50 Outstanding African Women in Tech

BY Tunga · 11 MIN READ

This curated list of 50 African women who are taking the bull by the horns and running innovative tech startups in line with the International Women’s Day mission for 2023. The list features women on a quest to shape an entire ecosystem in their own unique way.

These women are actively driving some of the most exciting and significant changes in technology as founders or co-founders of startups as well as venture capitalists, top executives, and CEOs.

We hope you’ll be inspired to take action, learn more about these women, and get involved in the tech industry yourself. Let’s dive into the stories of these 50 outstanding African women in tech!

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Odunayo Eweniyi

1. Odunayo Eweniyi (Nigeria)

Cofounder/COO at Piggyvest
Odunayo Eweniyi is a Nigerian business executive and activist. She is the Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer PiggyVest and co-founder of Feminist Coalition. In 2018, Eweniyi won the Future Awards Africa Prize in Technology. In 2019, she was on Forbes Africa on the 30 under 30 Technology list.

In addition, Eweniyi was named one of the 30 Quartz Africa Innovators for 2019. Eweniyi was on Forbes Africa’s 20 New Wealth Creators in Africa 2019. In addition, she was nominated for The Future Awards Africa Prize for Young Person of The Year in 2020.

Eweniyi was listed on Bloomberg in 2020 and Time Next 100 in 2021 for her joint contributions during the End SARS Protest of October 2020. In March 2022, she won the Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Innovation Award.

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Jihan Abass

2. Jihan Abass (Kenya)

Founder of Lamilnsurtech
Jihan Abass founded Lamilnsurtech in 2018 to democratize and digitize insurance products first in Kenya and across Africa. In addition, the startup created an API insurance service platform to digitize the entire process. In May 2021, the startup raised $1.8m in seed capital.

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Temidayo Salako

3. Temidayo Salako (Nigeria)

Head of Community at Tunga
Temidayo Salako is a highly experienced professional with 6+ years of cross-sector experience. She has led teams and managed programs and projects in various sectors, including Not-For-Profit, Business, Alternative Education, Technology, and Social Impact.

Temidayo has proven skills in consulting, leadership, coordination, vision mapping, project initiation, monitoring, execution, and process innovation. Her ability to excel in different sectors is a testament to her adaptability and versatility. Temidayo is driven by her belief that she has a strategic role in Africa’s future growth and strategic development.

She is committed to this vision and is currently empowering and investing in Africans to help them achieve their full potential. Temidayo’s passion for Africa’s growth and development and her experience and expertise make her an invaluable asset to any organization or project.

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Esther Ninsiima Nyinamwiru

4. Esther Ninsiima Nyinamwiru (Uganda)

Product Manager/Project manager
Esther Nyinamwiru is an experienced Product Owner and Tech Talent Manager with a strong track record of success in the internet industry. Esther’s expertise lies in managing software developers, recruitment, problem-solving, negotiation, cost control without compromising quality, and project management.

Before her tech career, Esther worked in the construction industry as a Quantity Surveyor. She developed her skills in managing costs and ensuring projects were completed on time and within budget. Her experience in construction has given her a unique perspective on project management, which she brings to her work in the tech industry.

Esther is a highly skilled professional who is dedicated to delivering quality outcomes. Her ability to manage teams, solve problems, and negotiate effectively makes her a valuable asset to any organization.

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Ire Aderinokun

5. Ire Aderinokun (Nigeria)

Cofounder, COO, and VP of Engineering of Helicarrier
Ire Aderinokun is the co-founder, COO, and VP of Engineering of Helicarrier, a YC 18 company building cryptocurrency infrastructure for Africa. Helicarrier is behind products such as Buycoins, Sendcash, and Sendcash Pay. She is also one of the founding members of the Feminist Coalition, a group of women with a mission to champion equality for women in Nigerian society.

