Women in digital marketing across  Africa have embraced the industry’s fluidity and created businesses and academies that are geared towards the absorption of more women in the field.

We looked across the continent and found four women who are dominating the field.

Zandile Keebine Co-Founder Of GirlCode (South Africa)

Zandile began with a passion for software development, whilst working in the industry, she noticed the vast gender inequality that exists within tech. In 2014 Zandile founded GirlCode, a social enterprise that aims to empower young girls and women through technology. 

Since its launch, GirlCode has grown into non-profit impacting hundreds of young girls through skills development and mentoring programs. GirlCode launched the Digital Academy, the GirlCoder Club, the GirlCode Accelerator Programme, and the GirlCode Incubator initiative.

The GirlCode SMME accelerator is a rapid growth program designed to assist female-owned TechSMEs. Zandile and the team aim to impact 10 million women across Africa starting with getting young girls interested in STEM and becoming the largest female digital academy in Africa.

Faraja Nyalandu, Founder Of Shule Direct (Tanzania)

Born and raised in Tanzania, Faraja did not have access to all educational resources to support her studies. She was introduced to the world of online learning whilst studying for her Law Degree. With a passion for bringing quality education within reach in Tanzania, Faraja wanted to create online and learning spaces to bridge the gap. She launched her company in 2016

Shule Direct creates accessible digital educational content for children in Tanzania – delivering educational services to rural communities. Students can access course notes, quizzes, and interactive syllabus through means that are the most accessible to them: a mobile phone, an internet cafe, or a device at their school.

Shule Direct is building a Tanzania where, regardless of physical, financial, or geographical circumstances, all children will have access to quality education. By introducing students to digital learning with materials that are accessible and relevant to them, they are helping to guarantee success in school and life beyond the classroom.

June Syowia, Founder and CEO of Beiless Group (Kenya)

Beiless Group is a marketing firm based in Kenya founded by June Syowia. Services include online media campaigns, strategic online communication, digital advertising, social media management, and content creation.

Whilst studying at the University of Nairobi, Syowia attended a training class that sparked her interest in digital marketing. Following this, she bought a laptop and pitched marketing services to her friends for free, which led to her company being established in 2015. In addition to running Beiless Group, Syowia operates a database where people from the construction industry can advertise their labour services.

Aged 23, Syowia made the Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list for 2018. This recognition comes after she was awarded the Global Student Entrepreneur Award in Kenya and named among the 100 Brightest Young Minds in Africa for 2017. The year before that, Syowia was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential Young Kenyans, an achievement she repeated in 2018.

Tofara Chokera – Founder of TofaraOnline (Zimbabwe)

Tofara is an Information Technology Engineer by profession, an award-winning entrepreneur, and a passionate digital marketing and innovation consultant. She founded African Queen Zimbabwe a clothing line that has grown beyond borders through digital marketing.

She also Founded TofaraOnline – A digital Marketing and innovation Consulting Trust which aims at empowering women and young people to embrace digital marketing and implement tech-based innovative solutions to grow their businesses. Tofara developed an Online bookshop called Rava so that she helps African writers to sell their books to the global community.

She has also managed to suggest and implement tech-based business solutions which have helped a lot of people to grow their businesses. She has trained more than 4,000 women in Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship Online, solving unemployment, hunger issues, and access to skills education across Africa, which will increase the number of women in digital marketing.

TofaraOnline launched an e-learning platform called E-Digital Skills Academy which will help millions of Africans to access free and affordable training on critical tech skills. 

These women all across Africa are doing amazing in the field of digital marketing, life-changing things in the digital space. Two of them have transcended from just using technology as a tool for their services to forming Digital academies same as Nikolina Kobali, offering women in Zimbabwe digital marketing skills that they can take across the globe.