Dear Jury,
Thank you for accepting to take part in the Women in Tech MENA Awards. We are very happy and honored to have you amongst us.
Voting procedure:
Please choose 3 nominees from each category. The first nominee will receive 3 points, the second 2 points and the third 1 point.
There will be only one voting round.
Thank you.
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Founder and Publisher, Partners in Digital health, USA
Tory Cenaj is the founder and publisher of Partners in Digital Health. The portfolio forecasts, shapes and reflects market potential, innovation, and research, blazing trials and igniting zeitgeist for blockchain technology in healthcare. Tory launched the world’s first breakthrough peer reviewed journal disseminating distributed ledger technology research and innovations in the healthcare marketplace – Blockchain in Healthcare Today (BHTY), creating the niche in the scientific communications marketplace establishing credibility for and validating the use of blockchain technology in the healthcare industry.
Tory continues to push the boundaries of scientific communications utilizing blockchain technology in many first-in-industry initiatives and publication practices such as timestamping original research on the blockchain, stamping retractions on the blockchain, providing an Article Proof of Origin on the Hedera platform, offers payment in digital currency and is working on a new open access business model where researcher, audience and those sharing research can all benefit. The portfolio’s progressive agenda empowers researchers and global audiences by developing new technology tools to manage trusted and secure digital communication channels to enable scientists to transparently report adherence to the highest ethical standards in an effort to raise the level of quality research and dissemination of work to the scientific community and the public.
19 years old, Georgia
At a young age, Mariam Lomtadze was told science and technology were inappropriate for a girl. Rather than dissuading her interest in STEM, the criticisms sparked Mariam’s activism for gender equality. Now, she uses her skills in science and technology to address gender inequalities.
At 17, Mariam participated in a Hackathon hosted by UN Women to visualize gender data. She and her team focused on early and forced marriages, because it happens to so many girls in their country, Georgia.
“Presenting gender data in an innovative, easily understood manner helps us raise people’s awareness of important issues like gender inequality,” Mariam says. “As more people are exposed to gender equality problems, it makes it easier to find lasting solutions.”
Mariam’s team created an app to show how early marriage creates obstacles for girls’ career prospects. In the app, which featured characters who represented young girls from all different regions of Georgia, users played as fairy tale heroines and answered scenario questions to play out their futures, which in many cases were not “happily ever after”. Through the game, users could see different scenarios for girls lives, and how they would be better off without early and forced marriage.
CEMEA Operational Excellence Manager at AWS, UK
Domitille drives excellence in the way the AWS Public Sector ProServe CEMEA Practices are managed and operate. She owns and manages all business as usual processes, including headcount tracking, Organisational Leadership Review, business cadence management and reporting, Monthly/Quarterly Business Review, insights analysis and path to green, Operating Plan and the enablement and embedding of Change initiatives into BAU. She also identifies areas for continuous improvement, delivering mechanisms that drive efficiency and enable scale and growth. She collaborate with business and technical teams to deliver world-class solutions that are highly scalable, secure, and flexible while maintaining a strong customer focus. She owns and manages the operational aspects that support practice efficiency and effectiveness and looks for ways to continuously improve them. She identifies, defines, and specifies solutions meeting customers’ needs.
She is the founder and program manager of the WW Manbassador program and a team lead in Women@ Amazon. Manbassador is an ally group created to support Women@ Amazon, with goals to (1) increase male membership and participation in Women@, and (2) plan, promote and execute Allyship activities which ease workplace friction for female Amazonians in IT and beyond.
Student – 15 years old, USA
Gitanjali Rao was recognized as America’s Top Young Scientist and received an EPA Presidential award for inventing her device “Tethys”—an early lead detection tool. Gitanjali is also the inventor of “Epione”—a device for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction using genetic engineering, and “Kindly”—an anti-cyberbullying service using AI and Natural Language processing. She has partnered with UNICEF to launch Kindly worldwide in the coming year.
She was honored as Forbes “30 Under 30 in Science” in 2019 and TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and “TIME Kid of the Year” for her innovations and STEM workshops she conducts globally, which has inspired over 55,000 students in the last two years across six continents and 30 countries. In her sessions, she shares her own process of innovation that can be used by students all over the world. She often presents in global and corporate forums on innovation and the importance of STEM.
Gitanjali is the author of the book “Young Innovator’s Guide to STEM”, which guides students, educators, or teachers with a prescribed 5 step innovation process, which is available in 5 different languages. Gitanjali’s book is complementary to her workshops with a hope to introduce innovation in early education.
Anouk Wipprecht is a Dutch fashion designer and innovator who works in the field of “FashionTech”, where fashion and technology come together to create complex designs. Anouk utilizes 3D printing services like Materialise to create her famous designs, including the Smoke Dress and the Spider Dress. Anouk has partnered with large corporations like Google and Microsoft and one of her designs was showcased during the 2011 Super Bowl halftime performance with The Black Eyed Peas.
Strangely ahead of her time; Anouk combines the latest in science and technology to make fashion an experience that transcends mere appearances. Sensors embedded in the design monitor the space around the wearer, and body-sensors check in on stress levels as comfort or anxiety. Her Intel-Edison based ‘Spider Dress’ is a perfect example of this aesthetic, where sensors and moveable arms on the dress help to create a more defined boundary of personal space while employing a fierce style.
Partnering up with companies such as American multinational technology company INTEL, software producer Autodesk, internet giants Google and Microsoft, car brand AUDI, jewelry brand Swarovski, and leading 3D printing innovator Materialise amongst others – she researches and develops how our future wardrobe would look as we continue to embed technology into what we wear.
Founder Accent Jobs | Founder Stella P. | Founder We are Jane, Belgium
In 1995, Conny Vandendriessche founded Accent Jobs and, together with her fantastic staff, built it into a success story. This grew into the House of HR, a holding company specialising in temporary employment and outsourcing. The House of HR includes Accent Jobs, Logi Technic, Peak, Abylsen, Covebo, Continue and Time Partner. After an intense career of 20 years, it was time for a break and Conny decided to hand over the operational torch to Jerome Caille. Conny is still a shareholder and active as a board member at the House of HR.
Entrepreneurship however is addictive for Conny and therefore she started with a second passion: Stella P. With “Building Better Boards” as its slogan, Stella P. is specialized in composing advisory boards. Stella Polaris stands for the Pole Star; a fixed anchor point, a sign that gives a sense of direction.
Connie’s third passion is to support young start-ups and entrepreneurs in the complex yet fun world of business. Having served as a mentor, she decided to give wings to start-ups as an angel investor. We are Jane is an investment fund, primarily for women by women, which supports companies with prominent female leadership and an initial proven track record, ready to take a big step forward.
Chief Technology Transformation Officer at Novartis, Switzerland
Liz joined Novartis in November 2016 and is currently the Chief Technology Officer & Digital IT Lead responsible for Technology Strategy, Enterprise Architecture, Digital Technology enabling platforms, Advanced Analytics and Robotic & Cognitive Automation Centers of Excellence. In addition to her current role as CTO&D she is leading a business transformation programme chaired and sponsored by our CEO named EOS (Enterprise Operations Simplification) across Novartis to drive innovation, business growth and value. This programme delivers against one of Novartis key priorities. Elizabeth has worked in many different industries (Beverage, Media, Airline Transport, Oil & Gas, IT Consulting, Telecommunications and Pharmaceuticals) over 25 years and she is an experienced senior IT professional with a proven track record of leading and delivering complex, strategic global change programmes across the business. She is very outcome oriented with strong Digital Transformation expertise recognized across industries.
