Top 7 Female Tech Founders In North Africa

The African tech scene is one that is dominated largely by men. This, however, does not mean that the women aren’t pulling their weight. Actually, they are, as many women are presently coming up with innovative ideas on the continent.

Below is a list of seven leading female tech founders from the North African region.

Sophia Alj, Co-founder-Chari.ma (Morocco)

Growing up, Sophia Alj studied Spanish language and literature at the Universiat Autonoma de Barcelona, in Spain, and has a bachelor’s degree in engineering (B.Eng.) in civil engineering from McGill University and a master’s degree in management. Program Grande Ecole at the ESCP Business School

She co-founded Chari, a B2B e-commerce app with embedded fintech for French-speaking African countries, and as a former McKinsey consultant, she served a broad range of clients across Africa with a focus on digital transformations.

Sophia was the Innovation Manager at BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Bank between January 2014 and August 2015, an Associate Consultant at McKinsey & Company between October 2015 and November 2019, the co-managing partner of Wib.co Startup Studio, and the co-founder of Mondentiste.ma and Chari.ma.

Ahella El Saban (Egypt)

Ahella El Saban is the CCO and co-founder of Exits Mena, growing the company’s entrepreneur ecosystem through research in consumer online behaviour and also building the first investment market.

She co-founded and was the president of the British University in Cairo; she worked as a youth development specialist as well as an assistant lecturer at the British University in Cairo; and she was the marketing manager at Google. She is the Doctoral Researcher at London South Bank University, Chief Marketing Officer at PIE,lectures in Marketing & Entrepreneurship department at the University of Canada in Egypt

She earned two Bachelor of Science degrees in Business Administration from the British University in Egypt and Loughbrough University as a child, a Master of Arts degree in Marketing from Durham University, and a PhD in marketing from London South Bank University.

Amel Saidane (Tunisia)

Amel is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Betacube, a tech venture builder that invests in, builds, and grows B2B startups in fintech and mobility. She is also the co-founder of Digital2Value, a platform that accelerates the digital transformation of SMEs by connecting them to an ecosystem of experts and tech solutions.

Amel is the president of Tunisia Startup and a board member of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She was the Executive Director at SlickStone, Enterprise Account Manager at Microsoft, and Account Manager at NSN from January 2004 to October 2008.

Houda Bakir (Tunisia)

Bakir was born in Carthage, Tunisia. She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering Specialisation from the Ecole superieure des sciences et techniques de Tunis. She is an Assistant professor at ENSIT between Jan 2010 to Sept 2015

Houda was the co-founder and CEO of Historiar, Grace Light Tunisia between 2013 and 2014, the Principal Research Development Engineer at Datavora, and the Acting CEO of Super-Viz.

Aida Kandil (Morocco)

Aida Kandil is an entrepreneur, a public speaker, a work facilitator, and the founder of myTindy.com. She served as the internal and external auditor at Capital Consulting in Casablanca, Rabat, Paris, Tunis, and Conakry. She was the talent manager at the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, the business development and web visibility manager at Groupe Axor Inc., and the sponsorship coordinator at Jam for Justice.

Aida holds a bachelor of commerce degree in strategic management and marketing from McGill University; she is also a data scientist at Le Waggon. She holds certificates in the following courses and professions: certificate of proficiency in English from McGill University, fundamentals of digital marketing, and L’Oréal Brandstorm 2016 Business Competition.

Lydia Schoonderbeek (Egypt)

Lydia Schoonderbeek is a versatile leader and the founder of the first beauty e-commerce website. 

She received her diploma from the American International School in Cairo, Egypt, and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Information Management and German from Leeds Beckett University. She also attended the London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins University of the Arts in London.

She is the Chief Creative Officer at the Egyptian Cosmetics Company and the founder of Source Beauty. She was the editor-in-chief of Cairo West Magazine and a member of the senior management team responsible for all departments at Harrods UK between June 2006 and February 2009, as well as Director at Nichols between 1997 and 2000.

Fatma Ibrahim (Egypt)

Fatma Ibrahim was a consultant at JLL from May 2014 to August 2015 and at Logic Consulting. She’s also co-founder and CEO of Kiwe, an Egypt-based fintech company.

Ibrahim co-founded the startup in March 2021 alongside Omar Kamel and Mohamed Khalifa.

Growing up, she attended the International School of Choueifat. holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from an American university.