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Abiola Rasaq

6. Abiola Rasaq (Nigeria)

Founder Of The Bug Detective
Abiola Rasaq is a QA Lead and founder of a test community for Software Testers called “The Bug Detective.” Abiola believes that leadership is about influence and impact; she has demonstrated this throughout her career and work with the community. Abiola’s passion for software testing has led her to create a thriving community of over 800 members, where she provides training and guidance to newbies in the field.

Her commitment to helping others succeed is evident in her work with the community, as she has ensured that members land their dream jobs as software testers. In addition to her work with the community, Abiola is an experienced QA Lead with a strong track record of success. She is skilled in software testing, test automation, quality assurance, and project management.

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Angela Semwogerere

7. Angela Semwogerere (Uganda)

Spidd Africa/Founder – Coding In Heels
Angela Mirembe Semwogerere is the General manager of Spidd Africa Ltd. She is also the Founder of Coding In Heels, a Social Enterprise that focuses on inspiring Girls and Women to embrace STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) with a focus on technology. She is also a consultant and a member of Uganda’s National Taskforce on emerging technologies, including the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) Alumni.

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Sheeba Niwensiima

8. Sheeba Niwensiima (Uganda)

Manager, Yiya Solutions
Sheeba Niwensiima is a young innovator with many dreams to achieve, not just for herself but also to help other brilliant young minds reach their goals! So she teams up to change and improve the world for the present and future generations because curious minds can achieve the unimaginable together.

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Betelhem Dessie

9. Betelhem Dessie (Ethiopia)

Youth Technology Education Entrepreneur
Born and raised in Harar, Ethiopia, Betelhem Dessie was interested in computers at age 7. She started coding at 10 and has continued to learn more, mastering the key aspects of computer science and robotics by her mid-teens. After moving to Addis Ababa to be mentored by a government agency called Information Network Security Agency (INSA), she went out independently.

She started doing software projects for her own interest for various clients. All along, Betelhem has also been teaching kids computing and robotics. CNN and BBC named her the young pioneer in the Ethiopian emerging tech scene. Also included in Quartz’s list of African innovators to watch for in 2019.

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Modupe Durosinmi-Etti

10. Modupe Durosinmi-Etti (Nigeria)

Growth Manager
Modupe Durosinmi-Etti is an accomplished professional in talent and project management, corporate transformation, and operational efficiency, with wide experience in 3 unicorns, startups, and growth state organizations. She has a track record of building initiatives and driving productivity toward attaining organizational goals and objectives by leveraging extensive global and diverse exposure.

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Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson

11. Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson (Nigeria)

Founder/CEO, Healthtracka
Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson is a healthcare enthusiast with a passion for Africa-focused healthcare conversations. Currently, Ifeoluwa is focused on building a solution that decentralizes lab testing, providing easier access to essential medical services. Her dedication to improving healthcare in Africa has driven her work in this field. She is always looking for ways to create innovative solutions that will have a lasting impact on the industry.

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Atinuke Oluwabamikemi

12. Atinuke Oluwabamikemi (Nigeria)

Community Manager at Tunga
Atinuke Oluwabamikemi is a community builder who advocates for tech industry diversity. Bami’s passion for community building has led her to manage and build vibrant communities where she encourages members to learn publicly and give back to the community through technical content and public speaking.

In addition, Bami is incredibly passionate about onboarding more females into the tech space and advocates for #womenintech through her work with SheCodeAfrica. Bami also advocates for beginners to get into the open-source space, regardless of their stack, and contribute to open-source projects.

Her willingness to work with different teams and open-mindedness make her a valuable asset to any project or organization. Bami’s dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion in tech and her commitment to sharing knowledge and empowering others to make her a standout leader in the industry.

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Roina Ochieng

13. Roina Ochieng (Kenya)

Lead Technical Product Manager at Food for Education
Roina Ochieng is currently driving impact within product development of the Tap2Eat product at Food For Education. She also co-leads the tech and product teams at Food For Education to scale the feeding program to deliver the tech product that enables the feeding program and allows internal stakeholders to use the platform to make data-driven decisions.

