Ms. Sophia Bekele Short Profile
Ms. Sophia Bekele Eshete is a widely acknowledged business leader, corporate executive, and international entrepreneur, whose wide-ranging experience spans both the public and private sectors. She is considered a thought leader in global policy, corporate governance, technology, and development issues, as well as an investor and a philanthropist.
Bekele is the Founder and CEO of DotConnectAfrica Group and CBSegroup, a SanFrancisco/BayArea company, championing digital technologies across Africa and emerging economies. Through her companies, Bekele has pioneered many initiatives including the panAfrican “.africa” Internet Domain name, via the highly acclaimed Yes2dotAfrica Campaign. She is also the pioneer of the Women-In-Tech space in Africa through her “Miss.Africa Digital.”
Through its CSR program DCA Academy and Miss.Africa Digital, is empowering women and youth throughout Africa which has impacted 15 African countries. Sophia also serves as Chair of Global Economic Development Alliance (GEDA) Investment Group based in Kenya, a pan-African initiative with interest in the strategic sector of Africa’s economy, currently heavily vested in the technology, Financial, Media, and Realty Sector.
Early in her career, as a Corporate Executive, Bekele achieved a successful track record working for different Fortune 500 Companies notably, the Bank of America, Mitsubishi Bank of California, and PriceWaterHouseCoppers, in the field of Business and Technology, Systems Security Auditing, Risk Management & Enterprise systems. She has continued to draw on this background in her current professional engagements. Bekele is a strong advocate of accountability and transparency improvements in all facets of her engagements & holding public authorities and the private sector to such high standards.
As an Entrepreneur and CEO, Bekele has founded and run various international start-ups as well as launched early-stage US companies into new markets. Her first US-based tech company CBSegroup, in coordination with local companies she sets up, was known for its impact of technology transfer to Africa, implementing successful large-scale network infrastructure projects for governments including the African Union and Ethiopian Parliament and pioneering the DNS business for the private sector in Ethiopia. CBS was also engaged in corporate governance & communications, as well as venture capital and business modeling activities where it had Clients like Intel, Fed Reserve, Genentech, and other Startups in Silicon Valley in the US.
Public Service and Advisory
Bekele has served on various national and international senior-level policy advisory & leadership boards, including multiple United Nations bodies, such as UNECA, UNITU, UNGAID, and the global internet regulator ICANN, where her body of work has influenced the formation of key Global and African organizations that made significant impact on the implementation of important public policies on technology and global internet governance, including International Domain Names (IDNs. She is the co-founder and ex-board member of the San Francisco Internet Society (ISOC), an internet governance association. She has also performed high-level public engagements and policy advocacy at US Congress. She has served on Education Boards and public policy think tanks and forums in the US and Europe. In 2018 Bekele was appointed as founding advisor to the Portugal-based EurAfrican Forum that champions economic policy dialog between Europe and Africa. Bekele has also served as International Ambassador to various Intercontinental Rotary Clubs, also receiving the prestigious “Rotary Paul Harris Fellow” award for her contributions.
Thought Leadership
Bekele is regularly invited to speak on her work at many international conferences, deliver keynote speeches, and moderate high-level panels. She is a published writer and commentator on industry and political media on current affairs issues of technology, Internet and good governance, business and cyber – security. Bekele maintains an active social media page commentary on “conversions that matter” covering topics on business, wellness, and self-development.
Education
Bekele holds an MBA in Management of Information Systems (MIS) from Golden Gate University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Analysis & Computer Systems (BACS) from San Francisco State University. She holds various professional certifications of competency in the fields of digital & cyber security, control systems, and governance of Enterprise Systems, such as CISA, CCS, and CGEIT.
Accolades & Recognitions
With over a decade of transforming lives and business via technology in Africa and across the Globe and for leading her organization with passion and grit, Bekele has received many accolades and recognition for her work.
See her list of accolades and recognitions at her website https://sophiabekele.com/awards-and-recognitions
Bekele has traveled to over 150 countries with a historic exploratory 6 around-the-world trips. She is well known for her controversial views challenging the status quo and irregularities wherever she finds them. Along with her advocacy for work-life balance and passion for the good life, she is often referred by her peers, a.k.a #AddisHilton.
For her full profile and work, please visit her website at https://sophiabekele.com/
