Launched in 2024, the annual She Shapes AI Global Awards spotlight female entrepreneurs and leaders who develop and apply AI responsibly to deliver measurable, real-world impact.
2025/26 She Shapes AI Global Awards
Our 2024/25 Awards in Numbers
100+ applications from 60+ countries
55% of finalists are women of colour
100% of winners from outside Silicon Valley
Winners featured in Forbes, TEDx, and Vogue
Here’s how you can get involved:
Timeline
2025/26 Award Categories
The 2025/26 Awards spotlight female leaders and innovators who advance and use AI responsibly across ten categories, crossing sectors and disciplines. Each category celebrates a unique nexus of innovation, responsibility, and impact.
Global Awards Council
We’re bringing together one of the most qualified and specialist councils of responsible AI and impact experts globally.
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Galit Ariel is an award-winning Technofuturist, author and creative, exploring the wild & imaginative side of bleeding-edge technologies through her practice. Galit's research explores resemblances, gaps and possibilities stemming from new entanglements across digital, physical, and cultural spaces. Her creative work includes location-based Augmented Reality installations, speculative digital aesthetics, alternative human-computer interactions, and subversive animation.
Galit founded Future Memory Inc. - a speculative design agency and future innovation facilitator for lead tech platforms, organizations, and policymakers, and is a sought-after speaker and curator for global conferences, organizations and think tanks, including TED, SXSW, Slush, The European Union, Bell Labs, Microsoft, The City of Sydney, The City of Amsterdam, THE150 and many more.
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With an unwavering passion for merging mission-driven initiatives with cutting-edge technology, Sheena's professional background spans brand strategy, programmatic ad technology, media production and data-centric digital transformation initiatives across media and journalism sectors, in both corporate and non-profit settings.
At Google, Sheena spearheaded regional ecosystem programs under the prestigious Google News Initiative since its inception in APAC in 2018. Her role involved collaborating with partner newsrooms to develop comprehensive data strategies & solutions, culminating in the co-authorship of the first data and product design playbook and labs for media and journalism in Asia. She also co-developed data tools that integrated editorial and business capabilities, fostering collaboration across newsrooms.
Her initiatives encompassed the full spectrum of newsroom operations and strategy, from diversity, equity, and inclusion to advanced analytics and data-driven decision-making. Sheena designed and executed transformative programs such as the GNI APAC Subscription Lab, Design Accelerator, and Data Labs in 2019-2020, empowering newsrooms to develop innovative products that consistently meet their evolving audience needs.
In her current avatar as a founder, Sheena is deeply committed to unlocking potential for other mission-led founders. Her startup Modulexero is committed to cultivating future leadership practices that foster collaboration and sustainability, within the burgeoning wellness and tech sectors. Her team and she are dedicated to mapping the wellness and AI founder landscape in Asia, in an effort to ensure wellness businesses build and incorporate access, inclusion, and ethics into their products and services.
As a certified professional and life coach, welltech entrepreneur, and design thinking facilitator and lecturer, her rich geographical experience includes working in markets such as Japan, India, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.
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Shikoh is the CEO of Qhala, a Digital Innovation company that catalyzes digital transformation capabilities for organizations across Africa. She has over 10 years of experience in the Research, Design, Implementation, and Management of Digital Technologies. She has established expertise in both African and Emerging Markets specialized in solving problems in Agriculture, Education, Health, Payments, Retail and Renewable energies.
She is responsible for the set-up of Safaricom Alpha, a first of the kind corporate innovation hub in Africa. Where she worked as the Head of Products - Innovation and acted as the Chief Innovation Officer. Shikoh also led Safaricom's foray into becoming a digital company, by putting together a strategy, and cross-functional teams to execute the strategy.
Dr. Shikoh has previously worked with Africa Development Bank (AfDB), where she was leading and advising governments across Africa to adopt ICT for service delivery, she developed the Digital Government Blueprint, a strategic document to guide governments in digital transformation, now adopted by Smart Africa. She has also worked with Google and Microsoft in their emerging markets teams.
She has received numerous awards in recognition of her efforts in influencing Business and Government as well as Technology. Dr. Shikoh seats on various boards in ICT companies and contributes to a number of steering committees and think tanks on Africa and technology. Shikoh holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Dr. Shikoh serves as an advisor to governments on matters of data and digital development.
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Nnenna Nwaknma is the former Chief Web Advocate of the World Wide Web Foundation. She is an ICT4D strategist and an expert in eParticipation and Citizen Engagement with 15 years of experience working for the UN. A strong advocate for policy and systemic changes, she focuses on the need for meaningful internet access, open data, open government, and open web across Africa. Nnenna is a board member of Health AI and an Expert with the UN's Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.
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Partners and Sponsors
2025/26 Partners
Our ecosystem partners go beyond amplifying the Awards. They provide concrete, tangible support to winners and our She Shapes AI community.
Ecosystem Partners
Media Partners
Our community partners are values-aligned organisations who support our work by sharing and amplifying the Awards within their respective communities.