Elizabeth has spent many years of her career working abroad i.e., 2 years in New York, 6 years in France, one year in Germany and now lives and works in Switzerland.
Secretary General, Digital Cooperation Organization, Saudi Arabia
Deemah Al-Yahya was recently appointed as the first secretary-general of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). The international body, founded by Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, aims to achieve growth of the digital economy by unifying efforts to advance digital transformation. Deemah is the founder and chief executive officer of ALMTD Consulting, a specialized company offering advisory services on digital innovation strategies, corporate venture building, and large-scale conceptualization.
She is also CEO and founder of Women Spark, the first Saudi women’s angel investment network, which has trained more than 26,000 women in the technology industry since its inception in 2013.
Al-Yahya has worked in the private and public sectors, advising, designing, and orchestrating key strategic programs and initiatives, including as head of Misk Innovation, CEO of the National Digital Transformation Unit, chief innovation evangelist of Microsoft, and director of e-services at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has served on a number of boards, including the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones, the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council for digital economy and society, the Global Entrepreneurship Network, among others.
Deemah completed two executive education programs on innovation culture and strategy at Harvard Business School, along with two executive education programs on digital transformation, business development, and financial acumen at INSEAD. She gained a bachelor’s degree in computer science and information systems from King Saud University.
President and COO of SpaceX, USA
As President and COO of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell is responsible for day-to-day operations and managing all customer and strategic relations to support company growth. She joined SpaceX in 2002 as Vice President of Business Development and built the Falcon vehicle family manifest to more than 100 launches, representing more than $10 billion in business. Shotwell is a member of the SpaceX Board of Directors. Prior to joining SpaceX, Shotwell spent more than 10 years at the Aerospace Corporation, holding positions in Space Systems Engineering, Technology and Project Management. She was promoted to the role of Chief Engineer of an MLV-class satellite program, managed a landmark study for the Federal Aviation Administration on commercial space transportation, and completed an extensive analysis of space policy for NASA’s future investment in space transportation. In addition to being named the 2018 Satellite Executive of the Year, Shotwell was awarded the AIAA Goddard Astronautics Awards as well as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Ralph Coats Roe Medal.
In 2014, Shotwell was appointed to the United States Export Import Bank’s Advisory Committee and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Management Advisory Council. Shotwell was elected to the honorable grade of Fellow with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Through leadership in both corporate and external science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs, Shotwell has helped raise over $1.8 million for STEM programs reaching thousands of students nationwide.
Founder, Chairperson & CEO Rsquare Technologies – Bahrain
As a woman entrepreneur within a short period of 8 years achieving and getting the goodwill of 400 plus corporate clients in the kingdom of Bahrain had become a challenging and enriching lifetime experience.
All impossible made possible only because of respectable clients’ immeasurable support and valuable encouragement. Being an Asian women entrepreneur living at Bahrain for the past 20 years always had a vision and a social commitment with our most enterprising Rsquare Team which has brought many IT intellectuals together to create an innovative revolution in the IT industry.
Running a fintech firm for the past 11 years in Bahrain and had been as a Committee member in Bahrain Chamber of Commerce ICT committee, Committee member in Women in Fintech initiated by Bahrain Economic Board, Been as a delegate representing women in fintech to Singapore fintech festival, Gitex, conducted many workshops on AI for University students, as a speaker and as a panelist participated in many conferences around the world, Rsquare won lots of award for its innovative solution and recently won in the competition which Central Bank of Bahrain conducted.
Social entrepreneur and technological businesswoman, Chile
Social Entrepreneur since 2015 and technological entrepreneur since 1999. Monika is currently the Executive Director of Fundación Kodea, a social enterprise whose mission is to digitally empower the inhabitants of Chile, promoting a more inclusive technological development and the democratization of scientific-digital knowledge, to digitally empower its beneficiaries and bring them closer to the opportunities that the digital age offers. She has been working intensively to promote digital job retraining, technological literacy and a school education that incorporates Computer Science in the classroom.
With her vision that Chile and Latin America become aware of the importance of training talents for the digital world in a massive way and democratizing access to higher-level digital skills, Mónica brought to Chile the largest digital education campaign in the world Hour of Code (Code.org) and with Kodea Foundation she has developed several initiatives oriented to education, such as the Los Creadores school digital talent award, the training in computational thinking of 6000 teachers, EduK, IdeoDigital; as well as; Women Programmers, Digital Talent for Chile and Connected Entrepreneurs and the citizen platform Nuestra Voz. Her programs have allowed more than 1.5 million people to develop skills for the 21st century and also reach their families and society.
She received in 2015 the Chiletec Women in TIC award, in 2016 the Service Export Award (Sofofa and the Ministry of Finance). She was awarded as part of the 100 Women Leaders of Chile and was an ambassador Chile Brand.
President of MCIO Brasil Association, Former VP and Program Director EXP at Gartner, Brazil
Ione has a long and successful career in STEM and is an inspiring role model for women and girls in Brazil. She started her studies in the Physics Institute of the University of São Paulo where she obtained her Bachelor of Physics. She holds a Post-Graduation degree in Business Administration from Escola de Administração Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo and a Master’s in Sciences from the Physics Institute of the University of São Paulo, in Nuclear Reactors project.
Ione has a vast experience as CIO, Director of Human Resources. She has worked in companies such as Jaakko Poÿry Engenharia, CPFL – Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz. Ione was VP for Gartner Latin America and was advisor for IT Executives for 12 Latin American countries (from Mexico to Argentina).
In November 2003 she started leading a small group of Women CIOs: MCIO. This group, which was one of the first focused on women in Brazil, has today 160 leading executives in 12 states being 7 Brazilian women who have been promoted and work in countries around the world. In 2006, Ione was honored with the award of the most influential Woman in IT in Brazil by ABACO – Banking and Commercial Automation. In 2018, she was recognized as one of the first women to assume a CIO position in Brazil.
CEO of Oracle, USA
Safra A. Catz is chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation and a member of the company’s board of directors. She previously served as president of Oracle and has also served as the company’s chief financial officer. Catz first served as Oracle’s chief financial officer from 2005 to 2008, as executive vice president from 1999 to 2004, and as senior vice president from April to October 1999. She served on the board of directors for HSBC Holdings, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations, from 2008 through 2015.
Safra A. Catz is an Israeli American banker and technology executive and was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 12th most powerful businesswoman in 2009. Catz was born in Holon, Israel. Her Jewish father was an immigrant from Romania. When she was six years old, she moved from Israel to Brookline, Massachusetts.
In 2014, Mark Hurd and Safra Catz were announced as the CEOs of Oracle Corporation, but in 2019 Hurd took a leave of absence, making Catz the sole CEO of the company. In 2017, Catz was named the highest-paid female CEO of any U.S. company, earning $40.9 million. Catz also became a board director at The Walt Disney Company in 2018.
Co-founder and Entrepreneur. Former Minister of Finance, North-Macedonia
After being an entrepreneur for almost 10 years, in August 2019 Nina’s career path took a sharp turn when she joined the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia as Minister of Finance.
She co-founded Grouper.mk, the leading e-commerce platform, also known as the game-changer of e-commerce in the country in 2011. With her team, they contributed to increasing online sales in Macedonia by more than 350% and educated thousands of customers and businesses on how to shop and sell online.
She completed her Doctorate Degree in 2016 aiming to turn practice into science. She has spoken to 300+ conferences and events striving to infuse passion and awake the potential of many young people.
