Impact Stories from Professional Growth Policy Area
Fellow featured by She Leads Africa
Fellow(s): Lindiwe Matlali
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Lindiwe Matlali, 2017 fellow of South Africa, was recently interviewed by She Leads Africa about her work in the tech industry and her initiative, Africa Teen Geeks, a non-profit organization that provides computer science education to children and underserved youth.
Knit2code, one of the organization’s flagship programs, brings 8- to 10-year-old girls together with their female family members to teach them basic computing through knitting. The program is intended to combat the notion that the tech industry is inaccessible to women. When discussing this commonly held belief, Lindiwe says, “I want to get them to believe that they can also be their generation’s Nelson Mandela. Africa is rising and they are the ones who will rise with it.”
Read More »Report Date...: 3/26/2018
Mentor(s): Paria Rajal
Company: MissionU
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Mentor Paria Rajai was recently interviewed by Forbes Magazine about her work promoting diversity in the tech sector. As the co-organizer of the inaugural Women of MENA in Tech Conference held in Silicon Valley earlier this year, Paria has actively supported women pursuing careers in tech. She stresses the importance of community in helping women grow in the tech sector and having a network of others who believe in you and encourage you, saying that “sometimes that little faith and support is exactly what you need to overcome that moment of self-doubt.””
Paria is currently leading diversity and inclusion initiatives at MissionU, a company that provides critical job skills training and real-world work experience to students who are unable to afford a traditional four-year degree program.
Read More »Report Date...: 3/19/2018
Fellow Appears on BBC World Service
Fellow(s): Layal Zakhour
Country: Lebanon
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Layal Zakhour, 2014 fellow of Lebanon, was recently profiled on BBC World Service in a BBC Minute segment called “Middle Eastern ladies who lead.” Layal, who currently works as a software engineer in Dubai, spoke about the success the MENA region has had with encouraging women and girls to pursue careers in STEM. Layal expresses confidence in her role as a female leader in tech, saying that, “if you’re very smart, people think you’re a man. No. I’m a girl. I’m a woman. Just live with it.
Read More »Report Date...: 3/19/2018
Women Excellence Award
Fellow(s): Tiisetso Lephoto
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2016
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Tiisetso Lephoto, 2016 fellow of South Africa, won the first Guateng Women Excellence Award for Young Woman in Science and Technology. Tiisetso has an MA in biotechnology and microbiology and a PhD in molecular and cell biology. Currently, her research focuses on entomopathogenic nematodes, or microscopic insect-killing worms.
The Gauteng Women Excellence Awards were launched on International Women’s Day in 2017 as a platform dedicated to recognizing outstanding leadership, inspiration, vision, and innovation in organizations and individuals that have shaped women’s roles within the private and public sectors. Award winners were selected for their leadership skills and community impact, and were announced by the Guateng Government Premier, Mr. David Makhura.
Read More »Report Date...: 3/12/2018
GIST Tech-I Competition Semi-Finalists
Fellow(s): Mpara Faith and Danielle Akini
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
Mpara Faith and Danielle Akini, 2017 fellows of Cameroon, were both selected as semi-finalists for the GIST Tech-I competition. Mpara was selected for her work with New Generation Technologies Ltd, which provides communitybased enterprise software solutions. Danielle’s organization, Genius Centers, celebrates technological innovation with children by promoting leadership and computer skills in youth and young adults.
The GIST Tech-I competition is an annual initiative for science and technology entrepreneurs from emerging economies worldwide. It is led by the U.S. Department of State.
Read More »Report Date...: 3/5/2018
Vodafone Egypt Event
Fellow(s): Mona Karamallah and Raghd Magdy
Country: Egypt
Cohort: 2014, 2015
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Two fellows of Egypt, Mona Karamallah (2014) and Raghd Magdy (2015), organized a networking event in collaboration with their company Vodafone Egypt for the TechWomen delegation to Egypt. Alexandre Froment-Curtil, CEO of Vodafone Egypt, delivered the opening remarks, highlighting the company’s strong female representation in their leadership team and their goal to achieve an equal number of female and male employees across the company.
