Impact Stories from Environmental Sustainability Policy Area

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 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

Mentor(s): Page Crahan

Company: Tapestry

Mentor Type: Impact

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Mentor attends COP28 in Dubai to showcase gains with Tapestry’s electric grid virtualization technology

Mentor Page Crahan recently attended COP28 this December in Dubai to showcase Tapestry, the electric grid division of Google’s X the moonshot factory. As the General Manager and leader of Tapestry, her visit focused on their progress with Chile’s national grid operator, Coordinador Electrico Nacional (CEN), which is the first national system operator to employ Tapestry’s grid virtualization technology as the country moves towards its 2030 goal for a clean energy transition. Tapestry’s tools allow CEN grid planners to run 30 times more scenarios than they can with their current platform, vital to a country with the second longest national electric grid in the world. Key COP28 highlights for Page also included speaking on a panel, “Unlocking Innovation to Lead in the Energy Transition: COP 28 Energy Day” and being invited by Chilean Minister of Energy Diego Pardo to join one of his COP sessions, where he unveiled a new video showcasing the progress of their partnership with Tapestry since 2021.

“It was the first time global leaders took stock of the progress we’ve made since 2015’s landmark Paris Agreement and the report card is discouraging,” Page wrote in a recent blog. “Still… I’m confident that with the right policy initiatives, visionary organizations, and people dedicated to tackling the climate crisis—and their collective willingness to take bets on new technologies and partnerships—we’ll get on track towards living in a clean, vibrant world powered by renewables.”

Report Date...: 12/11/2023

Fellow wins back-to-back awards for Agri-tech strides

Fellow(s): Evangelista Chekera

Country: Zimbabwe

Cohort: 2022

Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Growth

Fellow Evangelista Chekera (Zimbabwe, 2022), CEO and founder of an agricultural technology solutions company recently won back-to-back awards as the 2023 Best Innovator from the Entrepreneurs Network of Zimbabwe and 2023 Best Agro Innovator at the Pacesetters National Excellence Awards organized by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In 2016 Evangelista founded her enterprise, Passion Poultry, to simplify and improve processes for small-holder chicken farmers. She holds patents for two mechanical innovations — a device to reduce the mortality rate among young chickens and another that assists with the slaughtering process.
“I realized that I want to make a significant impact in the food industry,” Evangelista told ShareAmerica in an interview last year. “It pained me to see small-scale farmers doing the wrong things because of their lack of knowledge.”

Report Date...: 11/27/2023

Fellow appointed president of oil & gas governance NGO

Fellow(s): Jessica Obeid (Lebanon, 2012)

Country: Lebanon

Cohort: 2012

Policy Area(s): Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

“There’s a new President in town,” shared fellow Jessica Obeid (Lebanon, 2012) in an announcement of her recent appointment as President of the Organization for Petroleum and Energy Sustainability (OPES), a non-governmental, non-profit organization that works to ensure governance and transparency in the oil and gas sector of Lebanon. “With an impressive background in energy engineering and extensive expertise in energy policy, sustainability, and low-carbon technologies, Jessica brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to lead OPES into a sustainable and promising future,” the organization shared in a recent post. Among many roles, Jessica is a founding partner of New Energy Consult in Dubai and a Senior Global Advisor for Azure Strategy in London, England.

Report Date...: 08/14/2023

Fellow joins delegation at 1st Climate Resilience Salon

Fellow(s): Safiya Aliyu (Nigeria, 2018)

Country: Nigeria

Cohort: 2018

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Fellow Safiya Aliyu (Nigeria, 2018) recently served as a delegate at the first Climate Resilience Salon to take place in Nigeria. Supported by the U.S. Consulate General Lagos, the event convened women-led organizations, climate-tech entrepreneurs and local leaders championing efforts to mitigate climate change in their communities. Event speakers included U.S. Consulate Deputy Political and Economic Chief Kenise Hill, who emphasized that “climate change is a threat that sees no borders.” Safiya has served in the renewable energy sector for over 15 years. She is a general manager at SOSAI Renewable Energies Company and the country director of their Matan Arewan Initiative, which works to amplify the capacity of women working in all aspects of the northern Nigerian renewable energy industry. “It was an eye opener to understand how climate affects any sector you can think of locally, nationally and globally,” Safiya shared in a recent post.