Her passion for change and e-commerce led her to co-found the first Macedonian Ecommerce Association in 2017. Her hard work and impact have been widely recognized. In 2018 she was named “Forbes 30 Under 30” in Retail and Ecommerce in Europe and in September 2019 at the UN General Assembly, she was recognized by UNCTAD as one of seven global eTrade for Women Advocates.
She was heading the public finances of North-Macedonia and led the implementation of many economic and fiscal measures during the biggest crisis in history caused by COVID-19 until September 2020. Among the key priorities during her mandate as Finance Minister, she has put digitalization and technologies in the focus as a key to solving many problems and putting the progress and reforms of the country in «fifth gear». In 2021 she made a successful exit when Payten (part of the polish Asseco SEE Group) aquired Grouper.mk.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advocate, Former Microsoft Channel Chief, USA
As a former C-Level Microsoft Executive and Thought Leader, Gavriella has helped thousands of businesses of all sizes digitally transform through technology. She has built a P&L of $10B and led a global portfolio of channel partners that has influenced over $1 trillion in ecosystem revenues through Microsoft’s fastest growing ecosystem. She brings over 30 years of leadership in digital and cloud transformation roles, driving strategy and execution spanning all aspects of business model and product development, launch, marketing, sales and partner development. As a builder and change agent, Gavriella builds and turns around businesses by inspiring a vision for future customer relevance and engaging teams in developing the roadmap. She has led the launch of 15+ product releases including Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) and Windows Intune with engineering, from product, acquisition strategy, business development, licensing, pricing, business model and packaging.
In 2016 she sponsored the Women in Technology Network creation and in 2017 the Women in Cloud. In October 2020 she was awarded the ATHENA International Global Leadership Award for women in technology and in November 2020 she delivered a TEDx talk BeCOME an Ally : How to achieve gender equity | Gavriella Schuster | TEDxCherryCreekWomen.
Founder and CEO InspiredMinds! UK
Sarah is an award-winning entrepreneur, having launched 21 b2b and b2c technology products in 11 countries since 1996 and a multi-million-pound company via self-funding. She has a renowned reputation for taking ideas from concept to market with subsequent significant growth globally with InspiredMinds having grown in three years to over 200,000 in a network from 168 countries worldwide.
She is focused on democratizing emerging technology and using platforms to empower individuals and organizations no matter their background, status or gender.
She was nominated female tech entrepreneur of the year in 2017, an advisor to www.aicommons.org founded by Yoshua Benigo, Founder of an AI not for profit www.ada-ai.org, a co-founder in the SaRoya Institute a STEAM school in Kabul, an Ambassador to the Royal Marsden hospital. Sarah is an active campaigner for women’s rights globally and keynotes at international events on gender equality and emerging tech.
She is also Founder and investor in World Summit AI, the largest worldwide AI tech summit series and Founder of IntelligentHealth a global series of summits on AI in medicine.
Sarah is a regular keynote speaker on start-ups, business and women / equality related issues and is an ambassador for the Royal Marsden where she champions the use of AI tech in oncology advances. She is also a fully qualified trauma first responder in medical and humanitarian front line emergency response and volunteers worldwide.
Group CISO Meralco, Philippines
Maria is the Group CISO for Meralco, a Global Top 145 energy company. She ensures that data of >7M customers and energy supply for 15% of the country is secured and free from unwanted intrusion. Maria’s leadership in 9 companies is doubly more fascinating in that it spans varying disciplines and approaches, and she is able to manage and set the directions that fit well for each industry.
Maria is also key in the development of a Technology Resiliency and review of a major stock exchange and one of the largest banks in the region respectively. She co-founded and chairs the Women in Security Alliance Philippines which helps women in the security industry. She has also launched the Philippines’ first Cyber Safe Kids initiative. She is a frequent speaker at the national and regional level.
Recently Maria was given: Global Recognition as a Top Woman Risky Leader on March 2021, Risky Women.org Top Risk Leader, Citation in Risky Women | Women to Watch Feb 2021, Top 30 ASEAN Women in Security Award – August 2021 and IFSEC Global Influencers for Security and Fire 2021 – Security Executives Top 5.
Founder and CEO of Shebah, Australia
George McEncroe founded Shebah in the midst of divorce and the realisation that the weight of raising four kids now fell on her shoulders. Caught in the middle of four kids’ schedules, George knew driving for a rideshare would give her the balance she needed – it also created jobs and a service for women – something that was lacking in this space. George has changed the lives of over 1,200 drivers, all of whom were women looking for flexibility, a solid income, and empowerment. In the process, she has also encouraged their financial literacy by providing free consultations with experts… But that’s not all. George is now inspiring 110,000 women passengers to demand safety as a necessity, not just a nice-to-have.
George has had a long background in disability support work and in education as a welfare co-ordinator and as a teacher of English and Literature at Ivanhoe Grammar. She also worked with the War Crimes Tribunal preparing an Amicus Curiae Brief taking testimony from victims of war crimes residing in Australia after the war in former Yugoslavia. George and her peers managed to establish rape as a War Crime – the kit she helped develop has been used in the Rwandan Trials. Shebah was founded in 2017 and today is Australia’s leading all-women rideshare service, providing safe transport and economic freedom to women across the country.
Founder of Proudly Human, South-Africa
Dr Adriana Marais, theoretical physicist, technologist and aspiring extraterrestrial, believes that we are living at a unique point in the history of life on Earth. Developments in engineering and science are taking place at an unprecedented rate, and the expansion of our society beyond this planet is within reach.In December 2020, Adriana and the Off-World team will depart for an overwinter, off-world settlement simulation experiment in Antarctica to demonstrate community living and off-grid capabilities, from life-support to communication systems, in the harshest and most isolated environment on Earth. Off-World is an initiative of #ProudlyHuman; pioneering new frontiers in research and technology for a sustainable future on Earth, above and beyond.Adriana is the Founder at #ProudlyHuman, as well as Director at the Foundation for Space Development, an initiative of which is Africa2Moon, to inspire the youth of developing nations, in particular, Africa, to “Reach for the Moon” through education and science. She is also a member of the South African government advisory task team on the 4th Industrial Revolution, Singularity Expert, at the SingularityUniversity and Duke Corporate Education, and an astronaut candidate with the Mars One Project. Previously, Adriana was Head of Innovation at SAP Africa between 2017 and 2019. Her career began in academia, and she has authored numerous articles on her research in theoretical quantum physics, as well as won awards including the L’Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talent Award in 2015 and the Royal Society of South Africa Meiring Naude Medal in 2016.
CIO Siemens, Germany
Hanna Hennig, Chief Information Officer Siemens AG, enables the digitalization of the global technology powerhouse. Hanna is a passionate technologist and has gathered more than 25 years of experience in IT. She supported and guided varied companies in their business and digital transformations, among them Osram, Telefonica O2, E.ON, Robert Bosch and Cap Gemini. She studied economics and Japanese studies at the University of Hannover. Hanna is doing her part to ensure that the topic of diversity regularly receives attention. She activates women via social media to participate in hackathons or to conquer new technology fields such as IoT/IIoT, AI, ML, mixed realities and robotics.
She makes the case for targeting STEM subjects in schools and universities, including from a diversity perspective. At the end of 2020, she dedicated a post on LinkedIn to the topic of advancing women in IT, calling for, «We need to kick up more dust!»
