ChangemakersAround the World
Click To Explore The 2024 Regional Awardees
Latin America AND The Caribbean
We envision a world where sustainability is seamlessly integrated into everyday life, and people understand that their decisions can have a positive impact on the environment.”
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Linus offers a range of sustainable lifestyle products, including a popular line of eco-friendly PVC sandals that are 100% recyclable and vegan.
About Her Business
Brazil
Founder & CEO, Linus
MARLENE MOLERO SUáREZ
MARLENE MOLERO SUáREZ
Mercedes Bidart
Founder, ELSA
Peru
ELSA’s software platform eliminates reporting barriers for sexual harassment victims by enabling them to report anonymously and creates strategies for companies using this data.
About Her Business
We have changed the narrative. Companies used to sweep sexual harassment under the carpet, but now they are proud to say they are addressing it.”
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Founder, Quipu
COLOMBIA
Quipu provides financing for informal businesses in Latin America by building an equitable AI
credit score.
About Her Business
The main pain point isthe access to capital. It is a real challenge to transform the economy if we don’t solve that crucial point.”
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Isabela Chusid
Mercedes Bidart
Isabela Chusid
Click To Explore The 2024 Thematic Awards Recipients
TRAILBLAZERS of INNOVATION
AND INCLUSION
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PIONEER AWARD
DIVERSITY, EQUITY
AND INCLUSION AWARD
NINNA GRANUCCI
Green Spot Technologies turns plant-based byproducts such as peels, pulps and hulls into nutritious, tasty powders that become food ingredients, using a patented fermentation process.
Founder, Green Spot Technologies
France
Our fermentation platform transforms the plant-based side streams that today are going to landfills. It’s a shame because that’s the most nutritious part of fruit, vegetables and cereals. Our fermentation technology upcycles these wasted side streams for food applications.”
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NousQ created CLiKX, the world’s first handheld robotic device for ear tube surgery without microscopes or general anesthesia.
Singapore
Founder & CEO, NousQ
LYNNE
LIM
uFraction8 develops filtration systems that help manufacturers of products like lab-grown meat harvest and process more sustainably and efficiently.
Scotland & Poland
Cofounder & CEO, uFraction8
MONIKA TOMECKA
Glue ear can delay speech, language and cognitive development, sometimes permanently, and severe cases are associated with lower socioeconomic status. We hope to address the unmet needs of millions of children and democratize access to care.”
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By providing new technologies, we hope uFraction8 will be an enabler for a bioprocessing revolution that produces abundant sustainable food.”
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KYLA BOLDEN
JULIA
TAYLOR
JESSICA MENON
CANADA
Wiz Kid Learning offers turnkey STEM, coding and AI classes via partnerships with schools and youth organizations, preparing students for future educational and professional success.
About Her Business
This world will be better if more people from different types of backgrounds and different locations are able to understand and create technology.”
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Founder, Wiz Kid Learning
KYLA BOLDEN
USA
GeekPack equips women and other underrepresented populations with vital digital skills to succeed in today’s tech-enabled world.
About Her Business
We want our community to be like a mirror so anyone who is not part of it can say, ‘she looks like me.’ We want to represent as many different faces as possible.”
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Founder, GeekPack
JULIA TAYLOR
USA
Equilo harnesses big data, deep analytics and machine learning to identify and address gender issues across nations, projects and markets.
About Her Business
Equilo’s vision is to make it normative for decision makers the world over to include gender equality and social inclusion in day-to-day conversations and decisions.”
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Founder & CEO, Equilo
Jessica Menon
North America
LAURA HARNETT
Amaia Rodríguez
MIRA NAMETH
UNITED KINGDOM
Seep produces eco-friendly, plastic-free cleaning tools that
are as effective as traditional,
toxic alternatives.
About Her Business
If you can get customers
to make a tiny switch, it can make a difference. I want to show my daughter what women, especially female entrepreneurs,
can accomplish.”
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Founder & CEO, Seep
LAURA HARNETT
SPAIN
Gravity Wave cleans up marine plastic and converts it into durable, sustainable furniture and products.
About Her Business
I saw the reality of plastic pollution in the ocean,
and I couldn’t just stand by. I decided not to wait for someone else to do something about it. I was the person I’d been waiting for.”
