Journeys to Success: Becoming Influential Women in the Entrepreneurial Space
This session will host the winners of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, exploring their journeys in creating successful technologies and influential brands.
Speakers
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Vimbai MasiyiwaBusinesswoman and Co-Founder, Batoka AfricaVimbai Masiyiwa
Counsellor
Businesswoman and Co-Founder, Batoka Africa
Batoka AfricaVimbai Masiyiwa, is a 29-year-old businesswoman and co-founder of Batoka Africa, a purpose-driven hospitality company and the first black female-owned Safari Lodge group in Africa. In her role as co-founder and Creative Director, she has led the strategic repositioning of Batoka Africa for investments in Zimbabwe and the expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her mission is to create sustainable social enterprises in the travel industry to empower communities and reimagine travel. She is working towards the development of the African tourism industry as a whole, changing the narrative around Africa. Testament to realising her vision, Vimbai was named as part of the Forbes 30 under 30 2024 cohort - a list celebrating influential and pioneering young African entrepreneurs. Having spent most of her childhood in South Africa, Vimbai strives to empower the African dream of success through ecotourism and hospitality, particularly through the Tesse Fund. By contributing 10% of revenue from guest stays to the fund, Batoka Africa employees can spearhead projects that uplift their local communities.
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Charlot MagayiFounder of Mukuru Clean StovesCharlot Magayi
Founder of Mukuru Clean Stoves
Charlot is the Founder of Mukuru Clean Stoves, a 2022 Earthshot Prize Winner. Orphaned at the age of 10, Charlot grew up in Mukuru, one of the biggest slums in Nairobi, and became a mother at age 16. Charlot was moved to provide safer cooking technologies for her community when her daughter got burned by a traditional stove. She has been recognized and awarded by Global Citizen, World Bank and United Nations. She was among the 100 most influential Young Africans in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Charlot believes in a toxin- and smoke free world and has dedicated her time, skills, and experience to fighting household air pollution. Her company, Mukuru Clean Stoves, has manufactured and distributed over 400,000 life saving cookstoves, impacting the lives of 2,000,000 Kenyans living in poverty. Charlot is an Echoing Green Fellow, a Schmidt Futures Fellow, an Africa Business Hero, a Global Good Fund Fellow, a Stanford Global Energy Hero, a Forbes under 30 lister and a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst. She sits on the board of three international funds – Just Peoples, RockFlower Inc and DPrize. Charlot is currently building a 300,000 square foot sustainable energy campus in Kenya and developing a malaria fighting fuel.
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Kate KallotFounder and CEO of AminiKate Kallot
Founder and CEO of Amini
Kate is a technologist who has received global acclaim in tech for her impact work, most notably for advancing technology access across Africa. She was named TIME 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2023. Kate is the Founder & CEO of Amini, an African startup building the data infrastructure for Africa and the Global South to regenerate natural capital at scale. Before Amini, her career spanned leading positions at leading tech companies including NVIDIA, where she led global developer relations and expansion into emerging markets, and Arm, where she was a pivotal figure in the Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) movement. At Intel, she led the development of the world’s first AI development kit in a USB form factor, the Neural Compute Stick bringing computer vision and Al to IoT and edge devices to millions for the first time. Kate's efforts have been mainly focused on bridging the digital divide, including significant collaborations with the UN. She aims to train one million African developers to impact a billion lives over five years. Kate regularly advises IGOs on the power of tech to drive social impact. She has won multiple accolades including: Business Insider Top100, VentureBeat Women in AI Rising Star.
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Trisha PrabhuFounder and CEO of ReThink™Trisha Prabhu
Founder and CEO of ReThink™
Trisha Prabhu is the 23-year-old inventor and Founder and CEO of ReThink™, a patented technology that stops cyberbullying before the damage is done. ReThink detects offensive content and encourages users to rethink sending it, stopping online hate proactively. Today, ReThink’s technology (named one of Google Play’s Most Innovative Apps), educational materials, and anti-cyberbullying advocacy have been shared with young digital citizens worldwide, everywhere from the Caribbean to Lebanon. For her work with ReThink, Trisha has been the recipient of many awards, among them, the Princess Diana International Anti-Bullying Award and Mozilla’s Rise25 Award. Trisha has also made waves as a contestant on ABC’s Shark Tank and as the winner of Harvard University's President's Innovation Challenge and The Elevate Prize. In 2021, she was the youngest honoree named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 Social Impact list. In 2023, her work was recognized (and funded) by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Archewell Foundation. Trisha is a TED speaker and has delivered 100+ talks in 30 cities about the power of “ReThinking." She is the author of “ReThink the Internet,” the world’s first-ever “by-youth, for-youth” guide to the internet. Trisha is a graduate of Harvard University and a US Rhodes Scholar.