Hanna promotes the CIO Run & Bike initiative, a yearly diversity charity of the German CIO magazine. Together with IT colleagues, she herself takes part in the run every year, which raises funds for more educational equality, equal opportunities and the digital integration of teenagers and young adults. Talking about cultural change in the context of IT means talking about IT/OT convergence. Siemens IT is ready to be a successful player in the next phase of digitalization and especially with IT/OT convergence. Hanna is convinced that when it comes to sustainability, it’s important that we all join forces and need to act now.
Founder BETC and Executive President Havas Worldwide, France
Mercedes Erra is the founder of BETC, the leading French advertising agency that bears her name (she is the E), and Executive President of Havas Worldwide.
A graduate of HEC and the Sorbonne (Masters and Professor of Literature), Mercedes specialises in the development and management of world renowned brands. She is responsible for the major strategic shifts of leading brands (health for Danone, youth for Evian, Air France vision « Making the sky the best place on earth », and Mac Donald’s « Come as you are » to name a few).
On a personal level, Mercedes is involved in numerous initiatives as an advocate in favour of women, youth, human rights and innovation: the Women’s forum for the Economy and Society, which she co-founded, The Elle Foundation, the Global Summit of Women and the « Innovation 2030 » Commission. She is also Co-President of the Human Rights Watch French Committee and Vice-President of the French « filière Communication » (Communications Industry) since 2016.
Additionally, Mercedes Erra was nominated as chairwoman of the Museum of Immigration History in January 2010 and became chairwoman of The Palais de la Porte Dorée in 2012. She is also Vice-President of the board of directors of the French National Commission for UNESCO, a board member of the Collège de France Foundation, the France Télévisions Foundation, the SNCF, and member of the supervisory board of Roche Bobois.
Mercedes Erra is Officer in the French Legion of Honor as well as an Officer in the National Order of Merit, and Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters. In her spare time, Mercedes is the proud mother of five boys.
General manager at Microsoft, Brazil
Tania Cosentino has been Microsoft Brazil General Manager since January 2019 and has more than 30 years of professional experience. She worked 16 years at Siemens, spent two years at Rockwell and in January 2000 she went to Schneider Electric, where she developed a successful career for 19 years. She held several positions in the commercial area, lived and worked in Paris for a year and in 2009 she was the first Brazilian woman to assume the presidency of Schneider Electric subsidiary in Brazil. After that, she was promoted to President of the company in South America and held the position of Vice President of the company’s global quality; customer satisfaction. Tania was also a member of the company’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board.
Cosentino earned national and international recognition, thanks to her work in sustainability, especially on issues related to energy efficiency, digital transformation, human rights, female empowerment and diversity and inclusion. Tania is an active and inspiring leader of the HeForShe and WEP (Women Empowerment Principles) programs, also of the ONU Women and the Global Compact. For her work in South America, Tania was recognised as one of the 10 pioneers by working in the Sustainable Development Goals of the ONU Global Compact, in 2017. She also received the Women’s Leadership Award from CEBDS (Brazilian Business Council for the Sustainable Development) and she is considered one of the 100 Visionary Leaders by Real Lead
Former Director of la French Tech, France
Kat Borlongan is a former French government official and entrepreneur. She served under the Macron Administration for over 3 years as Director of La French, a government-led mission built to bolster France’s startup ecosystem. During her tenure, they rolled out the most open tech employee visa in the world, created a national growth-stage program (French Tech Next40/120), launched a €20M meta-accelerator for underprivileged founders, and supported thousands of startups amidst the Covid crisis.
She is currently in break mode, cooking up different ways to pair growth with progress. (And—let’s be honest here—catching up on years of lost sleep.)
In a previous life, she was the co-founder of Five by Five (acquired by Capgemini), Director of the Open Data Institute Paris, Techstars Entrepreneur-in-residence and Managing director of Reporters Without Borders Canada.
She lives in Paris, but hails from Manila.
CEO and Co-founder Serenus.AI, Israel
Hillary (Orly) Harel is a serial impact entrepreneur, lately CEO and Co-Founder of an innovative, award winning and patented startup, Serenus.AI (www.serenusai.com) implementing its technology to advance the quality and equality of healthcare delivery. Serenus.AI is an AI-based platform developed to assist medical professionals and patients improve medical treatment decisions, providing the right treatment, to the right patient at the right time, saving lives and valuable resources.
Hillary has demonstrated active leadership which has led to the success of the company. Hillary has extensive experience in founding and managing various start-up companies. Hillary volunteers in community projects including managing leading environmental non-profit organizations. Mrs. Hillary initiated one of the largest non-profit organizations for animal welfare in Israel. Hillary is a magna cum laude LLM (Master of Laws) graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.
She is a computer scientist at heart and a Master in Science from IME – USP. She has worked with large companies such as Google, Intel, Accenture, Itaú, Leroy Merlin, Renault, TIM and IBM. This is all guided by the dream of transforming the world. Maybe that’s why she was listed as one of 30 Under 30 by Forbes magazine.
Although international shipping transports more than 80% of global trade, its emissions have a direct impact on our planet and on human life. b4b’s mission is to transform the maritime transport industry to be powered by wind, instead of polluting fuel sources, via a novel rigid sail (eSAIL). See: https://vimeo.com/558021711.
Cristina has also found a way to change the mindset of a traditional industry towards adopting cleantech solutions, which is clearly shown by the 4 contracts signed to install b4b technology. A 12-meter-high eSAIL has been installed in a fishing vessel (https://cutt.ly/lW1BDXT), and bigger units will be installed in the following months. Cristina leads a growing team of 21 people, and during 2020, b4b created more than 30 indirect jobs and had a turnover of more than 3 M€. Her desire to make shipping sustainable has made her participate in more than 10 R&D projects, being the inventor of 5 patents in the field of wind-assisted propulsion systems, for which she has received awards such as Forbes 30 under 30 or EIT Woman Award.
b4b is aligned with: SDG 7 (the system co-propels vessels with renewable energy, wind), SDG 9 (the innovation generates employment and income for external suppliers and internally), SDG 13 and SDG 14 (b4b reduces shipping’s emissions).
Through a heavy involvement in projects supported by forward-thinking academic institutions, government agencies and R&D organizations, Tumi Robotics is on its way of becoming an international referent in robotics. They are currently backed by @HAX accelerator, an investor for promising hardware startups, based in San Francisco and Shenzen.
In 2014, CEO Angelica Ross founded TransTech Social Enterprises to follow a vision: A social enterprise that provides education, support, and jobs for trans people facing high levels of discrimination.
TransTech’s mission is to empower, educate, and employ those facing barriers in education and in the workplace, as well as to reduce instances of discrimination, with a concentration on trans and gender non-conforming individuals.
Kids learned coding with apps like Dash & Dot Robots and Osmo Coding. This yearly event is easy to scale and would be a great project to develop in multiple countries across the world.
The project Smart Kids Lab was done together with Waag Society – Institute for Art, Science and Technology. In the Smart Kids Lab, children can investigate water, sound, air, earth, and light using measuring instruments they make themselves.
Their mission is to close the digital divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, by providing a meaningful pathway for Indigenous people into the digital economy and the creation of future technologies. They aim to use digital technologies to express 80,000 years of human knowledge for generations to come.
They specialise in the development and delivery of digital skills training platforms and programs that specialised in fourth industrial revolution technologies including; Artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, augmented and mixed realities. These programs are designed through an Indigenous cultural lens, which provides a meaningful pathway for Indigenous peoples into the digital economy.
