Inspiring Leader of the Year Award Finalists 2022

Joy Mwangi, CEO & Co-Founder, Ada Animation

Joy Mwangi is among the few female entrepreneurs that have dared to venture into the animation industry, a male-dominated tank, and has founded her own animation studio, Ada Animation, in September 2020. Ada Animation is a pan-African Animation studio headquartered in Kenya that seeks to build a thriving industry in Africa that will in turn create employment for the youth and catalyze wealth creation opportunities. The studio is also present in two other countries: the UK and South Africa

Her studio is the first in Kenya and one of the few in Africa that has successfully executed an all animation capacity-building program. Ada Animation Bootcamp is a three-month hybrid program that provides ambitious African animators with the necessary skills, tools, mentorship, and a platform to create their own stories and earn from them.

To bridge the gap of lack of mentorship and training, she has collaborated with renowned industry players as the mentors who train and network with the trainees with an outcome of creating a skilled workforce that will eventually collaborate in their international projects through Ada Animation's capacity-building portal.

Abdi Mohamed, Managing Director at Absa Bank Tanzania

Absa Bank Tanzania Managing Director, Abdi Mohamed, joined the bank in April 2016 to drive a growth strategy and implement the transition of the bank to Absa. He is an experienced banker with over 20 years’ experience in the banking industry in Africa and Europe.

Prior to his current role in Tanzania he has held senior leadership roles with Absa (Then Barclays) in Kenya, Zambia and the United Kingdom. In Kenya as Chief Operating Officer (COO) he led the transformation of the bank’s operations and technology function implementing a number of complex strategic programmes. In Zambia he led the retail expansion programme as the retail banking director, placing the bank in a leadership position in Zambia. He also spent 3 years in the bank’s London headquarters as a Change Programme Manager in the earlier part of his career.

Mitwa Ng'ambi, CEO of MTN Rwanda

Mitwa Ng'ambi is the CEO of MTN Rwanda and has led the company through many great transformational milestones over the last two years. Despite challenging market conditions Mitwa saw to the listing of MTN Rwanda on the Rwanda Stock Exchange, established the country's very first Telco FinTech subsidiary (Mobile Money Rwanda Ltd) and also successfully concluded the operator's License Renewal. She is recognized as a people oriented leader and a champion for women empowerment in the ICT/Tech space. She deserves a win.

Dr. Chao Mbogho, Founder & CEO, KamiLimu

Dr. Chao is a Founder, Mentor, Innovator, Educator and one of the few Kenyan women with a PhD in Computer Science. Her prowess in all these areas has made her one of the most inspiring role models of our generation. It is no wonder that she has received over 25 awards, fellowships, and grants.