2nd August 2017, Barcelona, Spain : Sophia Bekele, Founder of DCA Group, was invited to attend and speak at the 28th Annual Session of the Crans Montana Forum that took place in Barcelona one of the key Mediterranean’s centers, from July 5 to 8, 2017. Others invited include Ministers, Business people and Special personalities as speakers. and participants. One of the key sessions was the African Women’s Forum held on July 7th. Women from Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Europe gathered to discuss how to Strengthen Women’s influence in the necessary change of their society.
The theme: Which world for tomorrow?, Strategies for Stability in an unpredictable Environment Towards a new Governance, addressed one of the most important issues of our new Century: shaping a new Governance in order to face the challenges of our continuously changing and unpredictable world.
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| DCA Founder and CEO Sophia Bekele speaking during the African Women’s Forum Special Program, Crans Montana Forum, #CMF17 Barcelona (Spain). |
The CEO and Founder of DCA and Miss.Africa, Ms. Bekele attended and spoke during the special African Women’s 
Forum. For years now, Women have been fundamental in shaping the African society. The essential role that they play in their own society has already been demonstrated, as the importance of the role they must play in helping African society to develop and thrive.
While Speaking at the Forum, Ms. Bekele thanked the organizers for the invitation and holding this high-level and special #AfricanWomenForum to allow for a shared experience among women making a difference in their respective areas. Among various points she touched upon on the subject, Bekele said,
“I initiated the Miss.Africa pioneering program based on my own experience of working in a male dominated tech industry in the US, where then I observed during my work in Africa that women were again sidelined or even unaware of the economic opportunities they were missing as a result of not participating in this flourishing industry. It has been an amazing journey with many bumps on the road, but one worthy of travel.”
DCA Trust through the Miss.Africa Seed Fund is expanding the scope of STEM programs and especially Tech-Preneurship by training women to learn how to code and develop mobile apps, websites and software, these skills they can exploit to build their careers and well as revenue generation.
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| Special Program of the African Women’s Forum by Crans Montana, #CMF17 |
Other sessions at the forum included the ‘Europe and Africa have definitely a common future: how to shape it?’ which discussed, the need for African decision makers to engage more with international political leaders –the potential of the Mediterranean states, Africa’s growth is attracting global interest – how to take a real advantage of it ? and Europe and Africa’s genuine interest in increasing bilateral trade, investment and market integration.
Annual Kenya IGFDCA Trust delegates also attended the annual Kenya Internet Governance Forum that was themed “Internet and Elections: Shaping our Digital Future”. Some of the trending discussions included; enhancing cyber security in Kenya: threats and opportunities, information controls, and the internet in the next five years. Announcement of 2018 Miss.Africa
DCA Trust has worked hard to build its Pan African, trust initiatives that are intended to build a successful program that can benefit Africa’s youths and women in ICT. Our programs include Miss.africa, which runs an annual Seed Fund for STEM programs in Africa and Generation.africa a youth focused program to empower a new generation of Internet users in Africa. The Miss.Africa Seed Fund is in its second year and has already benefited 6 organizations. The 2018 seed fund call for applications has been announced. Apply here