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Thato Schermer

14. Thato Schermer (South Africa)

Founder Zoie Health Technologies
Thato Schermer is the Founder of Zoie Health Technologies. she grew up in Pretoria, South Africa, and Wisconsin, USA. She set up Zoie Health to make quality women’s healthcare more accessible for millions of women in Africa by leveraging technology. The app offers virtual consultations with various women’s healthcare practitioners and a contraceptive subscription service.

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Velda Kiara

15. Velda Kiara (Kenya)

Software Developer
Velda Kiara is a creative software engineer, technical writer, and open-source contributor. She builds web applications using Django and React. She is also a technical writer and a community lead in various communities. When not coding, she writes blogs on different topics, watches movies, swims, or reads books.

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Dr. Nonhlanhla Sitole

16. Dr. Nonhlanhla Sitole (South Africa)

Co-Founder Of Health Startup, Zoie Health
Dr. Nonhlanhla Sitole is a science geek with a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology. But, in her next life, she wants to be an astronaut! She is also the co-founder of the health startup Zoie Health. Zoie is a digital women’s health & wellness clinic that facilitates virtual medical consultations, contraceptive delivery subscriptions, and community chat for women in Africa.

Her goal was to make quality women’s healthcare more accessible for millions of women worldwide by leveraging leading technology, world-class clinical care, and love.

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Ada Nduka

17. Ada Nduka (Nigeria)

Founder, Shecode Africa
Ada Nduka is a Software developer and Open source advocate who leads Developer relations at Interswitch group. She’s also the founder of She Code Africa and Open Source Community Africa, where she’s focused on matters about Women in tech and Open Source, respectively.

Asides from software development and open source advocacy, she runs a podcast show for forLoop Africa, one of the largest developer communities in Africa, where she talks on issues bordered around tech while interviewing several personalities in tech.

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Oladiwura Oladepo

18. Oladiwura Oladepo (Nigeria)

Executive Director, Tech4Dev
Oladiwura Oladepo is a social entrepreneur who is passionate about making a positive impact in people’s lives and society. She enjoys using her skills and expertise to help individuals and organizations create value while making a difference in their communities.

Oladiwura’s work focuses on finding innovative and sustainable solutions to social challenges, and she is always looking for ways to improve the world around her. Through her work as a social entrepreneur, Oladiwura strives to create positive change and inspire others to do the same.

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Ivy Barley

19. Ivy Barley (Ghana)

Co-Founder of Developers in Vogue
Ivy Barley is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, program manager, and women in tech activist. She co-founded Developers in Vogue, an organization paving the way for more African women to take up opportunities in the tech industry.

In January 2022, GhanaWeb featured Barley as one of the 3 Ghanaian ‘Women in Tech’ making strides on the international corporate scene. Additionally, in 2017 and 2019, Barley was listed as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Young Ghanaians by Avance Media.

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Joannah Nanjekye

20. Joannah Nanjekye (Uganda)

Vice-chair Python Software Foundation
Joannah Nanjekye is from Uganda, a software engineer, conference speaker, and a proud Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) contributor who presented at PyCon ZA in South Africa in 2016 and 2017. She shares her knowledge on implementation for Python 2 and 3 support from experiences on her work on open source projects.

She worked as a software developer for Laboremus Uganda and Fintech Uganda before pursuing a career as Aeronautical Engineer with a bias in Avionics at Kenya Aeronautical College. She is a proud Rails Girls Summer of Code alumnae and was mentored in FOSS development during her time as a scholar.

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Chisom Nwokwu

21. Chisom Nwokwu (Nigeria)

Software Engineer Microsoft
Chisom Nwokwu is currently a Software Engineer based in Lagos, Nigeria, who works with the sustainability team at Microsoft, to help achieve its goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030. She is highly involved in building customer-facing experiences, services, developer dashboards, and tools to improve optics, with proven skills in querying, manipulating, and reporting on big data platforms.

