Dr. Dorothy Okello of Kampala, Uganda is Africa’s first-ever Digital Woman of the Year, an honor bestowed upon her at an Africa ICT Days gala ceremony for the Digital Woman Award finalists that took place on 16 November in Yaoundé, Cameroon. According to Award organisers, Dr. Okello distinguished herself among a vast and talented pool of candidates from across Africa for her work to increase participation of girls and women in digital sectors in Africa and around the world.
Dr. Okello holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Makerere University in Uganda, a Master of Electrical Engineering from Kansas University in the United States, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where she received a Commonwealth scholarship. In May 2000, Dr. Okello founded WOUGNET (Women of Uganda Network) with several women’s organisations in Uganda. WOUGNET is an NGO whose purpose is to promote uptake of information and communication technologies (ICT) among women.
Join us in congratulating Dr. Okello and wishing her a fruitful year as Africa’s first Digital Woman of the Year!
Sasha is founder of both the European Centre for Women and Technology and the Bulgarian Centre of Women in Technology, having launched the latter at end 2012. During her career as a global executive for Hewlett-Packard, Sasha succeeded in attracting key investment in the ICT sector in Bulgaria that resulted in thousands of new digital jobs. She is responsible for launching and actively contributing to a multitude of outreach activities that aim to inspire girls and women to pursue digital careers in Bulgaria and beyond.
14-year-old Amy has been coding for three years and has inspired people of all ages with her keynote speeches at the Raspberry Jamboree, Campus Party EU and Wired: Next Generation. She teaches older pupils how to code during her school lunch breaks and with the Manchester Girl Geeks.
Lune develops her own games and interactive movies with 
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Carrie Anne is leading change in the way computing is taught at schools across the UK through her work with the department for Education, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and computing at school. She is engaged in projects to inspire girls and other minority groups into computing and tackling teaching resources that currently disenfranchise young girls and women. For the second year in a row, Carrie Anne’s initiative Geek Gurl Diaries has been nominated for a digital heroes award. She is also writing a fun tech book for teenagers about Raspberry Pi to engage all regardless of gender.
At 13, Olina Helga has taught both children and teachers the basics of programming. She has blogged for Little Miss Geek in the UK, been nominated to speak at TED and showcased as a keynote speaker at Iceland’s largest IT conferences. She especially enjoys seminars for girls that combine the basics in programming and building up self-confidence.