Director MTArtAgency and Digital for the Planet, France
After almost a decade in digital strategy ecosystem for big firms in France and abroad, Inès Leonarduzzi is the CEO and founder of the Earth project, Digital for the Planet, which aims to develop digital sustainability and inclusive economy through durable and low-carbon technology. The inventor of the global concept of digital ecology, she developed this idea with researchers and scientific experts for three years after realizing that digital was a marvelous tool but inefficient in terms of sustainability.
She is also a board member for numerous firms and city projects such as Somfy, EkWateur, StatioNord 2024, the Transitions Institute and the Circular Economy National Institute. She has been named a 2019 Franco-British Young Leader and one of the 92 women who are disrupting technology in France by Forbes.
As a business leader, she entered the Choiseul ranking this year and was referred to as one of the geniuses of the digital ecosystem by Capital Magazine. Inès is also the founder of The WIT, a network of creative women entrepreneurs, active in Paris and New York. She is the president of “Ensemble Pour La Vie”, a foundation aiming to help families of children with cancer in France.
Student – 17 years old, Spain
Alai is a 17-year-old Spanish girl who is currently in her last year of high school. From an early age she has shown a high interest in technologies, thus at the age of 11 she participated in several workshops such as digital jewelry and textile technology and thus in 2016 at only 12 years old she gave her first Tedx talk where he presented a technological project and social, Alibubu, a Teddy with an NFC device to help refugee children to be accompanied and identified in the route. Later, she won a scholarship from the United States Embassy to attend a technology campus and since then has participated as a speaker at many events in private companies, as IBM, AMAZON, ACCENTURE, etc. and non-profit organizations as Tech4Girsl, WomanTechmakers, Commit conf, etc to promote technology among girls and girls at an early age. Her constant work and passion for technologies led her to win the Ada Awards 2019 and European Digital Leadership Institute Digital Girl of the Year. Also that year she received the Margarita Salas Award in the category «Student Initiative» at the TALENT WOMAN 2019 and the «Inspiring Scientific Vocation» award from the INSPIRING GIRL FOUNDATION.
Selin started coding when she was 8 and building robots when she was 10. Her first robot was a guide dog for the blind as she was so upset when she lost her dog, she didn’t want a blind person to lose their best friend and their eyes at the same time. BB4All is a school aid robot that helps students and staff at school and aims to prevent bullying. Selin uses AI in her robots to add features to make them have autonomous and real-life sensory skills. Most of her robots are social robots that help either people with disabilities or children who need support. Selin loves using AI and building robots that will make people’s lives easier and improve their quality of life.
When Selin started to code there were only boys in the classes she attended. We encouraged her not to let this prevent her pursuing her passion and interests were gender-free. I am proud to say despite all the pressure from her peers and others she has pursued her dream and not let any of the comments/ negativity get her down. She works extremely hard to teach herself and attends online courses. Selin spends a lot of time attending events, her motivation is to be able to show other kids especially girls that technology is fun and to encourage kids and young people to be a part of creating and using technology and AI for good. Selin has worked with different charities to support and create awareness to gender equality and is traveling to Amsterdam to speak at WSAI.
Awards; Coderdojo Coolest Projects, Digital Girl of Year, Microsoft Rising Tech Star, Brocup and many recognitions.
Founder & COO at Square Yards, India/ UAE
Kanika is the founder and COO of SquareYards, India’s largest tech led brokerage and mortgage marketplace; a unique O2O B-B-C transaction and aggregator platform for both real estate and mortgages. Over the last couple of years, Square Yards has successfully expanded globally in Middle East, Australia and Canada with current presence across 10 countries and 25+ cities.
In a much debated and fragmented Indian real estate space; Square Yards is one of the most innovative, largest, fastest growing e-commerce enabled platforms in India with products across the value chain. Backed by partnerships with more than 500+ developers across the globe, Square Yards now helps transact 10,000+ transactions worth USD700mn+ every year in Indian and Global realty projects, which makes us one of the largest players in the eco system.
It’s subsidiary, Square Capital, digital lending platform, has grown to be India’s largest secured lending distribution platform, which facilitates about $300mn with of Loan Disbursements every year.
Kanika is also creating India’s first and largest mobile-only aggregation platform, Square Connect, for real estate brokers, financial institutions and online firms, providing them access to much larger inventory, opening up more possibilities and helping them increase productivity. Today, around 75k+ brokers use the platform for last mile discovery access.
Kanika has been associated with various social causes related to women empowerment & children welfare & have been rewarded with various accolades like «Business World’s Disrupt 40 Under 40»; «Women Entrepreneur of the Year» at «Women Empowerment Summit»; «Exceptional Women of Excellence» by WEF, “Young Achiever of the year 2014”; «Women Super Achiever in Real Estate 2015-16»; “Woman Icon of the year 2017”; “Marketer of the year” Award by Economic Times Now; “Excellence in Employment Creation in Real Estate” by CSIE; and multiple more.
CEO and Co-founder Moving Beans Ltd, UK
Gemma has made extra-ordinary contributions to the growth of the sustainbility business Moving Beans. Her domain knowledge in material science allowed her to develop a world-changing compostable material. Her incredible leadership capabilities allowed her to lead Moving Beans to a 300% growth year on year, for the 4th year running. Due to this, millions of coffee pods do not end up polluting our landfills.
She has the incredible ability to combine deep and world-leading scientific knowledge with sharp leadership skills, whilst remaining a very humble and all-loved person. I am nominating Gemma because we need more role models like her. We need more women standing up and showing to the world that science truly matters, leadership truly matters, and achieving brilliance whilst being good at heart is possible.
Co-founder and Chief people officer, Kavak, Mexico
Loreanne Garcia is co-founder and CPO at Kavak, an online marketplace for used cars that recently became Mexico’s first unicorn. It is valued $8.7 billion based on its latest funding round, making it the second-most valuable startup in Latin America as it eyes further expansion beyond its home market. The Mexico City-based firm netted $700 million in its Series E round, making the platform second only to Brazilian fintech Nubank among the highest-valued startups in the region.
Before co-founding Kavak with her brother, Loreanne built an impressive career in the corporate world, leading business strategies in companies like McKinsey, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola.
Today, as Chief People Officer, Loreanne plays a key role within Kavak building the team and the company culture and encouraging the development of their employees’ strengths through the use of technology.
Co-Founder and Supervisory Board Member Smart Valor AG, Switzerland
Olga Feldmeier is an entrepreneur and a thought leader focusing on the intersection between financial technology and blockchain. She is the CEO and co-founder of SMART VALOR, which has been nominated among the 10 most exciting European startups by Forbes. Prior to founding SMART VALOR, Olga held the position of the Commercial Managing Partner at Xapo, one of the first global Bitcoin custodians. In 2015 she enabled the first Bitcoin license in Switzerland and with that started to write the history of the Swiss Crypto Valley, today one of the largest blockchain hubs worldwide. Before diving into the blockchain industry, she has held senior executive positions at several banks such as UBS and Barclays Capital. Prior to that she advised global banks on strategy during her five year stance at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
For her contribution to the blockchain industry, Olga was already nominated twice for the Top 100 Digital Shapers by the influential magazine BILANZ, in 2019 also in the Top 10 Blockchainers and the Top 100 Women in Business by UBS. She is an author at leading blockchain publications such as CoinDesk and regularly delivers talks at worldclass conferences and universities on Bitcoin, blockchain regulation and digital securities.
