Rachel Sibande
Rachel Sibande (born January 9, 1986) is a Malawian digital and data development specialist. She is also a social entrepreneur in the technology and energy domains. She is the Founder and Director of Malawi`s first technology and innovation Hub; mHub.
Rachel Chimwemwe Sibande | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 9, 1986 |
Rachel has championed the development and deployment of innovative technology solutions across fields such as Agriculture, Public Health, Elections Monitoring, Citizen Engagement, Disaster Management and Digital Financial Services in more than 14 countries. She has over a decade of industry experience spanning academia, development and social enterprise domains.
Early life and education
Rachel Sibande was born in 1986 in Lilongwe, Malawi.
At 15, attended the University of Malawi's Chancellor College. She graduated with a Bachelors, majoring in Computer Science.
Sibande attained a Master of Science in Information Theory, Coding and Cryptography from Mzuzu University in 2007 with a distinction.
Sibande enrolled for a PhD in Computer Science 2015 at Rhodes University in South Africa.
Career
Rachel Sibande serves as Program Director, Data for Development at the Digital Impact Alliance; a unit within the United Nations Foundation. She leads country wide Big Data for development demonstration models in the Africa region.
She founded Malawi`s first technology and innovation hub called mHub in 2013. Since mHub`s establishment, Rachel has impacted over 40,000 young innovative entrepreneurs with digital and entrepreneurial skills to champion and develop sustainable business solutions. mHub facilitates financing and investment readiness support for emerging entrepreneurs . Entrepreneurs receiving financing and technical support from mHub cut across sectors such as technology, energy, waste management, food processing, agricultural production, engineering etc.
Rachel also pioneered initiatives to advance digital skills amongst children, girls, youth and women. The Children`s Coding Club, Girls` Coding Club, Robotics Club and Machine Learning boot camps among others (cf Code Club) introduce young people and especially girls to the world of technology training them how to develop games, animations and mobile technology applications, creating a generation of technology creators.[3]
Rachel has previously served as Director for USA based non-profit entities ACDI/VOCA, Agribusiness Systems International and Palladium Group on socio economic growth projects in East Africa[1].
Sibande has led the deployment of technology solutions for elections monitoring in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelsibande/
Honours and awards
- 2020: Listed by Avance Media as one of the 100 Most Influential African Women of the year
- 2019: Recipient of 'Forbes Woman Africa Gen Y Award', at the Forbes Africa Woman Summit, South Africa
- 2019: New Wealth Creator, Forbes Woman Africa, South Africa
- 2018: Won Climate Smart track innovate to invent award at the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Global Gathering in Rwanda for creating a thermal chemical process that generates light for rural microgrids.
- 2017: Young Visionary Leader of the World; World Youth Forum (WYF), Egypt
- 2016: Listed by FORBES as one of the 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa
- 2016: Malawi’s Ambassador to the Next Einstein Forum (NEF)
- 2015: Google Anita Borg Scholarship
- 2012:Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Washington DC
Personal life
Sibande is married to Chrispine Sibande, a Malawian human rights lawyer. Together, they have three children.