You know how we love to share the stories and awe inspiring achievements of our great continent’s power women; the crop of Africans who have gone the extra distance to create the unimaginable and sow seeds of hope in the lives of others.
Rebecca Enonchong is one of such women whose voice exudes courage and strength. She is a fast rising techpreneur and the founder and CEO of AppsTech, a leading global provider of enterprise application solutions, with offices on three continents and private and public sector clients in more than 50 countries. She currently serves as a mentor/advisor to several Africa based technology start-ups.
The power woman believes strongly in the future of African technology and the role of women in the larger scheme. “A lot of outside focus on Africa’s tech industry, especially when it comes to women, is that it is permanently harnessed to social ventures,” she says in an interview with This is Africa. “Tech can and should play an important role in addressing Africa’s socio-economic challenges. But we should not overlook that African tech ventures, including those led by women, need to be able to compete as for-profit entities. To really put African tech on the map, we have to win in the global marketplace.”
Rebecca is also a co-founder and board member of ActivSpaces (African Center for Technology Innovation and Ventures) and also sits on the board of Venture Capital for Africa (VC4Africa), the largest online community dedicated to entrepreneurs and investors building companies in Africa.
The leading lady was born in Cameroon in 1967, but later moved to the US with her family. From age 15, she began selling door-to-door newspaper subscriptions to help raise money for the family and two years later, she was made manager of the same firm.
Rebecca Enonchong holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Economics from the Catholic University of America and is recognized as the world’s first Oracle Financials Certified Professional, with over 30 Oracle certifications. Fresh from the University, she tried several jobs in a number of organizations including Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB) and Oracle Corporation.
In 1999, having acquired the requisite knowledge and experience, she took a courageous leap to found AppsTech, a Bethesda, Maryland-based global provider of enterprise application solutions and an Oracle Platinum Partner with customers in over 50 countries. The company opened offices in several countries, including the CEO’s home country, Cameroon.
A recipient of Enterprise Africa’s 2001 African Entrepreneurship Award, Ms. Rebecca Enonchong was also named a Global Leader for Tomorrow (GLT) in 2002 by the World Economic Forum of Davos, Switzerland, as part of the annual award that recognizes outstanding leaders around the world.
She was also honored by the US State of Pennsylvania with the prestigious Benjamin Franklin award for small business and has been featured in several leading newspapers and magazines including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, MBE magazine, and Computer World.
In 2014, Rebecca was named Top Woman in Tech by Black Enterprise magazine and finalist for 2013 African Digital Woman of the Year Award. Rebecca is fluent in English and French and tweets as @africatechie. She shares a stream of African tech news, events, and advice with her 30,000 followers each day.
Like Rebecca, take a courageous leap in the right direction and watch how all other things would naturally align.