Founder and CEO DefinedCrowd, USA
Following her vision for sustainable, responsible and ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is accessible to all, Daniela Braga is making an impact as Founder and CEO of DefinedCrowd. Under her leadership, DefinedCrowd, is driving innovation and helping to democratize access to AI training data. DefinedCrowd was recognized by the UNWTO in the SDGs Startup Competition for its contributions to the SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. Daniela strongly believes in the power of AI and technology to positively impact many of the other areas addressed by the UNWTO’s SDGs, including Gender Equality and Decent Work & Economic Growth.
Daniela has brought her vision for a tech industry led by AI to the governmental level in Portugal and in the USA. During a hearing with the Portuguese President concerning the economic future of Portugal and the EU, Daniela defended that AI could play an important role in the EU’s plans for digital sovereignty and in accelerating recovery after the pandemic, by reducing vulnerability to social and economic crises.
She was also appointed to the National AI Task Force by The Biden Administration in the United States, where she joins 11 other top technical experts, who will create a plan for giving AI researchers more access to data, computational resources and other tools.
As a female founder of a tech company, she is aware of her influence and strongly advocates for more girls and women to study and work in STEM subjects. She uses her voice actively to bring attention to this topic in media interviews and public speaking.
HQ in France, with projects in the whole World
Women’s WorldWide Web (W4) is Europe’s first crowdfunding platform dedicated to girls and women’s empowerment, in both developing and developed countries. W4 is a registered 501(c)(3) organization in the United States, and a non-profit association in France (Association «Loi de 1901»), that aims to empower girls and women to find their own solutions to driving development.
By establishing field projects across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the United States and Europe, W4 works to ensure the protection of girls and women’s human rights and girls’ and women’s access to the constituents of development: in particular, access to technology, healthcare, schooling, earning opportunities, the exercise of their rights, and political participation.
W4’s mission is to enable social investors to contribute—either financially, through crowdfunding; or in-kind, through mentoring and the sharing of skills— to innovative, grassroots girls’ and women’s empowerment projects around the world, in developing and developed countries.These field projects cover such fields as education, training, healthcare, financial services (microfinance and crowdfunding), access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), culture and the arts, and the environment. W4’s blog VOICES aims to raise awareness on the economic and development opportunity that girls’ and women’s empowerment presents.
World
Inclusivity goes beyond standard descriptors. Inclusivity is not only about gender, race or ethnicity. It encompasses representation from different geographies, organizations, and career experience levels.
The Women of Cisco employee resource organization looks to find compelling ways to share our thought leadership on creating additional gender diversity in technology, and to give our communities inspiration to develop their personal and professional lives. Women of Cisco is a global community to Attract, Develop, Retain and Celebrate talented women as part of a competitive and diverse workforce.
Since its founding in 1997, the vision has been to attract, develop, retain, and celebrate women at Cisco. What started with five women has grown to more than 4,000 Cisco employees who participate in mentoring, speaker’s series, networking events, and community give-backs in nearly 40 countries and now have more than 100 chapters to bring the Women of Cisco to life regionally.
Brazil
Since 2017, School of Technology that trains young people from all over Brazil, in very poor communities, in advanced digital programming and socio-emotional skills, with the objective of reducing the gender gap in the country. Among the technologies present in the courses are Blockchain, IoT sensors (Internet of Things), data intelligence, mobile development, Augmented and Virtual Reality, innovation and design and digital platforms.
The program is accredited by the SFIA (Skills framework for information age), an international standard that covers all necessary skills for Information Technology professionals. In addition to the technical content, the program’s philosophy is focused on the development of soft skills.
Mozambique
A project training underrepresented and low-income women and girls to close the gender gap in Brazil’s technology sector, and another empowering adolescent girls and young women in Mozambique through role models and sisterhood circles, awarded this year’s UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education.
Unblocking Girls’ Education and Opportunities through new Reference Models, which empowers adolescent girls and young women to have fair access to education through mentorship, storytelling, sisterhood circles and a unique model of intergenerational support.
The project emphasizes leadership and social networks to address the harmful gender norms and stereotypes that prevent girls and women from reaching their full potential. Recognized for both its innovative model and quick adaption to the COVID-19 pandemic using low-cost technologies, the project is being scaled through partnerships with national universities and other local organizations. It has now empowered over 5,000 girls and young women to actively participate in education and society.
World
The EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age is a committed group of corporate leaders, governments, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, academic institutions, NGOs and community groups around the world dedicated to promoting gender balance in the technology sector by championing equality of access, skills development and career opportunities for women and men alike.
We work by promoting awareness, building political commitment, leveraging resources and knowledge, harnessing the capacities of partners, and supporting real action – EQUALS seeks to achieve digital gender equality and through this, to improve the livelihoods of millions around the world.
Launched in 2016 by the International Telecommunication Union and four founding partners – GSMA, the International Trade Centre, the United Nations University and UN Women – EQUALS contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Agenda through actions and evidence-based research aimed at closing the global gender digital divide.
Now made up of more than 90 partners and growing fast, EQUALS uses a multidisciplinary approach that integrates research, policy and programming to promote gender equality in technology access, skills and leadership, as well as conducting ground-breaking, evidence-based research.
France, World
The Cartier Women’s Initiative is an annual international entrepreneurship program that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. Founded in 2006, the program is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable social and/or environmental impact.
In addition to the 7 existing Regional Awards, the initiative has launched the Science & Technology Pioneer Award, a new thematic category for the 2021 edition that aims to support women impact entrepreneurs at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation.
Since 2006, Cartier has accompanied 262 promising female entrepreneurs hailing from 62 different countries and has awarded over 6 million USD to support these businesses.
CEO and Founder – WeAreTheCity, WeAreTechWomen, GenderNetworkd, WeAreVirtual, UK
Vanessa Vallely OBE (for services to Women and the Economy 2018) is the CEO and founder of WeAreTheCity.com, which has 140,000 female members. Vanessa’s corporate experience stems from a 25-year career in Banking, holding roles such as Head of Governance, Business Management & COO across nine financial institutions. Vanessa is the founder of a number of initiatives aimed at achieving gender parity and raising the profile of women in the workplace. Over the past six years, 950 women from over 25 sectors have been recognized through her Rising Star and TechWomen100 awards. Through WeAreTheCity, and WeAreTechWomen’s conferences and events, Vanessa and her team have helped to upskill and connect over 15,000 women. During the Covid lockdown, Vanessa introduced a suite of free #WeAreVirtual webinars to inspire individuals to continue their learning and to keep them motivated during challenged times.
Vanessa also founded Gender Networks in 2010. Gender Networks is a collaborative networking and learning forum for women’s corporate network leaders. Gender Networks has 95 cross sector member firms and 400 individual members.
In 2017, Vanessa launched WeAreTechWomen.com to provide free career related resources for women working in tech. WeAreTechWomen now has over 40,000 members and is supported by over 50 corporate sponsors. In 2020, Vanessa launched the #SheTalksTech podcast as well as a series of tech related webinars to upskill and encourage women into the tech industry. In 2021, Vanessa launched WeAreTechNetworks for corporate women in tech networks to share best practice.
CIO & Neurodiversity Group Leader IBM, Brazil
With over 33 years of experience in IT, Maria had a special attention to Diversity & Inclusion in a corporate environment. Maria is a single mother of triplets, and had heard for years that it was not possible to fulfill her dream of being both a mother and a tech professional woman.
Maria is passionate about Diversity & Inclusion, operational excellence, change management with Innovation and projects. Co-leader of the IBM Brasil Neurodiversidade Affinity Group, Consultant for Humanized Inclusion and Member of Tech Diversity Forum.
