Rachel Sibande

Rachel Chimwemwe Sibande
Born (1986-01-09) January 9, 1986
Lilongwe, Malawi

Rachel Chimwemwe Sibande (born January 9, 1986) is a Malawian technology expert, computer scientist, STEM educator, and entrepreneur.

Early life and education

Sibande was born in 1986 in Lilongwe, Malawi, the daughter of Ethel (née Muyaba) and Ben Chavula, and the oldest of five children. Her father is an accountant and her mother was first a home economics teacher at vocational college and later a rural development specialist.

Sibande attended Our Lady of Wisdom Secondary School, a Catholic school in Blantyre. When she was 15, she was selected to attend the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College. In 2006, Sibande graduated with a Bachelors, majoring in Computer Science with a credit.

Shortly afterwards, she took up her first job as a developer at Globe Computer Systems. She then moved into education, teaching ICT at Malawi’s elite high school, Kamuzu Academy, known as "the Eton of Africa".[1] She left the Academy to pursue a Master of Science in Information Theory, Coding and Cryptography at Mzuzu University in 2007. There, she also taught Statistics as an Adjunct lecturer in the Department of Mathematics. She graduated with a Master of Science degree with distinction average of 80% in 2010.

In 2010, Sibande got a fully funded PhD scholarship from Institute Markets Technologies (IMT Lucca), but had to forego the opportunity as it coincided with the birth of her first child. She later took on another PhD opportunity in 2015 from the Computer Science Department at Rhodes University in South Africa.[2]

Tech career

Sibande founded Malawi’s first technology hub, mHub. It nurtures young technology enthusiasts with technical and entrepreneurship skills. Its software development unit empowers young Malawians to champion the development of local technology and provide local solutions.[3] Through the hub, Sibande established a Children's Coding Club and a Girls' Coding Club (cf Code Club) to show young people how to develop games, animations and mobile technology applications.[3]

In 2012, Sibande became an alumna of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. In 2015, she received the Anita Borg Scholarship from Google, now called the TechWomen Scholarship programme. The scholarship is given to outstanding female computer science students from around the world. In 2016, Rachel became Malawi’s Ambassador of the Next Einstein Forum Initiative which promotes science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Sibande delivered a TED talk in 2013 on the subject of using technology for agricultural development. In 2016, she became the first local licensee for TEDxLilongwe.[4]

In 2016, Forbes Magazine named Sibande as one of Africa’s 30 most promising entrepreneurs under the age of 30.

Working in elections

For the 2014 Malawian general election, Sibande worked as a technology expert on the team that developed and deployed a mobile and online voter verification system and a citizen journalism for real time monitoring of elections by independent observers. Almost 400,000 citizens verified voter IDs through digital platform. Over 1,500,000 messages sent through citizens' reports and from observers on incidences related to the electoral process.

Sibande offered technical support on a similar initiative for the 2015 Tanzanian general election. She was the lead ICT expert on the 2016 Zambian general election.

Honours and awards

  • Listed by FORBES as one of the 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa (2016)[5]
  • Listed as one of the top 40 innovators under 40 in Africa (2016)[6]
  • Named Next Einstein Ambassador for Malawi at the Next Einstein Forum (2016)[7]
  • Recipient from Southern Africa of the Google Anita Borg Scholarship; a prestigious scholarship given to female outstanding computer science students from around the world. (2015)[2]

Personal life

Sibande is married to Chrispine Sibande, a Malawian human rights lawyer. Chrispine is an ardent champion for minority rights in Malawi and is currently working on abortion law reforms.[8] Together, they have three children; Uwemi born in 2010; Uzengi born in 2012 and Unenesko born in 2013.

References

  1. ↑ Carroll, Rory (25 November 2002). "The Eton of Africa". the Guardian.
  2. 1 2 University, Rhodes. "Science News". www.ru.ac.za. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  3. 1 2 Computer Scientist Breeds Youth ‘Technopreneurs’ in Malawi, retrieved 2016-12-08
  4. ↑ TEDx Talks (2014-03-17), SMS technology for agricultural development: Rachel Sibande at TEDxLilongwe, retrieved 2016-12-08
  5. ↑ Nsehe, Mfonobong. "30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs In Africa 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  6. ↑ "Ventures Africa | 42 Africa Innovators To Watch". venturesafrica.com. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  7. ↑ "Current Ambassadors 2". Next Einstein Forum. 2016-02-12. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  8. ↑ "Ipas | Chrispine Gwalawala Sibande". www.ipas.org. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
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