Two TechWomen mentors and two female executives from Vodafone delivered TED-style talks about resilience, and both Mona, Site Infrastructure Civil Technical Lead, and Raghd, Core Network Strategy Senior Technical Lead, spoke to the audience about the impact of TechWomen. The remainder of the event involved mentors and fellows leading roundtable discussions on topics including business agility, the internet of things, digital transformation, security trends, the power of networking and developing a personal brand.
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Report Date...: 3/5/2018
Cartier Women's Initiative Awards
Fellow(s): Hanan Khader
Country: Jordan
Cohort: 2013
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Hanan Khader, 2013 fellow of Jordan, was named a finalist in the 2018 Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. Designed to support women entrepreneurs, the awards were established in 2006 by Cartier, the INSEAD business school and McKinsey & Company. Hanan was selected because of her work on Hello World Kids, an online learning platform she launched to teach computer programming to children and adolescents across the Middle East.
Hanan was inspired to create the program after she saw the insufficient computer skills training being offered to her children at school. Understanding the need for the next generation to be adequately equipped with the skills necessary to succeed in the modern workforce, Hanan chose to dedicate her time to teaching children how to code and create technology. So far, the program has reached 40,000 chlldren. According to Hanan, “you never know, maybe one child that we reach out to can create the greatest idea and change the world for the better.”
Read More »Report Date...: 2/19/2018
Alumni Outreach Grant
Fellow(s): Sevara Siradjeva, Tanzilya Yakshimbetova and Shodiyabegim Bakhtiyorzoda
Country: Uzbekistan
Cohort: 2016
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Three 2016 fellows of Uzbekistan, Sevara Siradjeva, Tanzilya Yakshimbetova and Shodiyabegim Bakhtiyorzoda, received an Alumni Outreach Grant from the U.S. Department of State for their recent project focused on empowering women in STEM.
The three fellows created custom calendars highlighting women from Uzbekistan in STEM fields with the objectives of raising awareness and providing role models for young women, supporting youth in STEM and building a network of STEM specialists. They have distributed the calendars to universities, NGOs, corporations and governmental bodies. Severa, Tanzilya and Shodiyabegim also created do.IT.women, a program concentrated on community STEM projects. As part of a larger initiative, do.IT.women organizes monthly panel discussions with the women featured in the calendar.
Read More »Report Date...: 2/19/2018
Africa Climate Change Leadership Program
Fellow(s): Veronica Gundu Jakarasi
Country: Zimbabwe
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Professional Growth
Veronica Gundu Jakarasi, 2017 fellow of Zimbabwe, was nominated as a policy fellow with the Africa Climate Change Leadership Program (AfriCLP), where she shared her TechWomen leadership experiences during the inception training. AfriCLP is an initiative that seeks to support climate action in Africa by supporting low carbon and climate resilient strategies throughout the continent.
Veronica also began a new position as manager of the climate finance division with the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ). She used the skills from TechWomen mentor Sheila Jordan, Chief Information Officer of Symantec, to pitch a proposal to IDBZ’s executive committee to establish a Climate Finance Facility.
Read More »Report Date...: 2/19/2018
Fellow of Kazakhstan Featured in Forbes
Fellow(s): Anara Molkenova, Dina Shaikhislam, and Diana Tsoy
Country: Kazakhstan
Cohort: 2015, 2017
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Anara Molkenova, 2017 fellow of Kazakhstan, was featured in a Forbes Kazakhstan article this month highlighting young research scientists in the country. Anara holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, and her research focuses on the development of energy storage systems.
Additionally, Anara and Dina Shaikhislam, also a 2017 fellow of Kazakhstan, have both volunteered as mentors for the
Technovation Kazakhstan 2018 program. Technovation is the world’s largest tech entrepreneurship competition for young women, offering girls around the globe the opportunity to learn the skills they need to emerge as tech leaders. The Kazakhstan chapter of Technovation was started by Diana Tsoy, a 2015 fellow of Kazakhstan, and has since grown to include hundreds of middle and high school-aged girls.
Report Date...: 2/12/2018