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Nneile Nkholise

22. Nneile Nkholise (South Africa)

Founder, iMed Tech Group, South Africa
Nneile Nkholise launched her career in 2011 as a mechanical engineer at the Free State’s Public Works Department before founding iMed Tech in 2015. Her work at iMed Tech in CAD and Additive Manufacturing in breast prostheses earned Nkholise several awards, including Forbes 30 Under 30 and the presidential for Science, Innovation, and Technology at the South African Youth Awards in 2017.

Nkholise values the development of young women in Africa and wants to utilize iMed Tech to create opportunities for women.

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Finali Galaiya

23. Finali Galaiya (Kenya)

Business Analyst
Finali Galaiya is a business leader who is passionate about ideation and bold visions. She is excited about exploring new ideas and supporting businesses to achieve their goals. Her ultimate objective is to empower the next wave of leaders and drive positive change in the global business landscape.

Finali believes in creating a culture of empowerment and growth where her team can thrive and excel in an ever-expanding global setting. She is dedicated to building strong teams and fostering innovation to make a meaningful impact in the business world.

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Sethebe Manake

24. Sethebe Manake (Botswana)

Tech Entrepreneur
Sethebe Manake is an ambitious, self-driven individual passionate about e-commerce, entrepreneurship, and SME development. Coming from a Property Finance and Investment background, she has founded real estate, prop tech, entrepreneurship development, and mentoring businesses.

Before living an entrepreneurship life, she developed her career by specializing in real estate asset management through different investment vehicles. Having a strong and dynamic business orientation and a strong head on her shoulders, she has driven various initiatives in both the start-up and real estate communities.

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Ruth Ikega

25. Ruth Ikega (Nigeria)

Community Lead CHAOSS
Ruth Ikega serves as the Community Lead at CHAOSS Africa, working to improve the health of Open Source communities on the continent. She also doubles as a maintainer in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) working group at CHAOSS.

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Neema Iyer

26. Neema Iyer (Ugandan)

Founder of Pollicy
Neema Iyer is the founder of Pollicy, a Ugandan-based startup. Pollicy is a feminist civic technology collective that uses data and technology to create social change. The company researches ways and implement projects through which Africans can regain control of their data and reimagine new forms of tech ownership. Pollicy aims to advance how data is conceptualized, used, and reproduced to develop just societies.

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Tao Laine Boyle

27. Tao Laine Boyle (South Africa)

Co-founder of FoondaMate
Tao Boyle is the co-founder of FoondaMate. She is an avid reader and occasional hiker when she gets free time. FoondaMate enables access to online learning for students previously unable to study online — through low data and chat-first applications available in multiple regional languages.

FoondaMate’s flagship products would allow students to access study materials and answers to questions on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. Educators also use FoondaMate’s resources to set homework and share learning materials with students.

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Tebogo Mokwena

28. Tebogo Mokwena (South Africa)

Founder and CEO of Akiba Digital
Tebogo Mokwena is the founder and CEO of Akiba Digital. She is an avid traveler and has been to 50 countries (before the age of 30) with plans to visit all African countries in her lifetime. she graduated from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the University of California (Los Angeles) with a triple major in computer science, genetics, and biochemistry.

Akiba Digital is building an alternative credit-scoring infrastructure to give small businesses and underbanked consumers better access to financing. She hopes to use technology and innovation to contribute to Africa’s economic growth by unlocking financial access for predominantly excluded people.

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Jennifer Igwe

29. Jennifer Igwe (Nigeria)

Head of Talent Tunga
Jennifer Igwe is a multi-talented professional who has excelled in different areas of expertise. She is a certified project manager who has leveraged her skills in delivering output and change, enabling her clients to reap the benefits of their projects. In addition, Jennifer is an expert in tailoring each project to fit the specific strategic needs of her clients.

As a certified Scrum Master, Jennifer has led a team of developers in delivering value in iterations. Aside from her project management and Scrum Master certifications, Jennifer is also an accomplished talent recruiter. She specializes in recruiting African tech talent for top-tier technologies for international organizations.