Report Date...: 08/21/2023

Fellow delivers smart tech talk at Google I/O event

Fellow(s): Kseniia Tsyganova (Kyrgyzstan, 2022)

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Cohort: 2022

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Fellow Kseniia Tsyganova (Kyrgyzstan, 2022) gave a talk centered on internet of things (IoT) technology at the Google I/O Extended conference in Bishkek this August. Kseniia’s presentation, “Smart Home: Simpler than you think,” led the audience through her years-long journey of trial and error to embed her own home with smart technology. She also offered tips for adopting home automatization technology and explored the prospective advancements of near-future smart homes. “My journey and its first fruits inspired me to share my knowledge with the world,” she shared in a recent post. Google I/O Extended is a global event that brings together tech-community specialists to share and learn about new Google technologies and products, connect with industry experts and expand their networks. It was organized by the local Google Developers Group (GDG) and held at Ololo Planet, an innovation and creativity hub in Bishkek.

Report Date...: 08/28/2023

Mentor(s): Mentor Page Crahan

Company: Tapestry

Mentor Type: Professional

Policy Area(s): Environmental Sustainability

Mentor Page Crahan recently announced that a division of X’s “Moonshot for the electric grid” called Tapestry, where she serves as General Manager, was featured in Google’s 2023 annual environmental report. Google’s annual environmental report highlights initiatives under the umbrella of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, working to advance sustainability. Tapestry’s moonshot mission is to build out a single, virtualized view of the stratified, century-old electric grid and develop tools to gather data and insights to facilitate a widespread shift toward clean electric power. Their aim is to provide electricity stakeholders across the board with the data to reduce carbon footprints, move toward a net-zero economy and maximize clean energy use. X, formerly Google X, is a company on a mission is to develop “moonshot” technologies by inventing radically innovative technologies to solve the world’s greatest challenges. “This is just the beginning for Tapestry,” Page penned in her recent blog post marking the event. “Virtualizing the entire world’s electricity system is an ambitious goal, but we’re committed to bringing it to life one step at a time. Milestones like these keep us forging ahead!”

Report Date...: 08/07/2023

Fellow arrives in SF Bay Area to start 12-month research scholar role at Berkely Lab’s Molecular Foundry

Fellow(s): Raushan Nurdillayeva (Kazakhstan, 2020-2021)

Country: Kazakhstan

Cohort: 2020-2021

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

This August, fellow Raushan Nurdillayeva (Kazakhstan, 2020-2021) arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area to start a 12-month research scholar role at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab/LBNL) Molecular Foundry. She credits access to this momentous opportunity to her supportive TechWomen mentor, Virginia Altoe, who made her aware of the research possibilities at Berkeley Lab, and Kazakhstan’s Republican Commission for Training Personnel Abroad, which awarded her a grant this June covering the travel and cost of living expenses for a fellowship program at a leading scientific center of the world. Her project “Investigation of 2D-passivated 3D halide perovskite thin films” is being conducted at two lead centers, the Inorganic Nanostructures Facility, where her assigned scientist is Dr. Carolin Sutter-Fella, and the Imaging and Manipulation of Nanostructures Facility, where her assigned scientist is Virginia Altoe. Both of these scientists will be serving as 2023 TechWomen mentors. Raushan is the Head of her Department at Ahkmet Yassawi University in Kazakhstan. She has an M.S. in Environmental Science from Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications. “I’m proud to share my success story of the impact of the 2020-2021 virtual TechWomen program,” she expressed in recent communications.

Report Date...: 9/11/2023

AFITech

Fellow(s): Aziza Krimaa, Fatima-Zahra Benyaaqoub, Hajar Salamat, Manar Ouaritni, Meriem Haddouchi (2022)

Country: Morocco

Cohort: 2022

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

VMWare has donated an additional $3000 USD to Team Morocco 2022 for their impact project AFITech, Alert Fire on Time Initiative.

Fall 2022 Team Morocco has recently received just over $3,000 USD in additional seed funds from program partner and sponsor VMWare, to assist in the development and implementation of their seed-grant winning impact project, AFITech, Alert Fire on Time Initiative. Earlier this year, Aziza Krimaa, Fatima-Zahra Benyaaqoub, Hajar Salamat, Manar Ouaritni and Meriem Haddouchi launched a fundraiser seeking additional capital for the launch of AFITech. Mohna Dhomse, a VMWare Information Experience Leader and TechWomen mentor since 2011, spearheaded the company’s donation. Mohna shared that her extensive volunteer hours made her eligible to “further amplify my service learning contributions by recommending a VMware Citizen Philanthropy Investment grant to a nonprofit of choice.” VMWare’s funding will supplement costs for AFITech’s early wildfire-detection system, which will protect precious argan trees by deploying a network of tree sensors that measure temperature, humidity and carbon monoxide levels in argan forests. These sensors will then send alerts to local emergency authorities when fire is indicated, triggering early firefighting efforts and reducing the devastating environmental and economic impacts of argan forest wildfires. The pilot program will defend women farmers of Amskroud Village, whose livelihoods depend on the harvesting of argan oil, a globally-marketed skin and hair care ingredient.

Report Date...: 09/04/2023

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