Recognized as a leader and mentor, she is committed to build and increase inclusive & diverse work environments, as well as the continuous advance of education to boost the capabilities of professionals, especially those from minority groups; participating and/or organizing technical events related to new technologies.
Graduated from PUC Rio in Information Technology. By the IBC (Brazilian Institute of Coaching) MBA in People Management.
In addition to acting as a squad leader at IBM, Maria works externally as a consultant in Humanized Inclusion, whose objective and focus are: to increase the employability of professionals within Autistic Spectrum Disorder. She also works doing career coaching for technical women and member of Tech Diversity Forum.
Founder and CEO SheWorks, Saudi Arabia
Maha Shirah is a certified business consultant, a certified trainer and a certified translator. In 2014, she founded SheWorks as a means to help empower Saudi women in the workforce while giving them their own space.
In fact, the idea came about from her own personal experience in banking and hospital administration where, more often than not, she’d notice some women feeling rather uncomfortable talking to male strangers. It is a business hub for women in Saudi where a woman can work, meet and evolve. It is designed by women for women.
She is also a member at the Businesses Women Committee in Riyadh Chamber, a member at the Saudi Coordination Council for Women’s Labour, and a private consultant to private and public sectors. Maha had joined the first Young Saudi Female Leader delegates to Berlin in 2018 and participated with (Swedish Institute) IS – SHEleads program 2017 in Stockholm. Maha’s mission is to help other female startups achieving their goals through advisory, consultancy, and networking.
Founder CONCAT, UK
Laura is the founder of CONCAT – a web development agency led by talented refugee and female developers from countries of conflict. CONCAT was founded on helping to achieve diversity in the tech industry. By providing employment opportunities for some of the most marginalised developers across the globe, with a particular emphasis on developers from countries of conflict.
In the Middle East, there’s a highly talented pool of developers from vulnerable communities, but a severe lack of employment opportunities due to circumstances out of their control. Globally, just 20% of 40M+ adult refugees are employed. In Lebanon for example, it is illegal for refugees to be employed by a Lebanese IT company and many do not even have the right to own a bank account in their name. For women, many struggle to juggle their daily responsibilities at home and full-time employment and this is why CONCAT was launched, to give employment to the people that the system fails. CONCAT was launched in January 2021 due to the high number of requests Laura received from clients looking to hire developers from Lebanon to help support communities during the financial crash. Now CONCAT has developers in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Laura’s hope is that through CONCAT she will encourage more refugees and women to train as developers and to join the tech sector, to continue breaking down the barriers in the gender gap in tech. CONCAT provides long-term, sustainable employment to those most in need and she hopes other organisations will watch and learn.
Senior Vice-President of Strategic Innovation at HSBC. Co-founder Djassi Africa, UK/ Portugal
Fernando is a global expert leading Transformation and Digital Innovation in the Financial Services industry, exploring new business models, embedding new operating models and ways of working, and maximising the relationship between incumbent Banks and Fintech start-ups. He is a relentless advocate of accessible, affordable and inclusive Digital Financial Services as a key enabler to reducing poverty, boosting prosperity, triggering social and economic impact in underserved communities, and advancing sustainable development (SDGs).
As an Africanist by heart, Fernando is on a mission to empower African innovators and build the future of Africa. This is the legacy he wants to leave behind for the generations to come.
Fernando created #SheLEADS, a 3 month programme that is tailored to empowering female entrepreneurs in Africa through personal development. the programme is focused on providing African female entrepreneurs with the tools to grow their personal brand and develop themselves as an individual and leader. Twenty internally selected female entrepreneurs originating from the five countries in Lusophone Africa, namely Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and Sao Tome took part in the first edition of the sheLEADS programme.
Founder Like Minded Females, UK
With 5+ years in the technology industry, Sonya has transitioned from working in technology consultancy to running her diversity & inclusion consultancy, facilitating 500+ workshops, growing the LMF Network to 35K + followers and three global chapters and delivering 2 TED talks. She is the first South Asian Woman to have given 2 TED Talks within one year.
Founded in 2018, LMF Network CIC is changing the narrative of inclusion through life skills workshops, community building and corporate mentoring programmes. Focused on enabling and empowering women and underrepresented groups into tech, digital & entrepreneurship.
In 2021, Sonya Barlow was a Forbes 30 Under 30, runner up, shortlisted for the most influential women in tech UK and winner of the Accelerate Her 50 inspiring Women in Tech sponsored by Google, Founders Forum and Financial Times.
CEO and Founder D’Black Bank and The Black Money Movement, Brazil
Nina Silva is an IT expert who embodies all faces of diversity: black, woman and poor. After a burnout, she turned her career around with a purpose driven action. She co-founded the Black Money Movement in Brazil, with her partner Alan Soares, to empower black people, foster education and entrepreneurship, and create business opportunities for the Brazilian black community.
Executive in Technology for over 20 years, Innovation, Business and Digital Transformation Specialist with international presence in Latin America and the USA. Partner investing in social impact startups for the struggle of gender and race. CEO and founder of the Black Money Movement and D’Black Bank fintech, which carries out financial and digital inclusion of the black community.
The fintech start-up connects consumers to black entrepreneurs, providing a range of 100% digital financial services. With fair fees and social incentives for educational projects, D’Black Bank is a business of social impact for economic justice that fosters the entrepreneurial and innovative Mindset in this segment of the population.
Nina is an Entrepreneur, Administrative and Board Advisor, Columnist MIT Sloan Review and other major media. She is advisor in a high-end technical studies center for public entities and is considered one of the 20 Most Powerful Women in Brazil by Forbes; One of the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent in the World under the age of 40, by MIPAD 2018 with the UN. Among other awards as Digital Professional 2021 by Abradi.
Nuclear Scientist & Founder, Senamile Masango Foundation, South-Africa
Born and bred in KwaZulu-Natal, Masango is a princess by birth from the Zulu Royal Household.
She is currently non-executive director at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Ltd) known as NECSA where she also serves as the chairperson of the Research and Development Subcommittee.
She is one of the youngest female scientists from South-Africa to conduct experimental testing on the probing of the nucleus by Coulomb Excitation. A pioneering scientist who was part of a South African contingent to conduct particle smashing of protons to unlock the mysteries of the Universe; at the prestigious CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland. She graduated with a Master’s degree in nuclear physics (cum laude) in April 2019 at the University of the Western Cape where she also serves a Council Member. She is currently studying towards a PhD, in nuclear physics and PDM in Energy Leadership with Wits Business School.
Founder/CEO at Tover, Netherlands
Hester Le Riche is the CEO and founder of Tover, the healthcare technology company creating a more caring and inclusive world for people with cognitive challenges, including dementia. Combining Industrial Design Engineering with Clinical Psychology during her PhD at the Delft University of Technology, Hester explored how games and ‘purposeful play’ could help patients with dementia. Her discoveries began the journey to creating the pioneering cognitive stimulation system the Tovertafel (‘Magic Table’).
The Tovertafel uses pioneering play technology to provide vital cognitive stimulation for people living with dementia and other cognitive challenges, to slow degeneration, reduce apathy and create moments of joy.
Since, Tover has gone from strength to strength, working with care professionals worldwide to provide care that is designed with a proven track record of positively influencing quality of life and creating memorable moments. Hester’s mission to improve the quality of life for people living with cognitive challenges is well underway and she continues to create next-generation products specifically adapted for these audiences.