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Cofounder & CEO, Gravity Wave
Amaia Rodríguez
UNITED KINGDOM
Biophilica’s product Treekind®
is a plastic-free leather alternative—made from leaves and other raw compostable materials—that is biodegradable and home compostable.
About Her Business
Not only is the production of Treekind safe for the workers who are making it, but it’s also non-toxic for the consumer
wearing it. It doesn’t
put harmful chemicals
into the environment or contribute to plastic pollution in our oceans.”
“
Founder & CEO, Biophilica
MIRA NAMETH
EUROPE
ISABELLE KAMARIZA
JESSICA LONG
VICTORIA MUNGUTI
RWANDA
Solid’Africa provides hospital patients with nutritious meals at an affordable price to solve the issue of food availability in public hospitals.
About Her Business
What drives me is the patient. When you see somebody getting better because of a meal, it reminds me that I’m working for the patient.
I tell my staff: You’re not working for me or for the board. You are working
for each patient.”
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Founder, Solid’Africa
ISABELLE KAMARIZA
SENEGAL
Maad supplies everyday household products to thousands of small shops as part of its mission to modernize informal retail in Francophone West Africa.
About Her Business
Maad is about greater financial security for everyone. Informal retailers drive the economy in West Africa. We are building new tools and services that
help them thrive.”
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Co-CEO, Maad
JESSICA LONG
RWANDA
HeptaPay is an online platform allowing individuals and businesses in East Africa to receive card payments quickly and affordably from anywhere in the world.
About Her Business
Typically, even perfectly executed bank transfers take one to two business days to move money from abroad to any part of Africa. Using HeptaPay, transactions get to the recipient within 30 seconds to a minute.”
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Founder, HeptaPay
VICTORIA MUNGUTI
FRANCOPHONE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
June Muchuku
CLAIRE
VAN ENK
TITI ADEWUSI
KENYA
Plumbee is a food processing company that partners with low-income women to produce and process food for underserved children in Kenya.
About Her Business
In Kenya and many parts
of Africa, women are excluded from profitable value chains. We’re building a cooperative agricultural processing ecosystem that empowers women to play a central role in combating childhood malnutrition
in Africa.”
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CEO, Plumbee
June Muchuku
KENYA
Farm to Feed is Africa’s first digital marketplace for imperfect and surplus produce, addressing monetary losses for farmers, food scarcity among consumers and climate change challenges.
About Her Business
My motivation comes from working on something that I believe needs to exist to create a better world: a circular food system where nothing goes to waste and everyone has access to a healthy diet.”
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Founder, Farm to Feed
CLAIRE VAN ENK
NIGERIA
9ijakids is an affordable online learning tool that uses interactive quizzes and games to help reinforce what children learn in school.
About Her Business
The possibilities are endless for using gamified learning to empower African youth in a way that’s both effective
and effortless.”
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Cofounder, 9ijakids
Titi Adewusi
ANGLOPHONE AND LUSOPHONE AFRICA
SALMA BOUGARRANI
SHAHIRA YOUSSEF
RANIA GAAFAR
MOROCCO
GREEN WATECH offers an affordable and low-tech filtration system that treats wastewater without using energy.
About Her Business
Many people in these rural communities are experiencing extreme water stress where they only have water in their house for four hours a day. It’s hugely gratifying when they tell us this technology has changed their lives.”
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Cofounder & CEO, GREEN WATECH
Salma Bougarrani
EGYPT
Chitosan Egypt develops 100% organic and affordable pesticides using seafood waste.
About Her Business
We’re empowering smallholder farmers to participate in the organic market and giving them the means to achieve higher income through agricultural practices they otherwise didn't have access to–contributing to climate resilience and economic stability.”
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Founder, Chitosan Egypt
Shahira Youssef
EGYPT
ADVA is a marketplace providing financial solutions for essential services like health, education
and installing solar panels at affordable rates.
About Her Business
ADVA helps unbanked people establish and
build credit with loan installments they can afford. We want to
make essential services accessible to everyone, creating financial
inclusion and enhancing people’s quality of life.”
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Founder & CEO, ADVA
Rania Gaafar
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
XINTONG
DU
JIWON
PARK
EMILY
YU
CHINA
VoiceChanger provides online and in-person therapeutic and rehabilitative services for speech-impaired children, support services for parents and online training for speech therapists.
About Her Business
We want language
to be a bridge for children, rather than a barrier.”
