In August of this year, the game-changing South African techpreneur, Stephanie Cowper, co-founder and CEO of BeSpecular was nominated as a finalist for the MTN & Kagiso Media Women in ICT - Partnering for Change Awards under the Innovator Recognition category. Even more exciting is the fact that she won the award. The team of adjudicators selected Stephanie as the winner of the award and honoured her achievements inintroducing new methods and ideas that are contributing in to the delivery of a bold, new, digital world.
Stephanie Cowper, co-founder and CEO of BeSpecular receiving her award
Stephanie’s business, Bespecular, is a startup that uses technology to solve the problems which visually impaired people around the world face on a daily basis, all the while bridging the gap between the sighted and visually impaired communities. The company has developed a mobile application that enables visually impaired people to lead more independent lives.
This inaugural MTN & Kagiso Media Women in ICT - Partnering for Change Awards programme is a partnership between MTN SA and Kagiso Media’s – East Coast Radio, Jacaranda and ITWeb Brainstorm. It is a woman recognition programme that celebrates and recognises the role that women have played towards the growth of the ICT sector in South Africa.
On another exciting note, Stephanie will be launching BeSpecular for Business on 13 October (World Sight Day), hosting a small event at the National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities in South Africa and inviting the CSR and diversity and integration managers of the top companies in the country to attend. Special guest of honour will be Ilse Hayes, the World Champion 100m blind sprinter who's currently at the Paralympics!
For more information on Stephanie Cowper and BeSpecular, read her startup story on Lionesses of Africa here.