[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.