#InspiringFiftySA Announces this year's esteemed panel of judges
[10 May 2018]. #InspiringFiftySA is delighted to announce this year’s high acclaimed panel of judges. The panel consists of pioneers in the STEM sector, as well as some of last year’s winners who continue to inspire change and achieve groundbreaking work. The deadline for nominations is 9 July 2018, followed by the announcement of the final fifty on 9 August 2018.
Inspiring Fifty is a Dutch based non-profit organisation that showcases inspiring female role models in the STEM industry in the Netherlands, France, Europe and the Nordics. Built on the core philosophy ”If she can see it, she can be it”, Inspiring Fifty annually awards the 50 most inspiring women in the STEM sector with the aim of providing a platform that brings more visibility to the achievements of women in the innovation and technology sector.
“Being an #InspiringFiftySA judge exposed me to a high caliber of women in the SA tech space that I didn’t even know existed. It was tough to choose as I was in awe of the 270 nominations from all over SA. I made new connections with very powerful women in Tech. I believe South Africa has a great pool of role models that need to be exposed to girls and #InspiringFiftySA is doing exactly that,” said Baratang Miya, #InspiringFiftySA 2017 Judge and Founder of GirlHype.
Carol Bouwer
Founder of Carol Bouwer Productions and UNICEF SA’s Special Advocate for women and children
Irene Ochem
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF)
Nokuthula “Nokky” Ndlovu
Founder of Limit Breakers Global Foundation, a Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation mentor, an associate of The Department of Education’s Techno Girls Programme, Mentor on Absa Bank’s Girls-in-Tech Programme and Ambassador for numerous technology empowerment initiatives
Dr Adriana Marais
Theoretical physicist, Head of Innovation at SAP Africa and aspiring extraterrestrial
Abbas Jamie
Director for Innovation and Transformation at Aurecon Africa and also serves as the Community Liaison Africa for the World Design Organisation
Thabile Ngwato
Primetime and current affairs News Anchor at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
Frederik Gerner
Co-founder of FORWARD.one
Dr Mmaki Jantjies
Head of the Information Systems department at the University of the Western Cape
Naadiya Moosajee
Co-Founder of WomHub and WomEng; independent board director at the MMI Foundation, at Pegasys; Emeritus Director for the International Youth Foundation and Global Future Council Member with the World Economic Forum: Gender, Education and the Future of Work and a speaker
Baratang Miya
Founder and CEO of Women In Tech Academy; Regional coordinator and mentor for Mozilla; Award winning speaker, facilitator, coder, blogger and tech education activist her fellow Africans through technology education.
#InspiringFiftySA is an initiative in collaboration with #cocreateSA, the national campaign of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Cape Town.
To meet the criteria, a nominee has to be a founder of a technology company; or hold a position in a C-Level position in a technology company; or be an influencer, academic or politician in the technology or innovation space. Inspiring Fifty encourages South Africans and the technology eco-system to nominate their most inspiring female role models.