Hester hopes to inspire young individuals to choose their own journey. During her PhD, she competed in the world cup of windsurfing and while writing her dissertation she moved to Cape Town. From the southern tip of the world she started her business in The Netherlands and became a mom, twice, while her business grew rapidly (from 6 to 70+ people in 6 yrs). As her passion lies in all these elements, Tover would’t be possible, without the rest.
Founder, Sextech School, Australia
As the world’s leading authority on sextech, Bryony Cole is fascinated by the way technology permeates every corner of our lives, even the most intimate ones. Since launching the top-rated podcast *Future of Sex*, Bryony has been on stages across the world forecasting trends in the sextech industry for governments, tech titans and entertainment companies.
Her incredible body of research, global sextech hackathons and annual *Future of Sex* report are considered the pinnacle of industry insights and innovation. She is also part of the New York-based Women of Sextech, a fast growing community of entrepreneurs, developers and thought leaders.
Bryony has been awarded places in the Google-Walkely Media Incubator for Innovation in Journalism and Australian Advance Queensland HotDesQ accelerator.
From the PEN World Voices Festival in the US, Skolkovo Foundation in Russia to the UK’s Founders Forum, she continues to attract international attention for her work on empowering women through media creation and organizing global hackathons.
Techtivist, Technofuturist, TED speaker, Canada
Galit Ariel is a TechnoFuturist, thought leader, and creative who explores emerging technologies’ wild and imaginative side and their impact on our cultures, behaviours, and interactions. She is passionate about a future in which technology is integrated into everyday life but does not control it. Her book Augmenting Alice – The Future of Identity, Experience and Reality explores how Augmented Reality’s diffusion will shift cultural and functional paradigms and redefine core concepts related to culture, space, experience and ethics. Galit aims to bridge the gap between digital, physical, and mental spaces to create tools and platforms that help people experience these worlds in new and better ways.
She is an international speaker and mentor, featured at global conferences such as TED, The Next Web, SXSW, Fifteen Seconds, Slush Tokyo, FITC, IEEE, The European Union, Bell Labs, and many more. Currently residing in Toronto, Galit is consulting on art/tech impact projects via her agency Future Memory Inc. The consultancy helps organizations, policymakers, and companies shape their technological futures and develop narratives, interaction & speculative design tools that translate to meaningful and innovative experiences. She is the co-founder of Humans of STEAM, a co-creation non-profit that brings together companies, organizations and communities for better tech futures. Galit curates activities around inclusive and future-facing tech implementation as a member of several think tanks, and through her PhD research-creation at York University, she is also a 2021/22 fellow at Amsterdam’s Future Cities program.
Humanoid robot and creative artist, UK
Ai-Da is the world’s first ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist. Ai-Da is the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist. She can draw, and is a performance artist. As a machine, with AI capabilities, her artist persona is the artwork, along with her drawings, performance art and collaborative paintings and sculptures.
In the time of online avatars, AI chatbots, Alexa and Siri, Ai-Da as a robotic artist is acutely relevant. She is not alive, but she is a persona that we relate and respond to. This surreal situation of confusing realities is already part of our daily lives: in our digital realms, who are we speaking to on online platforms? What algorithms are working behind our internet choices? Who writes the algorithms, and who benefits and who loses? Extraordinarily complex, our online worlds are pushed and pulled by forces and personalities that are sometimes apparent but largely oblique. Ai-Da, the machine with AI capacities, highlights those tensions: is she an artist in her own right? Is she an artist’s alter ego? Is she an avatar, or a constructed character? All these options bring powerfully to the forefront the complexity of our interacting digital and physical worlds and the masked identities we can assume in them.
Inventor, SixFeetApart – 16 years old, USA
Neha Shukla is a 16-year old scientist and inventor, STEM promoter, and 2021 Global Teen Leader. As millions of people became infected with COVID-19, she saw the direct impact of people not being able to social-distance accurately. So she created SixFeetApart, a wearable social-distancing device to slow the spread of COVID-19 using the latest developments in ultrasonic technology and Artificial Intelligence. SixFeetApart aims to simplify and quantify social-distancing by alerting users when approaching people come within the 6-foot detection range through live haptic and acoustic feedback from its beeping and vibrating buzzers. These social-distancing notifications are also sent to a custom-coded mobile app that compiles a daily safety report for the users.
SixFeetApart has been featured by the New York Times, ABC, the Nasdaq screen in Times Square, and more. Neha was named a 2021 Global Teen Leader representing the United States for her work in creating SixFeetApart. She won the prestigious Diana Award in memory of the late Princess Diana and also received the National Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award from President Biden for her innovations and global outreach. She was also selected by Masayoshi Son (CEO of SoftBank) to join the Masason Foundation to be supported throughout her STEM journey.
17 and 18 years old, Afghanistan
The members of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team are more accomplished than your average teenagers: Their ball-sorting robot, built to distinguish between contaminated and clean water, won them a silver medal for “courageous achievement” at an international robotics competition in Washington, D.C. But what truly sets them apart is how they got there in the first place — and where they came from.
Just four years ago, the half dozen teenage girls from Afghanistan strode confidently into competition, waving their country’s flag. The global robotics competition, held in the US in 2017, was a chance for the team to show to the world what so many in their own country doubted — that girls can accomplish anything. And accomplish they did, winning an award for «courageous achievement» given to teams who persevere through trying circumstances. Though they didn’t place among the world’s best teams in the overall score, they walked away proud and, crucially, with worldwide recognition.
It was that recognition that helped the girls escape Afghanistan a few months ago, as the Taliban resurged. With the help of various humanitarian groups worldwide, five of the original team members were able to flee Afghanistan.
Mathematics and Computer Science Student at the University of Oxford, Chairwoman of the Spanish Informatics Olympiad for Girls (OIFem) – 18 years old, Spain
Currently studying Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Oxford. Blanca has been working on Mathematics and their applications since she was 11 through MOOCs (completed more than 50 courses on computer science, algorithms and artificial intelligence, including Stanford University’s Algorithms Specialization and the Tensorflow Developer Professional Certificate), work (data scientist at Merkle Divisadero- now Merkle Spain- and a data engineering intern at Empathy.co) and personal projects.
Blanca won several local, national and international competitions including a gold medal and top female programmer for the second year in a row in the 2020 Spanish Informatics Olympiad, 1st position in the VIII Asturian Informatics Olympiad and the Divisadero 2019 Datathon, and both the female and the Python categories in the 2019 Spanish Informatics Olympiad.
With the desire to help teenagers find their path in Computer Science, Blanca co-founded and is president of the Spanish Girls’ Informatics Olympiad (OIFem, https://oifem.es), a non-profit organisation which trains secondary students to achieve in competitive programming, while creating a community of young developers. They organize the national competition, where a team is selected to represent Spain in the European Girls’ Informatics Olympiad. She is also a problem-setter in the Spanish Informatics Olympiad, where she designs algorithmic challenges for the competition.
Founder of Global Creative Hub – 15 years old, Pakistan
Amna Habiba is a 15-year-old Pakistani, founder of Global Creative Hub, international speaker, STEM enthusiast, and an advocate for girls’ education and mental health. She received the Young Achiever Award at the age of 10 as the first Pakistani to participate in a digital exchange. During lockdown, she completed 80 courses to upskill herself. To give back to her community, she launched Global Creative Hub, a social development initiative that aims to make every Pakistani girl capable for the future of work.
She completed two internships & a fellowship in 2020. Through various programs, she stemmed a combined interest in AI and healthcare and participated in National STEM School, where she researched on using AI to cure breast cancer. She is currently developing a mental health app for teens, and is also the youngest Pakistani to host an international female-only hackathon.