Rebecca Enonchong (born in July 14, 1967) is a

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian technology entrepreneur and also the founder and CEO of AppsTech. She is best known for her work promoting technology in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Enonchong has been a recipient of various awards from organizations such as the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

listed her as one of the 10 Female Tech Founders To Watch In Africa during 2014.

Early life and education

Enonchong was born in the Southwest Region of

in 1967. Her father was Dr.

Henry Ndifor Abi Enonchong Dr. Henry Ndifor Abi Enonchong (22 March 1934 – 26 June 2008) was a Cameroonian barrister. He was born in Besongabang, in the Manyu department of the Southwest Province. Enonchong is the direct descendant of Chief Abane, who is said to be t ...

, who was a well-known

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

. While Enonchong was growing up in Cameroon, her father helped create the Federal Cameroon Bar Association and its successor, the Cameroon Bar Association. In her teens, Enonchong moved to the US with her family. While studying, she took up a job selling door-to-door newspaper subscriptions from the age of 15. She later became a manager at the same company at the age of 17. Enonchong attended the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

, where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree and also a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Career

After finishing her education, Enonchong went on to work for a number of organizations including

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

(IaDB) and

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

. In 1999, Enonchong founded the company AppsTech, a Bethesda,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

-based global provider of enterprise applications. AppsTech is an

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

Platinum Partner and has customers in over 40 countries. AppsTech opened offices in several countries, including Enonchong's native

. She describes the experience as having been difficult and having led to the closure of AppsTech subsidiaries. In 2002, The

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

named Enonchong a Global Leader for Tomorrow (GLT) along with other tech entrepreneurs such as

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

co-founder

Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was chief executive officer of Google from 1997 until August 2001 when ...

and

Salesforce.com Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics, artificial intelligence, and appl ...

CEO

Marc Benioff Marc Russell Benioff (born September 25, 1964) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. Benioff is best known as the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the software company Salesforce, as well as being the owner of ''Time (magazine ...

. In 2013, Enonchong was recognized as a finalist for the African digital woman award. In March 2014,

listed her as one of the ‘10 Female Tech Founders to Watch in Africa’. Enonchong has also gained notoriety as one of the more followed sources for African tech news on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, with over 200, 000 followers in 2023. Her handle, @Africatechie, has become a nickname for Enonchong in IT circles. In August 2021, Rebecca Enonchong was arrested and taken into custody in Douala. Her lawyers denounce a "serious abuse of authority" on the part of the judicial system.

Non-profit work

Enonchong has spent much of her career promoting technology in

. She has carried out the work in both the

U.S The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. and in Africa. She was the founder and Chairperson of the Africa Technology Forum, a non-profit dedicated to helping technology startups in Africa. She was a judge for the Africa Prize For Engineering Innovation in 2020 when Charlette N'Guessan became the first woman to win the award for a technology that confirming the identifies of African people. Enonchong is a member of the board of directors for the

Foundation. She is on the board of VC4Africa, which is one of the largest online communities in Africa that is dedicated to entrepreneurs and investors. She is a member of the UK Department for International Development's Digital Advisory Panel, and was previously involved with the UN’s Women Global Advisory Committee and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

ICT Task Force.

Recognition

* Elected International Fellow, UK Royal Academy of Engineering, 2022. * Forbes - 50 Over 50: EMEA Award (2022) *

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

- Female Leader of the Year in Africa (2022) *

Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' (stylized in all caps) is an American multimedia company. A Black-owned business since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African American businesses with a readership of 3.7 mil ...

– 2014 Women of Power * IT News Africa – 10 Africans making waves in technology (2014) *

– 10 Female Tech Founders To Watch In Africa (2014) * Digital Women – African Digital Woman of the Year Finalist (2013) * WIE (Women, Inspiration and Enterprise Network) – 2013 WIE Africa Power Woman *

New African ''New African'' is an English-language monthly news magazine based in London. Published since 1966, it is read by many people across the African continent and the African diaspora. It claims to be the oldest pan-African monthly in English, as well ...

– 50 Leading Women in Business in 2013 *

– Global Leader for Tomorrow (2002) * African Folder – African Female Founders You Should Know In 2023

References

External links

* https://twitter.com/africatechie?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor * https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaenonchong {{DEFAULTSORT:Enonchong, Rebecca Cameroonian emigrants to the United States 1967 births Catholic University of America alumni American women in business Businesspeople in technology Living people 21st-century American women Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering