AFRICA SUMMIT ON WOMEN AND GIRLS IN TECHNOLOGY: DRAFT

PROGRAMME **WORK IN PROGRESS**

Venue: Labadi Beach Hotel

No 1 La Bypass, Accra, Ghana DAY 1 (September 13)

8h30 ­ 9h15 Opening Ceremony: Welcome & Objectives Dr Omobola Johnson Chair, Alliance for Affordable Internet Dr Dorothy Gordon Director­General, Ghana ­India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT Geraldine Fraser Moleketi (invited) Special Envoy on Gender, African Development Bank Hon. Nana Oye Lithur (invited) Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection (Ghana) Hon. Dr. Edward Omane Boamah (invited) Minister of Communications, Ghana Dr. Izeduwa Derex­Briggs Representative for Eastern and Southern Africa, UN Women

9h15 ­ 9h30 Group Picture

9h30 ­ 10h30 Opening/Keynote Panel Rosemary Mbabazi Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth and ICT, Rwanda Dorothy Okello Director of Innovation, Resilient Africa Network (RAN) Makerere University

Angelique Weeks Chairperson, Liberia Telecommunications Authority Theo Sowa (invited) CEO, African Women Development Fund Anne Jellema CEO, Web Foundation Moderator: Dr Omobola Johnson, Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)

10h30 ­ 11h30 Panel 1: Affordability & Access Lightning Talk Busayo Obisakin Founder/President Women Inspiration Development Center (Nigeria) Panel Lucy Quist (invited) CEO Airtel Ghana Ebele Okobi Head of Public Policy, Africa, Facebook Estelle Akofio­Sowah (invited) Ghana Country Manager, Google Clara Pinkrah­Sam Champion of Consumer Working Group, A4AI­Ghana Moderator: Sonia Jorge, Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)

11h30 ­ 11h45 Tea/Coffee Break

11h45 ­ 12h00 Video/Lightning Talks Patricia Dovi Sampson Director, Research, Statistics & Information Management Ministry of Communications Ghana Prudence Nyamishana SheMatters Uganda

12h00 ­ 13h00 Panel 2: Women’s Rights Online Racheal Nakitare Immediate Former President, International Association of Women in Radio and TV Amel Fahmy Executive Director, Tadwein Gender Research Centre Emilar Vushe Africa Coordinator, Association for Progressive Communications Julie Owono Head of Africa desk, Internet Sans Frontieres Moderator: Anne Githuku­Shongwe, UN Women

13h00 ­ 13h15 Video/Lightning Talks Gathoni Mwai Kenya Country Manager, Afroes Games Team Charis, Nigeria (invited)

13h15 ­13h45 Keynote Nnenna Nwakanma Africa Regional Coordinator, World Wide Web Foundation Frannie Lautier (invited) Vice President, African Development Bank

13h45 ­ 14h30 Lunch

14h30 ­ 15h30 Panel 3: Digital Education & Skills Njideka U Harry Executive Director, Youth for Technology Foundation

Dr. Aminata Garba Professor, Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda Mariéme Jamme Founder, I am the Code Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi Executive Director, W.TEC Moderator: Dorothy Gordon Director­General, Ghana ­India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT

15h30 ­ 16h30 Panel 4: Digital Entrepreneurship Marcello Schermer Africa Manager, Seedstars World Ethel Cofie Founder, Women in Tech Africa Foster Nicholas Ofosu Capacity Development Specialist, African Development Bank Moderator: Farai Gundan Contributor, Forbes Africa

16h30 ­ 17h00 Day 1 Wrap­up Session Sonia Jorge Executive Director, Alliance for Affordable Internet

DAY 2 (September 14)

09h00 ­ 10h00

Gender Responsive Policy Models Funke Opeke CEO, MainOne Cable Regina Honu CEO, Soronko Solutions Dr Omobola Johnson Chair, Alliance for Affordable Internet Moses Owiny Program Manager, WOUGNET Hoda Dahroug Director, Egypt Trust Fund, Ministry of ICT Mavis A. Ampah Lead ICT Policy Specialist, Africa Regional Coordinator, The World Bank

10h00 ­ 11h00 Workshop 1: Fostering Women­centred Technology Design and innovation Adrine Muhura Market Engagement Africa, GSMA Connected Women Noora Flinkman Marketing and Communications Unit Manager, HarassMap Amel Ghouila Regional Ambassador, Technovation Tunisia

11h00 ­ 11h15 Tea/Coffee Break

11h15 ­ 12h15 Workshop 2: The Internet as a Tool for Women's Active Citizenship, Leadership and Feminist Movement Building Christelle N’cho

Technical Advisor on Digital Inclusion, Ministry of Women, Côte d’Ivoire Amel Fahmy Executive Director, Tadwein Gender Research Centre Fungai Machirori Founder, Her Zimbabwe Edith Brou Founder, La Digitale Moderator: Nanjira Sambuli ­ Digital Equality Manager, World Wide Web Foundation

12h15 ­ 13h30 World Cafe Poster/Demo Sessions Temitope Ogundipe Chief Operating Officer, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria Alsacia Atanasio Consultant, SIITRI Rachel Sibande CEO/Founder, M­Hub Malawi Banke Alawaye International Business Manager, Praekelt Foundation Diana Hopeson CEO, GHMusic Publishing and Management Genevieve Simiyu Country Manager (Ghana), Chalkboard Education Amira Dhalla Melissa Romaine Program Lead, Mozilla Advocacy Network Manager, Mozilla Ingrid Brudvig Women’s Rights Research Coordinator, Web Foundation

Noora Flinkman Marketing and Communications Unit Manager, HarassMap Eunice Maranya Kenya Country Director, Digital Opportunity Trust

13h35 ­ 15h00 Closing Luncheon

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Omobola Johnson is Chairperson of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) and a Partner at TLcom Capital, a venture capital firm with recent focus on deal flow generation, investment and value generation in technology companies in Sub­Saharan Africa. Before joining TLcom, Omobola was Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015, focusing on the launch and execution of the National Broadband Plan, and the support of the Nigerian technology industry, including the pioneering involvement of the government in a local VC fund and a network of startup incubators. Prior to serving in the Nigerian government, she gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture, including five years as Country Managing Director, working with companies in a variety of industries,

transforming them into more competitive and dynamic organizations. Omobola serves on the board of a number of leading Nigerian and multinational corporations and is a Trustee of the World Economic Forum’s Future of the Internet Initiative, as well as Founding Chairperson and Trustee, Women in Management and Business. Omobola has a Bachelor's in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester, a Master's in Digital Electronics from King's College, London, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the School of Management of Cranfield University.

Ebele Okobi leads Facebook’s policy and stakeholder engagement across Africa. Ebele was previously Global Head of Human Rights at Yahoo, a lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell (New York, Paris and London); a consumer rights policy fellow at Consumers Union (San Francisco); a senior director at Catalyst (Amsterdam) and MDP in Nike’s EMEA headquarters (Amsterdam). She was a founding board member of the Global Network Initiative and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She attended the University of Southern California, Columbia Law School and HEC­Paris.

Dorothy K. Gordon is a specialist in technology for development. She works with governments, private sector and civil society to drive projects and programmes to move Africa from technology consumption to technology creation. She joined Government of Ghana in 2003 as the first Director­General of the Ghana­India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT. Her work as a specialist in international development spans over 30 years with increasing leadership and management responsibilities. Her extensive experience

within the United Nations, serving in four continents, is complemented by her work in management consulting in the private sector and with civil society. She is actively involved at the Board level in global organisations working to define our digital future. These include the Global Commission on Internet Governance; the World Summit Awards, Literacy Bridge, UNESCO­IICBA and Creative Commons. She is the Chairman of the UNESCO­IICBA King Hamad Bin Isa Al­Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Education as well as Head of the Yidan prize for Education Development Judging Panel. She is an active volunteer for a number of not­for­profits working to change lives for the better at the village level. Her work on editorial boards includes the International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology as well as the Journal of Cyber Policy. She holds degrees from the University of Ghana and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) of the University of Sussex, UK. She is a Pan­Africanist and gender in technology activist.

Julie Owono is a lawyer, and Head of the Africa Desk at Internet Sans Frontières, where she focuses on Rights and Freedoms in the digital space, and cyber development in Africa. She regularly writes columns for various publications, including Al Jazeera English and Quartz, on issues related to politics, law and innovation in the Gulf of Guinea. She often appears as a Gulf of Guinea expert on International Radio and TV channels, including France24, RFI, DW, BBC World, Russia Today.

Clara Pinkrah­Sam is a resourceful, diligent and achievement­oriented person with several years of extensive hands­on experience in training, operations, strategic planning, design and implementation of ICT related development projects. She has over 10 years’ experience as a Consultant in the ITES/BPO industry in Ghana and internationally. She has directed both private and public sector projects to their successful end and has facilitated and supervised the implementation of ICT innovation and entrepreneurship programs using international best practices, leading to successful commercialization of ICT products and services.

She has several years provided support to the private IT/ICT industry in Ghana in terms of their infrastructural needs and ensured the growth of the industry association into a vibrant one. She has been able to place Ghana on the global BPO market as the preferred destination of outsourcing in the sub­continent. Clara has also worked closely with the Ghana Investments Promotion Council, (GIPC), Ghana Export Promotions Authority (GEPA), Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB) and many students including some from the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in creating a number of ICT related jobs locally in the ITES/BPO industry.

Fungai Machirori is the founder of Her Zimbabwe, a women’s web­based platform using digital tools for activism and storytelling. She created the platform in 2012 as a direct solution to one of the recommendations her Masters thesis posited. In 2009 – still one of a very few female Zimbabwean bloggers – she set up her personal blog, Fungai Neni, which in 2011 was runner­up in the World Summit Youth Awards. Active in various areas of women and girls’ organising, Fungai has conducted various research, documentation and evaluation projects around HIV, AIDS, SRHR and social change.

Busayo Obisakin. I am the CEO/Founder of Women Inspiration Development Center, an initiative designed to create a safe place for Nigerian women and girls in challenging life circumstances to envision and create new possibilities for their lives, families and communities. In 2009, I participated in the program Voice of our Future Correspondence (VOF) organized by World Pulse, USA. http://worldpulse.com/user/1463 I am also part of International Initiative called IMAGINE after my Empowerment Certification. I am the Nigeria Program

Manager of this initiative and I won Josie Maran IMAGINE Award 2016.www.imagineprogram.net Through World Pulse, I became part of A4AI coalition group in Nigeria and I have since then been propagating the inclusion of women in the web world through several programs sponsored by Web foundation. I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that “access to internet is access to life”. My most important project now is to have “female only” cybercafés in all the states in Nigeria, an affordable and safe place for disenfranchised women and girls to have access to Internet without fear or intimidation so that they can discover and maximise their potential.

Racheal Nakitare, is a seasoned broadcast journalist with over 25 years experience in media and communication. She holds a Master’s in Communication studies from the University of Nairobi. She studied New Media and Conflict Transformation at Philip Merrill School of Journalism, University of Maryland under the prestigious Hubert Humphrey fellowship. She is the Chief TV Producer at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and has worked extensively on addressing hate speech in and through the Media as well as on Advocacy for women’s rights online. She is the immediate former

President of International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) and currently sits on the Ethical Journalism Network board.

Mariéme Jamme is a Senegalese­born British business­woman in technology. Her consultancy company Spotone Global Solutions helps technology companies to set a foothold in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She has supported many organisations such as Google, Ernst & Young, HSBC Private Banking, The Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown, The Africa Progress Panel chaired by Kofi Annan, The Obama Administration, and multiple African governments through their STEM policies. Often called the diplomat of technology, Mariéme was named one of the 100 most influential Africans by the African Business Magazine and 20 youngest powerful women in Africa by Forbes. Marieme newly became Advisory Board Member of Data Pop Alliance, a global coalition promoting a people­centered Big Data revolution

and a judge and Academy member of the Prestigious Global Teachers Prize Academy. Marieme was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for her activism work in empowering and investing in young girls and women in Africa through Creative learning, entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics and Design (STEAMD). Co­Founder of Africa Gathering, one of the leading platform in Europe that enable businesses, governments, investor and entrepreneurs to share ideas about Africa for positive change, she also recently joined forces with a group of African leaders to create Accur8Africa, a new platform aiming at enabling governments, businesses, entrepreneurs and the civil society in Africa at measuring the success of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 with Accurate Data. Marieme’s latest venture includes the launch of IAMTHECODE, a new movement aiming at mobilising governments, businesses and investors to support girls and young women in STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Design).

Aminata A. Garba is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda. She previously served as the Director General of the Multi­sector Regulatory Authority of Niger and worked on engineering, management, research and teaching in telecommunications at Orange (Niger), the National Institute for Scientific Research (Montreal), the National Center for Scientific Research (France) and the Telecommunication and Signal Processing laboratory and McGill University (Montreal).

She also served as a Director at the African Network Information Center, chair of the West African Telecommunication Regulatory Assembly (WATRA), member of the executive board of the African Water Association, member of the consultative committee of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulation Authority, member of the Informal Experts Group for preparation of the 2013 World Telecommunication/ ICT Policy Forum and member of the national Steering Committee for the Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project. Aminata received the Master and Ph.D. degrees in telecommunications from McGill University (Canada). She co­authored several journal articles, conference papers, invention disclosures and patent applications. Her interests include ICT infrastructure, technologies and policies, Internet of things, emergency communications, cybersecurity, ICT4D (e.g., women empowerment), high data rate transmission, capacity building and higher education.

Named one of the Top 5 Women Impacting IT in Africa, Ethel Cofie is CEO and Founder of EDEL Technology Consulting, an IT Consulting and Digital Products Company in West Africa and Europe, which was recently named IT Consulting Firm of the year by the Telecoms and IT Industry. She is also the founder of Women in Tech Africa, Africa’s largest women in tech group with members in over 30 African countries, and physical chapters in Ghana, Kenya, and London and growing. She is a Mandela Fellow for President Obama’s Young African Leaders initiative (YALI), and a high­caliber IT professional with a wealth of technical and commercial

skills acquired across a wide range of demanding roles and over 12 years’ experience working in the UK, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone on projects for organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Mobile Technology for Health project, the Ford Foundation’s Election Monitoring project for Nigeria. As Head of Commercial Solutions for Vodafone, she conceptualised, executed and worked with teams to align corporate strategy to IT strategy, and developed and managed creative technology solutions. Ethel has been featured in BBC and CNN for her work in technology and women’s leadership. She also sits on the boards of numerous companies in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, and has ambitions to grow EDEL Technology Consulting to the whole of Africa.

Moses Owiny is the Program Manager for Information Sharing and Networking at WOUGNET. His most recent work regarding women in the online space includes the Universal Periodic Review document “Women’s Rights and the internet in Uganda” co­authored with CIPESA and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC and a policy brief entitled: “Cyber infrastructure; A women’s Issue too! – Advancing a gender sensitive approach to ICT policy and decision making in Uganda” which highlights internet freedoms and cyber security issues as relates to women and girls and why participation of women and girls in the internet governance discourse is

significant.

Edith Brou is a tech entrepreneur. She founded La Digitale , a creative agency that produces digital content for brands and personalities and manages relationships with bloggers and influencers. For four years, she was Country and Digital Manager for People Input Côte d’Ivoire, an African digital agency. She directed the business development, many web design projects, mobile application development, SMS, e­reputation and social networking services for many in regional companies. Since 2009, she has led a technology and business watch blog: L’Actu Web d’Edith. A passionate supporter and user of

ICT, the Web, and social media, Edith is also a Web activist, putting her energy and self­sacrifice in the service of the spread of positive and innovative use of the Web in Francophone Africa. A founding member of the organization Akendewa Web, she served as its Secretary General from 2009 to 2010, to its credit, the organization of Barcamp Abidjan 2010 with Google’s presence in Abidjan. She is also the co­founder of the African women’s site www.ayanawebzine.com, a women’s magazine in Ivorian line. In October 2014 ­ invited by the International Union of Telecommunications (ITU) ­ she participated in a three­week programme for Young Leaders in ICT Policy. In February 2015, Jeune Afrique Magazine ranked her among the 50 personalities in the Ivory Coast. Edith graduated in economics from the University Felix Houphouet Boigny sciences. She was elected and has served since December 22th, 2015 as the President of the Association of Ivory Coast Bloggers (ABCI).

Nanjira Sambuli is a Nairobi­based researcher and analyst interested in and works on understanding the unfolding impacts of ICT adoption and how those impact governance, innovation, entrepreneurship and societal culture, in her native Kenya, and also across Africa. Some of her research outputs include an assessment of the ICT and Governance Landscape in East Africa (iHub Research), Cybersecurity and Cyber­resilience in East Africa (CIGI) as well as Challenges and opportunities for

advancing Internet access in developing countries while upholding net neutrality (Journal of Cyber Policy). She is also a columnist for the Daily Nation newspaper in Kenya.

Mavis Ampah is the Africa Regional Coordinator and Lead ICT Policy Specialist for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the Transport and ICT Global Practice of the World Bank. Mavis has led the Bank’s ICT programs in several countries in Africa and the Caribbean regions. Her areas of expertise include telecommunications policy and infrastructure development, IT industry, e­government, and public­private partnerships. Mavis led the World Bank and Ghana Government efforts to modernize revenue generation, business registration, and immigration systems and create jobs in Ghana through the eGhana project. Mavis has held various senior level positions in the telecommunications and finance sector in Africa and is passionate about improving access for underserved communities. She has a Master’s degree from

Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelors in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Regina Honu is the CEO of Soronko Solutions. She runs a mentorship program called Tech Needs Girls which has trained over 3000 girls in 8 regions in Ghana and Burkina Faso to code and create technology. She is the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador. Regina has won several awards including Startup Entrepreneur of the year, JCI Ghana Outstanding Young Person for scientific and technological advancement and finalist for the ITU African Digital Woman of the Year. She was featured on CNN as an inspirational women who rocks STEM and named a woman making an impact in Tech in

Africa. She is part of the advisory board on a project to amend the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to include Digital rights of a child.

Anne Githuku­Shongwe is the newly­appointed Representative for UN Women's South Africa Multi­Country Office (SAMCO), which is responsible for women's empowerment and gender equality in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia as well as South Africa, where the office is based. Anne is an award­winning social entrepreneur and founder of youth­development digital innovation organization Afroes. She has a Masters’ degree in International Development from The American University; a postgraduate certificate in Social Innovation from the University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business

and a certificate in The Art of Large Scale Systems Change for Social Entrepreneurship from Harvard University. Anne also brings to her role 20 years of experience as a senior international development professional with the United Nations Development Programme, during which she pioneered innovative and successful approaches to combating HIV and AIDS as well as Public Sector Capacity Development.

Njideka Harry is the President and CEO of Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF), an innovative non­profit organization focused on using the power of technology to transform the lives of youth and women living in low income and developing world communities. Ms. Harry has a global reputation as a thought leader in the area of technology for development. She serves as a consultant to several social enterprises, companies with a social mission, and agencies on matters related to education technology, entrepreneurship, girls and women’s welfare, and economic empowerment.

Ms. Harry graduated with her MBA from Kellogg School of Management. She is an Ashoka Fellow and a World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneur.

Gathoni Mwai is the Afroes Kenya Country Office Manager with a background in social development issues in Africa and the use of data and technology for development. Prior to joining Afroes Gathoni worked in rural Kenya and despite the hardship everyone had a mobile phone, and this is where technology and mobile phones for development became of interest to her. Gathoni joined Afroes as project manager for Haki II: Chaguo Ni Lako, the PeaceApp award winning, mobile game, used for peacebuilding in Kenya, in the run up to the 2013 elections. Rachel Sibande is CEO and Founder of mHub; Malawi's first technology hub. The hub is a social enterprise that nurtures young people with skills in technology and entrepreneurship. Rachel was listed by Forbes as one of the 30 most Promising young entrepreneurs in Africa in 2016. She is a Google Award recipient. A Next Einstein Forum Ambassador and an Alumna of President Obama's Young African Leaders initiative. She is a PhD candidate in computer science in South Africa. Adrine Muhura I am the Connected Women Manager – Africa at the GSMA, I work with MNO’s and their partners to reduce the gender gap in mobile money and Mobile internet specifically in low and middle class markets for the greater good. I have over 10 years working experience having worked in both the Telecommunication and FMCG industry with Safaricom Ltd, Nestle, Reckitt Benckiser & Brookside Dairy Ltd in both Sales and Marketing capacities. I hold a Degree in Business

Administration, Marketing Major from Africa Nazarene University and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Management from the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

Banke Alawaye International Business Manager ­ Praekelt Foundation . Banke holds a B.Sc in Computer Science and a Masters in Business Administration from Edinburgh Business School, Scotland. Her experience spans investment banking, software development, management consulting and general management. Her work at Praekelt has exposed her to social impact projects and applying mobile solutions to development problems. Recent work includes serving as programme manager on HelloMAMA, a Maternal Health Project in Nigeria, MAMAConnect, a project that provides life saving health information using satellite technology and the UNICEF U­Reporter Project. Christelle N'CHO ASSIROU is the Adviser to the Minister of Women’s Promotion, Family and Child Protection, responsible for Digital Inclusion Presidente of « Women and ICT » NGO Expert Trainer "Internet Governance and Information Systems" Expert Gender and ICT at the Unesco Chair Water, Women and Decision Power Communicator for Compendium of Women Skills of Cote d’Ivoire Since 2000, Mrs. Christelle N'CHO ASSIROU is a pioneer in

the promotion and popularization of ICT in Ivory Coast and Francophone Africa. Her continuing advocacy and continuous lobbying of governments has greatly contributed to the inclusion of gender in the field of digital Ivory Coast.

Oreoluwa Lesi is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC). W.TEC is a nonprofit organization she set­up in 2008 to build the capacities of Nigerian girls and women, to increase their economic power and ability to speak about issues affecting their lives, through information and communication technology (ICT)­based training, research and mentorship. Oreoluwa has a Bachelors degree in Economics from Essex University, U.K. a Masters degree in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics & Political Science, a Certificate in Applied

Sciences from Harvard University’s Extension School and a Certificate in Social Sector Management from Pan African University’s Enterprise Development Centre. Her interests are the applications of technology in improving lifelong learning and also to raise the economic and social conditions of people (especially women and children) in the developing world. Oreoluwa’s work has also been showcased in the media, including Seriously Speaking with Adesuwa Onyenokwe – August 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hbPfW3bUg), Close Flow with Fola Martins – June 2015 & September 2013 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMr075F19pw), Moments with Mo – 2013 and Naija Diamonds – February 2012 (http://bit.ly/1Idm5UQ). She is a 2014 Vital Voices Lead Fellow (awarded to emerging and established women leaders across the world), 2013 Ashoka fellow (a network of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs) and a recipient of the Anita Borg Change Agent Award (for her commitment to supporting women in computing in Nigeria). She was recognized with a 2014 ‘Chosen Youth’ Leadership Award from LaRoche Foundation and as one of YNaija!’s Top 100 Young People in Technology of 2014 and 2016.

Genevieve Simiyu is an African citizen keen on developing Africa through social impact. She has 5 years experience working on projects related to health, education, entrepreneurship and environmental issues in East and West Africa. Currently, she is the Country Manager (Ghana) of Chalkboard Education, an e­learning application that makes content accessible to anyone, everywhere, on any device and without an internet connection. Prior to joining Chalkboard Education, Genevieve has

coordinated various projects including computer literacy projects in 5 regions in Ghana impacting over 5000 primary and junior high school pupils.

Emilar Vushe Gandhi leads the policy work in Africa for the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), an international network of organizations working with Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to support social justice and development. Before joining APC, Emilar was a policy researcher with the Media Monitoring Africa focusing on the representation of race, gender and class in South Africa's media. She is devoted to ICT policy development and has over the years been engaged in expanding it from a multi­stakeholder approach at national and regional levels in Africa.

Angelique E. Weeks is the first female and longest serving Chairperson of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority serving her second four­year term through the appointment of the President of Liberia, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and confirmation by the Liberian Senate.

Recently ascending to the position of First Vice President of the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA) in Praia, Cape Verde, Chairperson Weeks serves on the Executive Committee of the regional decision­making body whose functions include harmonizing the region’s regulatory identity and boosting investment and investor confidence in the telecommunications industry. Consistent with WATRA practice,

next year Liberia represented by Chairperson Weeks will become President of WATRA.

Ms. Weeks heads the LTA’s implementation of the West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (WARCIP) Liberia Project, which facilitated the landing of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) Cable in Liberia, institutional capacity building and launching of Liberia’s Universal Access Program. She served as Vice – Chairperson on the ACE Management Committee from 2010­2013. This is the highest decision­making body of the consortium and her election marked the first time a National Regulator held an executive management position for a submarine cable consortium.

Prior to her telecommunications career, Ms. Weeks served as Principal Deputy and Chief Legal Officer at the Bureau of Maritime Affairs; and Chief Legal Counsel at the Ministry of Finance. She was on the negotiation team which finalized the Amended and Restated Firestone Concessions Agreement.

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Law School, Ms. Weeks also has a M. Sc. in Engineering in the Management of Technology from the University of Pennsylvania. The Executive Masters in Technology Management (EMTM) program has a joint curriculum in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the University’s prestigious Wharton School of Business.

Helping youth achieve their potential and volunteerism has been at the heart of Ms. Weeks’ civic engagements. She has been a very active fund raiser for causes, tutored disadvantaged children at homework centers, provided in class guidance for high school students and taught vacation Bible school.

Ms. Weeks hails from Crozerville, Montserrado County and is the sixth of eight children from the union of Dr. Rocheforte L. Weeks and Eupheme G. Cooper Weeks.

Farai Gundan is a candidate for Masters in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Mason Fellow. She is also 2015 Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum and a Dangote Fellow. Farai has been listed as the number one top Forbes writers amongst top 10 writers for Forbes.com. She also writes for ESSENCE, a leading US publication that focuses on women of color. She is the recipient of the 2016 "Special Recognition Award" by Zimbabwe Achievers Awards; the 2015 "Media Excellence Award" by African Women Awards and 2014 "Emerging African Leader Award" by Temple University. Ladybrille Magazine named Farai as one of “20 Influential African Women Entrepreneurs in America to watch in 2015”. In 2013, Forbes named Farai as one of its

Top 30 Best Entrepreneurs from Africa. Farai runs FaraiMedia, a strategy and communications consultancy.

Diana Hopeson, CEO of GHMusic Publishing and Management. A Missionary/Musician with certificate in Music Therapy. Artiste with the favorite Hit “Winner” album. Diana has served the Ghana Music industry over the past 25 years in Policy making, Copyright issues, Unionism and women empowerment. Diana Organized an advocacy program for women in the creative industry in collaboration with UN women and the Ministry for Gender, children and social protection in 2011 when President of the Musicians Union of Ghana, (Musiga). She is a Board member of the Ghana Music rights organization (Ghamro) and the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA).

Nnenna Nwakanma is the Web Foundation’s Africa Regional Coordinator, Nnenna works to develop cutting­edge collaborations in Africa to enable increased access to affordable broadband. An experienced development professional who has worked in the ICT field in Africa for over a decade, Nnenna co­founded the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa and has served as a board member of the Open Source Initiative. Sonia Jorge is Executive Director of A4AI and Web Foundation Digital Equality Program Director. Sonia manages policy, advocacy, membership, partner and country engagement, and all other work across A4AI and the Web Foundation’s access focused programming. An expert in the confluence of development and communications policy, Sonia has over 25 years of diverse international experience in a career spanning both the private and not­for­profit sectors and across over 30 countries. Rosemary Mbabazi was appointed the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and ICT in February 2012. She holds bachelor’s degree in Education from Makerere University and MBA from UK. In 2011 Rosemary was appointed as caretaker of Umubano Hotel and Chairperson of Soprotel (joint venture company between government of Rwanda and Government of Libya). From 2009­ 2011, She headed investment promotion department in Rwanda Development Board. She has wide experience in ICT policy and regulation. She has served as board of director on several private and public sector institutions.