Jennifer is known for providing full-cycle recruiting services and collaborating with executive teams to develop and implement recruiting processes that reflect corporate culture while keeping candidate experience in mind.

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Rachel Sibande

30. Rachel Sibande (Malawi)

Founder, mHub
Rachel Sibande is a computer scientist who founded mHub, a technology hub for innovators and entrepreneurs. Offering access to investment and financial support across five countries, mHub is a key resource for women-led tech startups in Africa. Sibande also established the Girls Coding Club, Children’s Coding Club, a Robotics Club, and Machine Learning community camps.

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Blessing Abeng

31. Blessing Abeng (Nigeria)

Co-founder of Ingressive For Good
Blessing Abeng is the co-founder and director of communications of Ingressive for Good. She is a branding and communications expert dedicated to helping brands identify and communicate their unique identity and tell better stories. She builds brand and communication strategies around tech products, services, growth, and sales to help brands share with their team, target audience, partners, and investors.

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Barbra Birungi

32. Barbra Birungi (Uganda)

Founding Manager of HiveColab
Barbra Birungi is a female technologist and the founding manager of HiveColab in Kampala, Uganda. She is the founder of Women in Technology Uganda, an initiative aimed at helping women and girls pursue technology careers. Before Hive, Birungi was a staff member at the African technology firm Appfrica.

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Angela Mukisa

33. Angela Mukisa (Uganda)

Founder at CodeHub Uganda
Angela Mukisa is a goal-oriented individual with a pleasant personality and a tenacity that knows no restrictions. A multitasking Computer Scientist, considered highly ambitious, willing to meet or exceed monthly quotas, and capable of maximizing brand awareness. CodeHub is one of the pioneer Organizations aimed at promoting Computer Science Education amongst the youth in Uganda.

CodeHub aims to expose them to different skills required by programmers in the 21st century, such as problem-solving and critical thinking, alongside teaching them some coding fundamentals using programming languages such as Python, JavaScript and scripting languages like HTML and CSS. We aim to empower Youth through Technology.

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Edidiong Asikpo

34. Edidiong Asikpo (Nigeria)

Senior Developer Advocate at Ambassador Labs
Edidiong Asikpo is a Senior Developer Advocate based in Lagos, Nigeria. She is passionate about sharing her DevOps, Kubernetes, and web development knowledge through technical articles, videos, and social media.

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Regina Honu

35. Regina Honu (Ghana)

Founder/ CEO Soronko Academy
Regina Honu is a Ghanaian social Entrepreneur, software developer, and founder of Soronko Solutions, a software development company in Ghana. She opened Soronko Academy, the first coding and Human-centered design school for children and young adults in West Africa.

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Allela Denise Eunice

36. Allela Denise Eunice (Kenya)

Relations community Manager at google

Allela serves as the developer relations community manager at Google via Stratostaff for Sub Saharan Africa where she works towards increasing developer engagement with experts across the region. Her in-depth expertise in the developer community is a result of her previous volunteer experience as a lead community organizer for Kisumu, Kenya.

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Tarneem Saeed

37. Tarneem Saeed (Sudan)

Founder/CEO Alsoug
Tarneem Saeed built the largest tech startup, Alsoug, in Sudan. Alsoug is a classified platform/marketplace which allows people to check out the price of things and connect with sellers. In October 2021, Alsoug received a $5 million investment to become the first startup to get foreign investment in Sudan since the US economic sanctions were lifted in 2020.

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Sarah Menker

38. Sarah Menker (Ethiopia)

Co-Founder & CEO at Gro Intelligence
Sara Menker is the founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence. Gro Intelligence uses artificial intelligence to forecast global agricultural trends and battle food insecurity. In addition, Gro clarifies the connections between the ecology of our planet and the economy of humans so that you can see the big picture and take action on the little things.

