomenWhoMaster series
Fellow Ainura Sagyn (Kyrgyzstan, 2017) was recently featured in an article, “Revolutionizing Recycling: Meet Two Women Breaking Barriers in Science and Sustainability,” as part of Logitech MX’s #WomenWhoMaster series. In the profile, Ainura describes her nearly tech-free childhood in a small town, her early career as a developer, the catapulting effect of her TechWomen experience, the establishment of “Coding Caravan” for Kyrgyz girls, and how she ultimately co-founded Tazar, a waste management mobile application with worldwide potential.
“Solving problems in a creative way is really the top skill,” Ainura offers as advice for young entrepreneurs. “It’s better not to focus on the technologies, frameworks, or different instruments. Instead, get the skills for creative solutions.”
Report Date...: 01/08/2024