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Cofounder & CEO, VoiceChanger
XINTONG DU
SOUTH KOREA
Created to overturn gender bias around female sexuality, femtech brand SAIB provides high-quality, toxin-free, shame-free and female-friendly sexual wellness products for women.
About Her Business
Most sexual wellness products are marketed to men. We wanted SAIB’s brand and packaging to be female-focused so women can use it without shame or hesitation, and we wanted to make a higher quality product to protect women’s health.”
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Founder & CEO, SAIB
JIWON PARK
CHINA
Ginger Ah designs, produces and sells intimate apparel specially tailored for breast cancer patients.
About Her Business
Our goal is to help women regain their confidence after overcoming the challenges of cancer treatment so they can resume their normal lives.”
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CEO & Chief Designer, Ginger Ah
EMILY YU
EAST ASIA
MARINA TRAN-VU
MANSI
JAIN
IRA
GUHA
VIETNAM
EQUO is a sustainable brand that provides easy alternatives to single-use plastics, including straws, utensils, food containers, and other items made from materials like sugarcane and coffee.
About Her Business
We’re replacing at least four or five of the top 10 worst single-use plastic items in the world with our sustainable alternatives. These are small solutions that will have a big impact collectively.”
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Founder, EQUO
Marina Tran-Vu
INDIA
DigitalPaani is a software platform that enables wastewater treatment plants to manage their entire operations so they can treat, recover and reuse contaminated water effectively.
About Her Business
Our mission is to build cutting-edge digital management tools that protect natural water resources from contamination and accelerate the transition
to clean cities with abundant water.”
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Founder & CEO, DigitalPaani
MANSI JAIN
INDIA
Asan developed an easy-to-insert reusable menstrual cup to address period poverty and reduce solid waste pollution in India.
About Her Business
Asan’s work is about economic empowerment. It’s about ensuring that every single woman and girl, no matter their income, can participate in all aspects of life.”
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Founder, Asan
IRA GUHA
SOUTH ASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
FRANCES BILBAO
SIMRAN KAUR
Alison Harrington
AUSTRALIA
Mums Matter Psychology provides specialized, affordable and accessible mental health support for women during the transition to parenthood.
About Her Business
As a clinical psychologist,
I feel that the perinatal space is where I can have an exponential impact on women’s lives, with ripple effects across entire families and future generations.”
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Founder & Director, Mums Matter Psychology
FRANCES BILBAO
NEW ZEALAND
Girls That Invest is a media platform that aims to close the wealth gap by teaching women about investing and finance.
About Her Business
Every woman should have the tools and confidence to make informed investment decisions. Financially empowered women can have a ripple effect, fostering an environment
of financial growth in their communities and inspiring
a diverse new generation
of investors.”
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Founder & Director, Girls That Invest
SIMRAN KAUR
AUSTRALIA
Resparke uses music and movement to provide better dementia care to seniors via immersive experiences.
About Her Business
It’s about transforming seniors’ wellbeing, about connecting to memories and building beautiful bonds between people. The Resparke name is about that instant spark
in somebody’s eyes
when they put the headphones on.”
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Founder & CEO, Resparke
Alison Harrington
OCEANIA
Trestle Labs’ Kibo device gives blind people audio access to any printed, handwritten and digital content through an audio-based app.
India
Founder, Trestle Labs
AKSHITA
SACHDEVA
No Limbits creates affordable, adaptive clothes for people with disabilities.
USA
Founder & CEO, No Limbits
ERICA
COLE
BlindLook makes products and services comprehensible to the blind via an
AI-powered, audio-based platform.
USA
Cofounder, BlindLook
Sadriye Görece
We not only help the visually impaired, but also help bridge language, literacy and disability barriers. We position Kibo as an inclusive reading and learning product.”
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Adaptive fashion done right is an opportunity for self-expression that hasn’t been given to people with disabilities because of accessibility.”
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Life is not equal for me as a blind person. Brands don’t see me as a consumer. They see me as a social responsibility. But I’m paying the same amount as you are. Creating that level of equality is something that drives us.”
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MARLENE MOLERO SUáREZ
JULIA
TAYLOR
Amaia Rodríguez
JESSICA LONG
CLAIRE
VAN ENK
SHAHIRA YOUSSEF
JIWON
PARK
MANSI
JAIN
SIMRAN KAUR