Sara is a trustee for the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS). In addition, Sara is a fellow of the Aspen Institute’s African Leadership Initiative and a World Economic Forum Global Young Leader.

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Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni

39. Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni (Morocco)

Co-Founder/CEO, DabaDoc
With a goal to digitize the entire healthcare system, Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni and her brother Driss Drissi-Kaitouni co-founded DabaDoc in Morocco in 2014, a time when creating health-tech startups was less common in Africa than it is now. The business began with the fundamental entry point of scheduling doctor appointments, and it quickly gained a lot of traction.

With over 2,000 patients actively scheduling appointments with doctors across 75 different medical specialties on its platform the following year. Since 2014, DabaDoc, an online platform, has been helping patients to book an appointment with a doctor with a few clicks. As a result, more than 3,000 doctors use the platform across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, and South Africa.

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Eunice Ajim

40. Eunice Ajim (Cameroon)

Founding Partner, Ajim Capital
Eunice Ajim is the Founding Partner of Ajim Capital, an early-stage fund and angel community, to provide startups in Africa with financing from Pre-seed to Seed with typical check sizes of $100K to $250K. She is a Cameroonian-American entrepreneur and investor with experience ranging from start-up funding and management to leading a $10 million+ revenue tech startup. She is also an angel investor and adviser to African technology startups.

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Rebecca Enonchong

41. Rebecca Enonchong (Cameroon)

Founder/CEO, Appstech
Rebecca Enonchong is the CEO and founder of AppsTech. She serves as Chair of the Cameroonian incubator ActivSpaces (African Center for Technology Innovation and Ventures). Forbes magazine named her one of the top female tech founders in Africa. Throughout her career, Rebecca has worked to promote technology in Africa.

The Africa Technology Forum is a nonprofit that supports African technology startups. She founded the African Business Angel Network, too (ABAN). Enonchong also co-founded I/O Spaces, ABAN, and Cameroon Angels Network. She has received various awards, such as 100 Most Influential Africans in Science, Tech & Innovations by the New African, Jeune Afrique’s 50 Most Influential Africans, World Bank, and the World Economic Forum.

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42. Viola Nuwaha (Uganda)

Scrum Master
Viola Nuwaha is a collaborative and dedicated team player who believes in working closely with cross-functional teams to achieve product success. She is skilled in product strategy, user research, user experience design, product development, and project management. In addition, Viola’s strong communication and leadership skills enable her to lead and inspire teams to achieve their best work.

Viola’s passion for building technological products is evident in her work, and she constantly seeks to stay updated with the latest industry trends and best practices. Her drive, expertise, and commitment to excellence make her a valuable asset to any product development team.

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Nelly Chatue-Diop

43. Nelly Chatue-Diop (Cameroon)

Co-Founder & CEO Ejara
Nelly Chatue-Diop is the CEO and co-founder of Ejara, Africa’s first non-custodial wallet and blockchain-based mobile investment platform designed specifically for Francophone Africa and its diaspora. In October 2021, the Camerounian-based startup raised $ 2 million to offer crypto and investment services in Francophone Africa. Nelly has spent the last 15 years across Europe and the United States building expertise in emerging technologies, traditional finance, and Web 3.0.

Nellu earned her degree in computer science and MBA from HEC Paris and London Business School. She also oversees the Tezos Africa foundation, which has chapters in several countries. In addition, Nelly is a well-known data leader and an outspoken supporter of African financial inclusion and blockchain’s potential to transform the continent.

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Miishe Addy

44. Miishe Addy (Ghana)

Co-founder & CEO, Jetstream Africa
Miishe Addy, Co-Founder and CEO of Jetstream, has 12 years of experience in strategy, analysis, and business transactions, including time spent as a top-ranked business analyst at Wachtell Lipton and Bain & Company in New York. After moving to Ghana in 2017, Miishe Addy saw an opportunity to innovate and founded Jetstream Africa with Solomon Torgbo.

