The African Women’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) has released the list of speakers for its reputable annual conference and benchmark awards holding on September 26-27 in Cairo, Egypt, and virtual.
AWIEF is moving to North Africa for the first time and has partnered with the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation (MOIC) and the Egyptian Business Association (EBA) to host this year’s event in Egypt. AWIEF is commemorating the eighth anniversary of its award-winning conference, exhibition, and awards.
More than 60 corporate, international development, and government specialists from Africa and around the world are prepared to present their ideas and thought leadership at the conference.
The impressive lineup of top-tier international speakers for AWIEF2022 includes:
HE Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister for International Cooperation Egypt
Damilola Ogunbiyi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Executive Director of SE4ALL and Co-Chair of UN-Energy
Elena Atanasova Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt
Sherif El Gabaly, Member of Parliament (MP) and Chairman of the African Affairs Committee in the Egyptian Parliament
Hon. Bogolo Kenewendo, former Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry of Botswana
Ayoade Alakija, WHO Special Envoy for ACT-Accelerator and Co-Chair of the African Union Alliance for Vaccine Delivery
Jackie Jones, Director and Chief of Staff, Gender Equality Division, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dina Saleh, Regional Director, Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia, IFAD
Uzoma Dozie, Founder and CEO, Sparkle Digital Bank, Nigeria
Ali Eiss, President of the Egyptian Business Association (EBA)
Patricia Obozuwa, Vice President of Government Affairs, Communications and Sustainability for Africa, The Coca Cola Company
Izabela Milewska, Global Digital Skills Leader, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Dalia Ibrahim, CEO of Nahdet Misr Publishing House and founder of EdVentures
Amany Asfour, President of the African Business Council
Chinyere Almona, General Director, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Marieme Esther Dassanou, Manager, Affirmative Financial Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), African Development Bank (AfDB) Group.
The sponsors of AWIEF2022 are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Amazon Web Services, the Africa-Europe Foundation, Nedbank, Visa, Sparkle and AGRA.
The partners of AWIEF2022 are the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation, Egyptian Entrepreneurs Association (local co-organizers), EdVentures (Edtech community partner), APO Group (AWIEF lead partner and official news service); Africa.com (media partner) and Ethiopian Airlines.
The 2022 AWIEF Awards and Gala Dinner will hold on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, with Amazon Web Services as Title Sponsor, while Category Sponsors are Visa (Tech Entrepreneur Award) and Nedbank (Young Entrepreneur Award).
According to Minister Rania Al-Mashat, “The organization of AWIEF2022 in Egypt reflects Egypt’s enthusiasm and support to empower women and enhance their economic participation and important roles in innovation and entrepreneurship to achieve sustainable development. Such a step also reflects the critical roles of state and national efforts on women’s empowerment to strengthen women’s contribution to labor markets.”
Irene Ochem, Founder and Executive Director of AWIEF, says: “The theme of this year’s AWIEF event is inspired by the fact that no conversation about empowerment or entrepreneurship can, or should, exclude women or men.
Gender diversity and inclusion is vital to Africa’s economic growth.
Much progress has been made, but there is still much work to be done, especially in relation to access to finance for women entrepreneurs, access to markets, vocational training and networks.
Egypt is at the forefront of the African innovation and business ecosystem, and we are going to learn from and connect with those who are driving this growing economy and other African economies.”