Jetstream is a technology-enabled logistics company focused on cross-border trade. Jetstream raised $ 3 million in June 2021 in a seed round. Miishe was a business fellow for MEST Africa in Accra, Ghana, before joining Jetstream, where she worked with aspiring software entrepreneurs and met her co-founder. Miishe graduated from Harvard College with an Honors BA in Philosophy and from Stanford Law School with a JD. She currently resides in Tema, Ghana.

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Nthabiseng Mosia

45. Nthabiseng Mosia (South Africa)

Co-Founder/Chief Commercial Officer, Easy Solar
Nthabiseng Mosia is an African social entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Easy Solar, one of Africa’s fastest-growing off-grid solar firms. Easy Solar sells and finances high-quality solar systems and appliances to people with limited grid access.

The company has powered 900,000 people in Sierra Leone and Liberia and employed over 1,000 people. Based in West Africa, Easy Solar is an off-grid solar distribution company. It supplies electricity to communities with little or no access to the grid. As a result of Mosia’s company, more than 350,000 residents of Sierra Leone’s communities have access to affordable energy.

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Farida Bedwei

46. Farida Bedwei (Ghana)

Co-Founder/CTO, Logiciel
Farida Bedwei is a software engineer and disabilities rights advocate. Logiciel develops technology solutions and provides micro-banking systems for more than 600 financial institutions. She was named one of Ghana’s most influential women in business and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2016.

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Fara Ashiru Jituboh

47. Fara Ashiru Jituboh (Nigeria)

Co-founder & CEO/CTO, Okra
Fara Ashiru Jituboh is the co-founder and CEO/CTO of Okra, Inc., a Nigerian fintech startup that allows customers, applications, and banks to exchange real-time financial information. Jituboh is an entrepreneur and software engineer who is fluent in over 20 programming languages.

Fara Jituboh co-founded Okra in 2019 in order to solve the problem of managing her funds while in Nigeria (as she did with Mint in the United States). Okra is a “super-connector” that allows customers, applications, and banks to securely exchange real-time financial information. Okra raised $3.5 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round six months after its launch.

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Tomilola Majekodunmi

48. Tomilola Majekodunmi (Nigeria)

Founder & CEO, Bankly
Tomilola Majekodunmi is a finance expert with more than 10 years of experience in investment banking and portfolio management, and she has overseen investments totaling more than $50 million. She has experience developing savings and microcredit products and holds an MBA in finance from the SP Jain School of Management.

Tomilola founded Bankly in July 2018 with the goal of digitizing cash and providing a safer path to savings for micro-businesses and individuals in the informal sector. In March 2021, Bankly raised $2 million in a seed round.

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Yanmo Omorogbe

49. Yanmo Omorogbe (Nigeria)

Co-Founder/COO Bamboo
Yanmo Omorogbe is the co-founder and CEO of Bamboo. Yanmo also serves as Bamboo’s COO and oversees operations and growth. Bamboo enables the average Nigerian to become a shareholder in major technology companies such as Google, Twitter, and Amazon. Bamboo enables users to buy, hold, or sell stocks of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bamboo raised $15 million in a series in January 2022. A loan to help it grow faster, enter new markets (such as Ghana and Kenya), and create more products.

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Sarah Dusek

50. Sarah Dusek (South Africa)

Managing Partner/CEO, Enygma Ventures
Sarah Dusek is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of the venture capital fund Enygma Ventures. She invests in women-led businesses in Southern Africa, develops solutions to wealth disparities, and provides women with access to capital. Sarah co-founded Enygma Ventures in 2017 after successfully selling her company, Under Canvas, for more than $100 million.

The following year, Sarah was named to Ernst & Young’s EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women list. Enygma Ventures, which she co-founded with her husband, Jacob Dusek, is a one-of-a-kind purpose-driven investment fund that helps woman-founded/led businesses by providing flexible financial solutions, efficient and strategic capital deployment, access to expertise, mentors, local and international markets, and other valuable resources.